On Thursday, NC State Passport Services will host a passport fair for anyone looking to get a passport made to travel abroad. The office will offer extended hours from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. to come in and get passports made without an appointment.
Mary Elmer, the passport coordinator at NC State Passport Services, says they are expecting anywhere between 10 and 120 people.
“It is first come first, so if you’re going to come, come early,” Elmer said. “We can only do a maximum of 120 tomorrow. We aren’t able to guarantee that we will be able to serve everyone day-of. There will be a point where we’ll have to cut it off and tell people to book an appointment. We are always more than happy to have people come into the office.”
In addition to getting passports made, Passport Services will also take passport photos for anyone who needs them. A number of other organizations and groups will also be at the fair.
“Anyone that walks in will be served, no appointment needed,” Elmer said. “There will be some other student groups available to answer questions and some cultural activities going on during the fair in order to help out people [waiting] who just have nothing to do. We will have two representatives from the Department of State available and helping us process passports and then all of our passport agents and the Office of Global Engagement will be there.”
Passport Services is open four days a week, Tuesday through Friday, for appointments. Currently, Elmer says most of the students she’s seeing are for study abroad or summer travel.
“A lot of the study abroad students for the summer have already gone through,” Elmer said. “We are seeing a lot more of our fall study abroad students come in right now. What I’m really mainly seeing is students that are not studying abroad, but are going on vacation travel with families for June and July.”
For those looking to get a passport soon, however, Elmer adds that expediting services are available for an additional $60 in addition to the $110 passport fee.
“Right now, we’re right at a good time where you shouldn’t need to expedite your passport if you’re not leaving before May 10, but if there’s any families going for the high school spring break then they would need to expedite,” Elmer said. “Average processing times are about six to eight weeks. If travel is any time in April, I would recommend expediting.”
Nicco Sylvester, a first-year studying genetics, is one of the students who may be planning to head to the passport fair to get a passport for his study abroad trip this summer.
“I’m going to China,” Sylvester said. “It’s an immersion program for Chinese language and culture. It’s important just to understand the rest of the world. A computer can tell you a lot of information, but people can tell you more.”
Anya Gunturi, a third-year studying graphic design, said Passport Services has made travel abroad much easier for her.
“Since I’m planning to travel abroad next semester, I’m going to talk to Passport Services about all the legal documents I need for my trip and to get me ready for travel,” Gunturi said. “I’m really grateful for this resource.”
While Passport Services is open to anyone in need of a passport, most people who make appointments tend to be students.
“Since January of this year, about 50 percent … have been affiliated with the university but about 35 percent are unaffiliated with the university,” Elmer said. “I’m expecting that [Thursday] will most be filled with that unaffiliated population, just as, I know that students have a very full schedule and aren’t always able to come to a fair on a Thursday.”
Students attending the fair need to bring specific forms and pay certain fees to obtain a passport. This information can be found on the Passport Services’ website. The Passport Services office is located in room 126 on the third floor of Witherspoon Student Center. Students with any questions concerning the Passport Fair can contact the office at 919-515-2249.
