Need a Passport? Know the Rules, Avoid Hazards

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With the concept of turning the world into a global village coming to the fore, the possession of a passport has become one of the most essential and important documentation that a modern man has to look after. The passport is not only necessary for travelling abroad but it also serves as one of the most important identity proof of the modern man as well. While applying for a new passport for that matter even for the renewal of an old one, the knowhow regarding getting a new passport is very essential for not getting into any last minute hazards before making an important trip.

Serious changes in the regulations has been made related to the assemblage of a new passport or for that matter a renewal of an older one, lack of knowledge regarding which might lead you to serious problems which might be considered as unsought for and sudden ones. Recently, to be exact, on 20^th November, 2015, The US Department of State (DOS) has issued a rule related to the insertion of extra pages in an existing passport with effect from 1^st January, 2016. Though, the existing rule would be valid till 31^st December, 2015, but from the next day onwards, no insertion would be allowed in any passport.

Beginning from the date of implementation of the new regulation, a candidate will be allowed to apply for two types of passports, one with 28 pages or the one containing 52 pages with no extra pages allowed to be inserted later on. Although the rule of allotting a 52 pages passport to the frequent travellers from outside US might be traced back to 1^st October, 2014, but this would be a new rule for the insiders. According to the statement of The US State Department, this decision was implemented to enhance the security of the US passport and elevate it to the international standards. To add to this, the State Department spokesman John Kirby said that this move has no relation to the recent attacks in Paris and was being strategized from long before in order to be implemented.

In relation to this newly formed regulation, the DOS has unveiled interesting data related to the US travellers. They can be summarized like an average US passport holder uses only 6-7 or even fewer visa pages, 97%!o(MISSING)f all passport holders of the country uses 17 or lesser number of pages at the time of renewal of the passport, the number using more than 32 pages are less than 1%!a(MISSING)nd among them only 17%!h(MISSING)ad the smaller US passport book to start with. All the above mentioned facts are proof enough that the move was a result of a long term research and very logical as well.

As such, it has become the need of the hour to know the regulations even before procuring the knowledge of how to get a new passport as it might fetch you into serious consequences once the year ends. And for the people who has a bit of time left for the renewal of the passport and might run out of pages recently, you still can get them inserted by 31^st December, 2015.

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