Demand for Passports in Kane County on Track to Set Record
It appears as though residents in Kane County are making up for lost travel time during the pandemic.
The Kane County Clerk's Office believes they are on track to set a record for passport applications, crediting the number of people who are traveling again especially this holiday season.
According to the Clerk's office, there is a 71.17% increase in the number of passport applications as of the end of October this year compared to the end of October in 2021. A total of 3,283 passport applications were received, compared to 1,918 at the end of October in 2021.
In addition to the pent-up travel demand from the COVID pandemic, Kane County Clerk Jack Cunningham says there are a number of other reasons why his office has been so busy this year.
“The reasons for that are of course the opening of travel after COVID, but we also like to think that the convenience of our locations in Aurora and Geneva, our first-come, first-served ease of getting in (instead of an appointment required at the post offices), our convenient Wednesday evening hours until 7:30 p.m., and most importantly, the nice courteous passport agents we have in both offices that folks literally tell their friends to come to also help to boost our passport traffic," Cunningham said. “We also have approximately nine trained acceptance agents between the two offices available at most times throughout the day, which allows us to do more at the same time than most other places as well."
Kane County application fees for passports are $35, an amount set by the U.S. Department of State. Cunningham said photographs also are available for $15 as well and that price has remained the same since his office acquired the camera setup over five years ago.
Visit the Kane County Clerk's Office website at https://www.kanecountyclerk.org/VitalRecords/Pages/Passports.aspx#p1 for instructions on how to apply for a passport. It's recommended that residents apply for passports several months before their planned departure dates.
