You asked why the U. S. Department of State will not allow New Milford’s town clerk to accept passport applications. You also wanted to know if town clerks accepting applications before the end of 2003 may continue to do so.

After a town clerk in another state issued false birth certificates and then accepted passport applications based on them, the U. S. Department of State barred new “dual acceptance facilities” starting in 2004. A dual acceptance facility is one that issues the identification supporting the passport applications it accepts. Because of the potential for fraud when one person or facility handles both matters, the Department of State chose not to authorize new dual acceptance facilities and to undertake a review to determine whether current dual acceptance facilities should be allowed to continue. Town clerks accepting applications before the end of 2003 may continue to accept applications at this time, pending a determination by the Department of State.

We spoke with the U. S. Department of State’s Connecticut Passport Agency and learned that the New Milford town clerk did not submit the paperwork required to become a passport acceptance agent until January 2004. Agency staff initially and erroneously believed that the clerk submitted his paperwork in 2003 and allowed him to accept passport applications based on that belief, but when the error was realized, they revoked his authority. The only way the clerk would be allowed to accept passport applications in the future would be to have separate departments and employees for vital records and passport acceptance.

JC: ts