US State Department proposes new, tougher guidelines for passports

By Matie Singh 

The U.S. Department of State is proposing an additional item “Biographical Questionnaire” for some passport applicants.

The proposed new four-page form, “DS 5513”, asks for all addresses since birth; lifetime employment history, including employers’ and supervisors’ names, addresses and telephone numbers.

The list goes on to request personal details of all siblings – living and deceased; mother’s address one year prior to and one year after applicant’s birth; the names and address of every clinic/hospital and doctors from which applicant’s mother sought and received pre- and post-natal care; any religious ceremony around the time of applicant’s birth; phone numbers and current addresses of everyone present at your birth or religious ceremonies, and the type of documents your mother used to enter into the country before your birth.

The proposed list does not end there. It further asks whether the applicant was “baptized or circumcised”, and asks the applicant not to forget to include the names, location and date of those two events.

Given the proposed new questionnaire, which not only creates the perfect breeding ground for discrimination, it begs further questions such as: adopted children’s maternal history, who would know what prenatal care their mothers received? What about if one or some of your previous managers/employers have long been passed?

According to the proposed form, the State Department estimated that the research and collection of this massive informational gathering, which is subject to verification, would take no more than “45 minutes per response.”

However, though providing the requested information is voluntary, “failure to provide the information requested may result in processing delays or the denial of your U.S. passport application,” the form stated.

According to the form, “only some, not all, applicants will be required to fill out the new questionnaire,” but no criteria have been made public for determining who will be subjected to these additional new written interrogatories.

“So if the passport examiner wants to deny your application, all they will have to do is give you the impossible new form to complete,” said Edward Hasbrouck of The Consumer Travel Alliance that spoke out again the new form, saying that it exceeds the “statutory authority of the DOS; [is] unconstitutional and is in violation of US obligations pursuant to international human rights treaties to which the US is a party.”

Making applicants fill it out is, according the Alliance, a “de facto decision to deny that applicant a passport.”

It is not clear from the supporting statement, statement of legal authorities, or regulatory assessment submitted by the State Department to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) why declining to discuss one’s siblings or to provide the phone number of your first supervisor would be a legitimate basis for denial of a passport to a US citizen.

However, you can submit comments to the State Dept. online at Regulations.gov until midnight Eastern Time on Monday, April 25, 2011.

Back in February, the Department had put in a request, asking for 60 days to comment before these new rules goes into effect. According to a document filed at the time, the “Biographical Questionnaire for a U.S. Passport, form DS-5513, is used to supplement an application for a U.S. passport when the applicant submits citizenship or identity evidence that is insufficient or of questionable authenticity.”

The U.S. Department of State, which is also known as the federal agency that processes passports, anticipates more than 74,000 respondents.

As of press time, The U.S. Department of State agency had not yet responded to our phone call.