Passport authorities, being an agency or department controlled by a national government, are created by the administrative power of the state or government. Various countries have various types of governments, and each government has its own process of creating branches or agencies that are mandated to monitor and regulate the travel of its citizens to other countries. These agencies may be called different names by different governments, but all agencies that have power to issue and control passports is called a passport authority.
A passport authority has one main function--to issue a passport to citizens of its government so that citizens can be properly documented to travel to other countries. In the process, a passport authority accepts applications for passports, screens the applications to remove unqualified applicants and issues the passport. It also renews expired passports and lost passports. Another function of a passport authority is to solve problems involving issued passports. Passport agencies also aid its government in earning income through fees and taxes associated with the passport issuance. In the U.S., the Department of State's Bureau of Consular Affairs Office of Passport Services is considered to be the government's passport authority.
Different governments have different locations of passport authorities, but these government agencies are mainly located in major cities of each country to allow access to as many citizens as possible. In the U.S., passport authorities are located in many states, but post offices, public libraries, clerks of court and other state, county, township and municipal government offices accept passport applications on behalf of the Department of State's Bureau of Consular Affairs Office of Passport Services.
Passport authorities are mostly public agencies operating under the arm of the government, which is why it is typically managed by public officials. Such public officials may be appointed or elected depending on the staffing procedure observed by each a particular government. As an example, the U.S. Office of Passport Services is managed by the State Department, which is headed by a Cabinet secretary appointed by the president.
