SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR
PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT SUBMISSION
Application for a U.S. Passport: Corrections, Name Change Within 1 Year of Passport Issuance, And Limited Passport Holders
OMB Control Number #1405-0160 (Form DS-5504)
The Application for a U.S. Passport: Corrections, Name Change Within 1 Year of Passport Issuance, And Limited Passport Holders (DS-5504) is the form used by current passport holders who need to re-apply for a passport, at no charge. The following categories are permitted to re-apply for a new passport using the DS-5504: a) the passport holder’s name has changed within the first year of the issuance of the passport; b) the passport holder needs correction of descriptive information on the data page of the passport; c) the passport holder wishes to obtain a fully valid passport after obtaining a full-fee passport with a limited validity of two years or less.
Under 22 United States Code (U.S.C.) Section 211a et seq. and Executive Order 11295 (August 5, 1966), the Secretary of State has authority to issue U.S. passports to U.S. citizens and non-citizen nationals. When the bearer of a valid U.S. passport applies for a new passport book and/or passport card with corrected personal data or when the bearer of a limited validity passport applies for a fully-valid replacement passport, the Department must confirm the applicant’s identity and eligibility to receive passport services before the Department can issue the corrected or replacement passport to the applicant. Form DS-5504 requests information that is necessary to determine whether the applicant is eligible to receive this service in accordance with the requirements of Title III of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) (U.S.C. sections 1402-1504), the regulations at 22 C.F.R. Parts 50 and 51, and other applicable authorities.
The information collected on the DS-5504 is used to facilitate the issuance of U.S. passports to U.S. citizens and nationals. The primary purpose for soliciting the information is to establish nationality, identity, and entitlement to the issuance of a U.S. passport, and to properly administer and enforce the laws pertaining to the issuance thereof.
The DS-5504 is retained in the files of the Department of State, along with other documentation related to passport applications, adjudication, and issuance. Among other uses, within the Department of State these records are reviewed when a U.S. passport has been lost and the bearer has no evidence of nationality available or in support of any derivative claims to nationality made by an applicant’s children. The records may also be reviewed by consular personnel in the event of an emergency abroad involving Americans: the application has a block for the name, address, and telephone number of a person to notify in the event of an emergency. Information from the DS-5504 may also be shared with certain parties outside of the Department of State, as permitted by the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, including as set forth in the Department of State’s Prefatory Statement of Routine Uses and the Department’s System of Records Notice (SORN) for Passport Records (STATE-26) and Overseas Citizens Services Records (STATE-05).
The DS-5504 becomes part of the applicant’s passport file, which is covered by the Privacy Act. The information contained in this file cannot be released except as provided by the Privacy and Freedom of Information Acts.
The DS-5504 is currently available at http://www.travel.state.gov. However, the DS-5504 cannot be submitted electronically, because the current U.S. Passport and additional documentary evidence (i.e., proof of name change) are required to be submitted in person or by mail with this form. The form can be filled out on-line and printed for manual signature and submission. When the application is filled out online, a 2-D barcode is printed on each form. This barcode is scanned by Passport Services and automatically records the applicant’s information in the system. This process saves both Passport Services and the applicant time and reduces errors.
Aside from necessary, basic self-identification data, the information requested does not duplicate information otherwise available. The DS-5504 is the sole Department of State form used by U.S. citizens and nationals who meet the qualifications to apply for a replacement passport.
This collection of information does not significantly impact small businesses or other small entities.
The information collected on the DS-5504 is crucial for documenting a U.S. citizen’s request for a replacement passport and for establishing the applicant’s entitlement to a replacement U.S. passport.
No such special circumstances exist.
The Department of State published a 60-day notice in the Federal Register to solicit public comments on June 6, 2016 (81 FR 36375). [X].
This information collection does not provide any payment or gift to respondents.
This form includes a Privacy Act Statement explaining the routine uses of the information collected under the Act. There are no promises of confidentiality to the respondents.
The DS-5504 collection of information asks the respondent to provide a Social Security number in order to confirm the applicant’s identity. Passport Services must confirm that the person applying for additional passport services is the same person to whom the U.S. passport was originally issued. Moreover, passport applicants are required to submit their Social Security numbers with the passport application and failure to provide a Social Security number may result in the denial of an application (consistent with P.L. 114-94) and may subject the applicant to a penalty enforced by the Internal Revenue Service. (26 U.S.C. 6039E, P.L. 114-94, Section 32101)
Passport Services estimates that the average time required for this information collection is 40 minutes per response. Therefore the estimated total annual burden for the collection is:
136,833
(number of respondents) x 40 (minutes) / 60 = 91,222 hours per
year
To estimate the cost to respondents for this form based on the hourly wage and weighted wage multiplier, the Department calculated the following:
$22.71 (mean hourly earnings based on estimated income per hour from the Bureau of Labor Statistics) x 1.4 (weighted wage multiplier) = $31.79 weighted wage
91,222 (annual hours) x $31.79 (weighted wage) = $2,899,947 hour burden cost
The estimated number of minutes required per response is based on a sampling of the time required to search existing data sources, gather the necessary information, provide the information required, review the final collection, and submit the collection to Passport Services for processing. The sampling was completed through consultation with a group of Consular Affairs employees to validate the time required.
In addition to providing evidence to document his/her request, a respondent must submit a photograph that meets criteria specified in the instruction pages. The national average cost of that type of photograph is $10.00 based on a sampling through consultation with a small group of actual respondents.
DS-5504 applications are submitted primarily by mail. Per information received from the United States Postal Service, the cost burden for postage is approximately $1.25 per application. The overwhelming majority of respondents mail their DS-5504 application through their local post office, which is estimated to be an average distance of approximately 3 miles one way and 6 miles round trip from their homes. This distance is estimated to take five (5) minutes each way for a total of 10 minutes round trip.
To determine the travel cost to the respondent, the Department uses the General Services Administration reimbursement rate of $0.54 mile for privately owned automobiles as of January 1, 2016. (http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/100715?utm_source=OGP&utm_medium=print-radio&utm_term=mileage&utm_campaign=shortcuts)
Therefore, the annual
cost to all respondents to travel this distance is estimated to be
approximately $443,339.
136,833 (number of respondents) x 6 (miles) x $0.54 (miles) = $443,339.
When combining the individual estimated cost burdens associated with Form DS-5504, the total annual cost burden for approximately 136,833 applicants is $1,982,710. A complete breakdown of the involved costs to the respondent is outlined below.
136,833 – Passport Photo |
X |
$10.00 |
= |
$1,368,330 |
136,833 – Postage Fee |
X |
$1.25 |
= |
$171,041 |
136,833 x 6 miles – Average Travel Cost |
X |
$ 0.54 |
= |
$443,339 |
Total Cost to Respondents |
|
|
= |
$1,982,710 |
The projected annual cost to the federal government for this collection is $654,752. The Department pays a contractor for materials and/or supplies to produce the DS-5504. The estimate provided to the Department by the contractor includes cost for contractor labor, supplies, equipment, printing, materials, delivery, overhead, support staff, etc. Using the estimated projection of 136,833 respondents (round up to 137,000) per year for FYs 2016 – 2018, at a cost of $35.00 per thousand, the cost to the Federal Government is $4,795.
The other part of the cost was calculated based upon the recurring costs in the Bureau of
Budget and Planning, New Position Cost Model for domestic Civil Service employees.
The hourly cost for FY 2016 for domestic Civil Service is $67.12. The Passport Office
estimates that reviewing the DS-5504 requires 4.25 minutes of a Civil Service passport
adjudicator’s time. Multiplying $67.12/hr. by 4.25 minutes yields a processing time cost
of $4.75. Multiplying the projected number of respondents (136,833) by $4.75 yields
$649,957. That total plus $4,795 (calculated above) equals the grand total of $654,752.
The program adjustments reflect an increase in the number of projected respondents from 114,637 (previous 2013 – 2016) to 136,833 (FYs 2016-2018). Demand has continued to increase at a steady rate between 2013 through 2016. The annual number of respondents projected to use the DS-5504 for the next three years was adjusted to reflect the actual demand while taking into account a steady increase of all passport applications for Fiscal Years 2016 through 2018. With the rise in overall passport applications, it is expected that name changes, data corrections, and limited passport book replacement will increase accordingly.
Demand forecast projections, by their nature, will have some uncertainty in their accuracy, which can explain differences between actual and forecast.
The change in respondent costs
is due to the elimination of the fees for name change documents
(marriage certificate or court order documents) that were incorrectly
attributed as a Cost to Respondent in the last submission.
Respondents looking to change their names generally will have and/or
obtain these types of documents on their own for a variety of
reasons. The Department’s policy is to return all citizenship
and identity documents, including marriage certificates or court
orders, to the applicant, which means he or she does not incur a
cost. Therefore, the only costs attributed to the respondent in this
submission are for passport photographs, postage, and travel.
In addition to general format changes, the following content changes have been made to the form:
Changed from “Name Change, Data Correction, and Limited Passport Replacement” to “Corrections, Name Change (Within 1 Year of Issuance), and Limited Book Holders.” The Department was receiving many DS-5504s that did not meet eligibility requirements and changed the name to distinguish the DS-5504 further from the DS-82, “U.S. Passport Renewal Application for Eligible Individuals.”
Page 1 Instructions – Under the Eligibility Questions, in an attempt to clarify the policy, we specified that applicants must have changed their name less than one year since their most recent U.S. passport book and/or U.S. passport card was issued AND their U.S. passport book and/or U.S. passport card is less than one year old.
Page 2 Instructions – The photograph language was updated to ban eyewear from passport photographs.
Page 2 Instructions – The evidence section was revised to include more descriptive instructions. A section was also added to address gender transition applicants.
Page 3 Instructions – Federal Tax Law, Use of Social Security Number, & Privacy Act Statement sections was added or revised to comply with the FAST Act requirement that applicants provide their social security number on the application form.
Page 1 Form – The number of pages for a standard and non-standard passport book was updated to remove the number of pages in each passport in anticipation of the upcoming design change for the new U.S. passport. The newly designed passport books will have fewer pages than the current version.
Page 1 Form – The email address question was edited to inform customers that they can sign up for a variety of alerts at travel.state.gov.
Page 2 Form – Under the “Questions Regarding Your Current Passport Book and/or Card” blocks in the last section, more information was added in order to ensure that the applicant understood which situation he/she was qualified for.
Quantitative summaries of Department of State passport activities are published periodically on the Department of State website at www.travel.state.gov. Such summaries do not involve the use of complex analytical techniques.
The expiration date for OMB approval will be displayed.
The Department is not requesting any exceptions to the certification statement.
This collection does not employ statistical methods.
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| File Title | SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR |
| Author | USDOS |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2021-01-23 |