Passport Origin!

If you were born in the US, your passport will list your state of birth, immediately followed by “U.S.A.” In general, If a passport holder was born in a US territory, your passport will show the name of that territory followed by “U.S.A.” For example, your passport may say “Puerto Rico, U.S.A.”

Why the specificity?

No matter if the passport holder’s citizenship was acquired by naturalization or by birth to a US citizen guardian, if the individual was born outside of the United States, the resulting passport will list that country of birth, without the extra bit!

In other words, if you were born in Paris, even your US passport would read “Place of Birth: France.”

If the country you were born in has not gone through territorial changes/name alterations, the process is easy and fairly intuitive! However, with en ever-changing globe and a constantly-carved world stage, what happens to the fine print?

The State Department regulations require that the current name of the country that has sovereignty over your city of birth should be listed.

By this logic, if you were born in Moscow in the first half of the 20th century, your US passport will list your place of birth as Russia, even though the country was the Soviet Union at the time of your birth! Get it?

As you might have imagined, it gets a bit more complex if you were born in a place that is currently:

• A disputed territory
• Part of a country that is not formally recognized by the United Nations or the United States

Take your photos like a pro and be sure to message us at ePassportPhoto to get quick guidance from our representatives!