22 U.S.C. § 211a — Authority to grant, issue, and verify passports

submitted 100 years ago by ch. 772 to r/title-22-FOREIGN-RELATIONS-AND-INTERCOURSE · 166 words · no verdicts yet

in plain englishAI-generated · not legal advice

This law lets the Secretary of State issue and verify U.S. passports. Passports can be granted through diplomats, consular officers, certain State Department staff, territorial officials, and electronic systems, under presidential rules — no one else can issue them. A passport can't be restricted to travel in a particular country unless a law allows it, or that country is at war, has active fighting, or poses a danger to health or safety.

This section gives the Secretary of State the power to grant, issue, and verify passports. That work can also be done through U.S. diplomatic and consular officers in foreign countries, through State Department employees who are U.S. citizens and whom the Secretary of State designates, through the chief or other executive officer of a U.S. insular possession, and through the use of Department of State electronic systems. All of this must follow rules the President designates and prescribes for and on behalf of the United States, and no entity other than these may grant, issue, or verify these passports. Separately, unless a law authorizes it, a passport can't be designated as restricted for travel to, or use in, any country other than one the United States is at war with, one where armed hostilities are in progress, or one where there's imminent danger to public health or to the physical safety of U.S. travelers.

the actual law source: uscode.house.gov ↗public domain

The Secretary of State may grant and issue passports, and cause passports to be granted, issued, and verified in foreign countries by diplomatic and consular officers of the United States, and by such other employees of the Department of State who are citizens of the United States as the Secretary of State may designate, and by the chief or other executive officer of the insular possessions of the United States, and through the use of Department of State electronic systems, under such rules as the President shall designate and prescribe for and on behalf of the United States, and no other entity shall grant, issue, or verify such passports. Unless authorized by law, a passport may not be designated as restricted for travel to or for use in any country other than a country with which the United States is at war, where armed hostilities are in progress, or where there is imminent danger to the public health or the physical safety of United States travellers.

Source credit: (July 3, 1926, ch. 772, § 1, 44 Stat. 887; Pub. L. 95–426, title I, § 124, Oct. 7, 1978, 92 Stat. 971; Pub. L. 103–236, title I, § 127(a), Apr. 30, 1994, 108 Stat. 394; Pub. L. 103–415, § 1(b), Oct. 25, 1994, 108 Stat. 4299; Pub. L. 118–159, div. G, title LXXV, § 7506, Dec. 23, 2024, 138 Stat. 2547.)

history & why it existsrecord from the source credit

1926Enacted · Act of July 3, 1926, ch. 772 · 44 Stat. 887
1978Amended · Pub. L. 95-426 · 92 Stat. 971
1994Amended · Pub. L. 103-236 · 108 Stat. 394
1994Amended · Pub. L. 103-415 · 108 Stat. 4299
2024Amended · Pub. L. 118-159 · 138 Stat. 2547

A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by ch. 772 on 1926-07-03.

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