How do I get old passport records?

Question

How do I get old passport records? I'm the daughter of a service member.

Robert Crumley · Answer

Dear Ms. Scritchfield, &#160; Thank you for posting your request on History Hub! &#160; We searched the National Archives Catalog and located 29 series in the General Records of the Department of State (Record Group 59) that consist of various types of passport applications from 1795 to March 1925. For more information about these records, please contact the National Archives at College Park - Textual Reference (RDT2) via email at archives2reference@nara.gov . &#160; The State Department has custody of passport applications dated after 1925. For information on how to request an application , please visit their website. All requests for passport records issued after 1925 to the present should be mailed to the U.S. Department of State, Office of Law Enforcement Liaison, FOIA Officer, 44132 Mercure Circle, P.O. Box 1227, Sterling, VA 20166 . &#160; For more information you may wish to visit the National Archives web page titled Passport Records and this recent History Hub blog post on Passport Applications at the National Archives . &#160; If your father served in the military and you have not done so already, you may wish to request a copy of his Official Military Personnel File (OMPF) . OMPFs for those who served in the U.S. Armed Forces and who were separated from the service before October 2002 are in the custody of NARA's National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis. In many cases where Army and Air Force personnel records were destroyed in the 1973 fire , proof of service can be provided from other records such as morning reports, payrolls, and military orders, and a certificate of military service will be issued. Navy and Marine Corps OMPFs were not affected by the fire. Please complete a GSA Standard Form 180 and mail it to NARA's National Personnel Records Center, (Military Personnel Records), 1 Archives Drive, St. Louis, MO&#160; 63138-1002. Veterans and their next of kin also may use eVetRecs to request records. See eVetRecs Help for instructions. &#160; Military personnel records are completely opened to the public 62 years after the veteran leaves the military. If less than 62 years have passed since the veteran&#8217;s discharge date (to include any reserve time), c ertain information in the records is not available to the general public without the written consent of the veteran or his next of kin. For more information see Request Military Service Records and Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF), Archival Holdings . &#160; Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and pursuant to guidance received from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), NARA has adjusted its normal operations to balance the need of completing its mission-critical work while also adhering to the recommended social distancing for the safety of NARA staff. As a result of this re-prioritization of activities, you may experience a delay in receiving an initial acknowledgement as well as a substantive response to your reference request from RDT2. Also, NPRC will continue servicing requests ONLY associated with medical treatments, burials, homeless veterans seeking admittance to a homeless shelter, and those involving the VA Home Loan program. If your request is urgent, please see Emergency Requests and Deadlines . Please refrain from submitting non-emergency requests such as replacement medals, administrative corrections, or records research until NPRC returns to pre-COVID staffing levels.&#160; Please check archives.gov/veterans for updates to the NPRC operating hours and status. We apologize for this inconvenience and appreciate your understanding and patience. &#160; We hope this is helpful. Best of luck with your family research! &#160;