# Travel >> Travel Preparation >> Passports

How to Get a Passport in Boston

Traveling abroad is a wonderful experience that allows you to see different cultures and meet new people. In order to avoid some preventable stress or last minute holdups at a Logan boarding gate or foreign customs desk, make sure to get a passport at least six to eight weeks in advance of any travel plans you have. There are multiple ways to get a passport: online, through the mail and in person. But for your first time, you must go in person. Luckily, there are seven passport agencies in downtown Boston alone, all of which take their own photos and are located near a T station. (See Resources) A passport is a great tool to have, you never know when an opportunity to travel abroad, for work or for pleasure, will present itself and you don't want to have to turn it down because you don't have a passport.

Passport application
Proof of citizenship
Proof of identity
Photocopy of identity card
2 passport photos
passport fees

Instructions

- 1
  Complete your passport application form "Form DS-11" online or at a passport acceptance agency (See Resources). The form must be completed using black ink and printed on one-sided pages.
- 2
  Find your original birth certificate. If you can't find it, you have to get an official, stamped copy of it at the town hall in the town where you were born. Most towns charge a fee for an official copy.
  
  If you weren't born in the U.S., you need to bring your Naturalization Certificate, Certificate of Citizenship or Consular Report of Birth Abroad or Certification of Birth.
- 3
  Bring a current proof of identification with you when you go to a passport agency. Acceptable forms include: a valid U.S. driver's license, a previously issued, undamaged U.S. passport, a current U.S. government or military ID, or a Naturalization Certificate.
- 4
  Submit a photocopy of the front and back of your current ID card on an 8 1/2 x 11 inch piece of paper.
- 5
  Have enough money to cover the associated fees (See Resources).
- 6
  Bring two 2x2 inch identical head shot pictures of you taken within the last six months, along with your application. You can have them taken at the passport agency, but if you are looking to save money you can also have them taken at a local pharmacy, such as CVS or Walgreens.