United States Department of State

Washington, D. C.

20520

October 3,2016
Michael E. Davis
County Attorney
Department of Law, County of Monroe
307 County Office Building
39 West Main Street
Rochester, New York 14614
Dear Mr. Davis,
I write on behalf of the U.S. Department of State (the "Department") in response to your
office's inquiry dated September 23,2016, concerning passport execution fees.
Federal law requires the collection of a fee, prescribed by the Secretary of State, for the
execution of each passport application. Specifically, 22 U.S.C. 214, in pertinent part provides
that "[t]here shall be collected ... a fee, prescribed by the Secretary of State by regulation, for
executing each such application except that the Secretary of State may by regulation authorize
State officials or the United States Postal Service to collect and retain the execution fee for each
application for a passport accepted by such officials or by that Service." The law does not
provide any exemptions from the execution fee when a new application is executed before a state
official.
Authorized passport acceptance agents are provided with the Passport Agent's Reference
Guide (the "PARG"), which sets forth the Department's required policies and practices for
authorized passport acceptance agents and facilities. All applicants required to execute a
passport application in person before a passport acceptance agent must complete a Form DS-ll,
Application for a U.S. passport. The PARG specifically states that "Acceptance Agents collect
and retain the execution fee on all Form DS-ll applications. The fee must be paid directly to the
Acceptance Facility, separately from the passport fee, and is nonrefundable. By law, Acceptance
Agents cannot execute an application without accepting an execution fee."
As noted in your letter, 22 C.F.R 51.51 (b) states that "[w ]hen execution services are
provided by an official of a State or local government or of the United States Postal Service
(USPS), the State or local government or USPS may retain the fee if authorized to do so by the
Department." While this regulation permits acceptance agents to keep the execution fee
collected when authorized by the Department, it does not confer acceptance agents with the
discretion to grant exceptions to the execution fee collection requirement.

In summary, state and local government officials and offices authorized by the
Department to serve as passport acceptance agents are required to collect the passport execution
fee with new DS-ll passport applications by both law and regulation. The Department will
review the information you provided in your letter concerning the practices of other acceptance
facilities and determine whether further action is warranted. We trust this letter is responsive to
your inquiry.

S~nIY'

Jo~L~

Director
Office of Legal Affairs and
Law Enforcement Liaison

Approved:

CA/PPT/L: IRolbin ( )

Drafted:

CA/PPT/S/L/LA:

Cleared:

CA/PPT/S/PMO:
NPace (ok)
CA/PPT/S/L/LA:
CMcLean (ok w/edits)
L/CA: CPeters (ok w/edits)
MD/S: BConway (ok)
MDII: FFultz (ok)

AFox, ext. 5-6653,09/26/2016