WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The Department of State has announced that to better serve the growing number of Americans seeking U.S. passports, it will open six new passport agencies in the country.
New offices will open in Salt Lake City, UT; Kansas City, MO; Orlando, FL; Charlotte, NC; San Antonio, TX; and Cincinnati, OH.
With this, the U.S. passport facility network will be expanded to 35 passport agencies and centers and more than 7,400 public passport acceptance facilities nationwide.
More than 99 percent of Americans already live within 25 miles of an acceptance facility, according to the State Department data.
The State Department also said that it is issuing more passports than ever before while maintaining its passport processing times at pre-pandemic levels.
In Fiscal Year 2023, the Department issued more than 24 million passport books and cards, which is an all-time record.
'More Americans can travel abroad today than at any time in our history,' said Secretary Of State Antony Blinken. In 1990, only five percent of Americans had a passport. Today, that number is 48 percent, he said in a statement.
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