How to Get a Passport in Greenville South Carolina : visasupply.com

Editor's Note: U.S. passports are currently taking up to seven weeks to process using the government's expedited service. It is possible to get a passport in less time by scheduling an appointment with the Passport Agency by calling 877-487-2778 and appearing in person at their office.

Booming foreign investment along the I-85 corridor between Atlanta and Charlotte is driving an uptick in U.S. passport demand among residents of Greenville, SC, which sits at the center of this bustling industrial pathway (https://rebusinessonline.com/event/interface-i-85-industrial-corridor-2023). Located roughly midway between the Georgia and North Carolina metropolises, Greenville anchors the Upstate South Carolina region, the fourth-largest urban center in the Deep South.

Once known as the “Textile Capital of the World,” Greenville has leveraged its workforce, favorable tax benefits, and transportation hub location to create a diversified economy anchored in aerospace, automotive, manufacturing, engineered materials, and life sciences. Greenville also enjoys the highest level of foreign capital investment per capita in the United States (https://www.greenvillesc.gov/353/Facts-Figures). Area leaders have been particularly successful at attracting European investment to the Upstate. French tire manufacturer Michelin, the largest private employer in Greenville, has its North American headquarters in Greenville. JTEKT North America (JTEKT), a subsidiary of global automotive and industrial supplier JTEKT Corporation of Japan, maintains a regional headquarters on the campus of the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research in Greenville. Other multinationals with a significant presence in Greenville include TD Bank, Fluor Corporation, TD SYNNEX, and GE Power.

Within the 10-county Upstate region in northwestern South Carolina, BMW’s built its first manufacturing facility outside of Germany in Spartanburg County. According to the Upstate SC Alliance, more than 10 percent of the Upstate workforce is employed by foreign-owned enterprises – twice the national average (https://www.upstatescalliance.com). More than 20 international companies announced new operations in the region over the past five years. The alliance noted there are more than 535 global companies in the Upstate area, including 131 from Germany, 62 from Japan, and 54 from the United Kingdom. Since many of these manufacturers have their corporate headquarters in Europe and Asia, they are also sending their South Carolina-based employees overseas for training—all of whom require passports to make this international journey.

South Carolina’s strong economy and growing population are also contributing factors to the increased demand for new passports. Of South Carolina’s five million residents in 2022, some 73,000 lived in the city of Greenville and 559,000 in the Greenville metropolitan area. More than 940,000 people live in the four-county Greenville-Anderson-Maudlin Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), making it the largest MSA in the state. In 2022, the U.S. Passport Agency issued 151,286 passports to South Carolina residents.

Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport (BHM) is the second busiest airport in South Carolina, with seven carriers flying to 20 domestic destinations. The nearest major international airport is North Carolina’s Charlotte Douglas International, about a 1.5-hour drive northeast of Greenville. With eight major carriers, 15 regional airlines, and three foreign flag carriers, Charlotte handles almost 48 million passengers annually and provides nonstop service to 178 destinations (including 36 international locations and three U.S. territories). Greenville is also a 2.5-hour drive from Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, which delivers access to more than 70 international destinations throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Clemson University (30 miles southwest of Greenville) provides opportunities for American students to study abroad and for international students to learn in the Upstate through its Office of Global Engagement. The region’s strong economy and population growth means that more South Carolina residents have the means to travel internationally for business and/or pleasure.

To travel abroad, adults (ages 16 and up) need a U.S. passport. The passport is good for 10 years, after which it must be renewed. To obtain a new passport or renew an existing one, you will have to appear in person at an authorized passport acceptance facility. Employees at these government facilities will verify your identity and your documentation. You will also have to appear in person if:

You previously held a child’s passport (only good for five years);
Your passport expired more than five years ago; or
Your passport has been lost or damaged.

In Greenville, there are three options to obtain a new passport: visit a local passport acceptance facility; drive to the Passport Agency in downtown Atlanta (by appointment only); or, in certain circumstances, use a private passport service such as Visa Supply to expedite delivery.

(NOTE: If you already have an adult passport in your possession that is in good condition, and it expired less than five years ago (or has yet to expire and you wish to renew), click here to learn how to renew a passport: https://www.visasupply.com/passports-and-visas-101/post/passport-renewal-in-atlanta.

Option 1: Appear at an Acceptance Facility

The most common way to obtain or renew a passport is by visiting a passport acceptance facility. This link allows you to find the closest facility to your ZIP code: https://iafdb.travel.state.gov. One such facility is the Greenville Main Post Office at 600 West Washington Street. Use this link to schedule your appointment with a USPS facility: https://tools.usps.com/rcas.htm. South Carolina residents can also visit one of the local county courthouses that serve as a passport acceptance facility, but area courthouses do not take appointments, so you may have a long wait.

The basic form for a new passport (DS-11) is available online at https://pptform.state.gov/. You can complete the form online and then print it out, and take with you to the acceptance facility. (Do NOT sign the passport form in advance, as the government agent must witness your signature.) You may also fill out the DS-11 form by hand at the passport acceptance facility.

You will submit supporting documentation along with form DS-11. The required documents include:

Your long-form birth certificate or a government-certified copy of that certificate. {If you need to order a new copy of your birth certificate, we recommend using VitalChek (https://www.vitalchek.com), a private company with an easy-to-use process and less expensive rates.}
For naturalized citizens, their original certificate of naturalization.
State-issued driver’s license.
One photo that meets all passport image criteria, and properly attached to the application. (See https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/how-apply/photos.html.)
A check or money payable to the U.S. Department of State. The basic passport fee is $130. Additional charges apply for expedited service and other options. For a full list of fees, please visit https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/how-apply/fees.html.
Another $35 payable via check, money order, cash or debit card to be paid to the passport acceptance facility for the identity verification process. (Check with the specific facility for the exact forms of payment they accept.)

Passport acceptance facilities are government offices but they do not actually issue the passport. These facilities will verify your documents and forward them to the State Department’s Passport Agency. The normal turnaround time for renewals by mail is eight to eleven weeks. Expedited service within seven weeks is available for an added fee. You can also pay extra for return delivery in two days (rather than the typical first-class mailing).

Option2: Apply in Person at a U.S. Passport Agency

If you need to travel within the next month, you will need to apply in person at a federal passport office. There is no federal passport office in South Carolina, so the closest location is the U.S. Passport Agency in Atlanta. The downtown Atlanta office at 230 Peachtree Street is roughly a two-hour drive from Greenville. You can ONLY apply in person here if you can prove the need to travel within the next two weeks – or four weeks if you are traveling to a country that requires a visa. You will need to fill out Form DS-11 and make an appointment directly with the Atlanta office by calling 877-487-2778. Note that the agencies are busy during the summer travel season and around the holidays, so give yourself plenty of lead time.

For your appointment, bring the identification listed above, as well as:

Your appointment confirmation number
Proof of travel plans, such as your flight itinerary, hotel reservation or cruise tickets
One passport photo
Methods of payment. The agency takes major credit cards, debit cards, cash, checks and money orders. In addition to normal costs, there is an additional $60 expediting fee.

Contact information, directions and other details about the Atlanta Passport Agency are available at https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/get-fast/passport-agencies/atlanta.html.

Visiting the Passport Agency is more expensive and less convenient than using a local acceptance facility when you factor in the added costs for transportation and your time. However, if you need a passport quickly, it is worth the extra effort. Unlike a passport acceptance facility, the Passport Agency can issue your new passport – often on the same day or the following day.

Option 3: Use a Private Passport Service

The third option is to use a private passport expediter such as Visa Supply to speed up the turnaround time. For this option, you still need to visit a passport acceptance facility so a government official can verify your identity and documents. Normally the facility can only forward your documents to the State Department for processing. However, if you are using a courier service such as Visa Supply, the acceptance facility will seal your documents in an envelope and return them to you. You will then take that envelope back to our office so we can ship it to one of our couriers in San Francisco, Seattle, Houston, or Washington, D.C., so we can expedite your passport application.

Our office is located in the Atlanta suburb of Sandy Springs, also about a two-hour drive from Greenville. If you want Visa Supply to help you, it is usually better to visit our office in-person so we can take your passport photo; help you prepare your DS-11 application; plus review your documentation. You can take these documents to the DeKalb County Clerk of Superior Court in Decatur (about a 30-minute drive from our office), and then return the sealed envelope to Visa Supply so we can expedite your application with the Passport Agency.

Since Visa Supply is a private company, we charge a fee for our services (in addition to the government’s $190 expedite fee for a passport book). Beyond the convenience of using our office, we make sure your application form is filled out correctly. We also take your passport photo and will ensure that it meets the government’s specifications. Our basic service starts at $100. Customers receive their new passport (along with the old one) within seven weeks; for additional fees we can also get passports renewed in as fast as one week. Please call us for the latest details.

Residents of Greenville with questions about obtaining a new U.S. passport can schedule a telephone call through our website. Our free consultation will explain the process of getting a passport and help you understand the different options for getting a passport based on your international travel plans.