22 Cfr 51.3

§ 51.2

22 CFR Ch. I (4–1–07 Edition)

(a) United States means the continental United States, the State of Hawaii, the Commonwealth of Puerto
Rico, the Virgin Islands of the United
States, the Canal Zone, American
Samoa, Guam and any other islands or
territory over which the United States
exercises jurisdiction.
(b) Department means the Department
of State of the United States of America.
(c) Secretary means the Secretary of
State.
(d) National means a citizen of the
United States or a noncitizen owing
permanent allegiance to the United
States.
(e) Passport means a travel document
issued under the authority of the Secretary of State attesting to the identity and nationality of the bearer.
(f) Passport agent means a person designated by the Department to accept
passport applications.
(g) Passport application means the application form for a United States passport, filled in, subscribed and executed
as prescribed by the Secretary pursuant to 22 U.S.C. 213, and all documents,
photos and statements submitted with
the form or thereafter in support of the
application. A person providing false
information as part of a passport application, whether contemporaneously
with the application form or at any
other time, is subject to prosecution
for passport fraud or perjury under all
applicable criminal statutes, including
but not limited to 18 U.S.C. 1001, 1541,
et seq. and 1621.
(h) Passport issuing office means the
Passport Office, a Passport Agency, a
Passport Agent of the Department, or a
Foreign Service Post authorized to
issue passports.
(i) Designated nationality examiner
means a person designated under
§ 50.1(g) of this subchapter.
(j) Electronic passport means a passport containing an electronically readable device, an electronic chip, encoded
with the information printed on the
data page, a biometric version of the
bearer’s photograph, a unique chip
number, and a digital signature to pro-

tect the integrity of the stored information.
[31 FR 13540, Oct. 20, 1966, as amended at 31
FR 14522, Nov. 11, 1966; 61 FR 43312, Aug. 22,
1996; 66 FR 29906, June 4, 2001; 70 FR 61555,
Oct. 25, 2005]

Subpart A—General
§ 51.2 Passport issued to nationals
only.
(a) A United States passport shall be
issued only to a national of the United
States (22 U.S.C. 212).
(b) Unless authorized by the Department no person shall bear more than
one valid or potentially valid U.S. passport at any one time.
[SD–165, 46 FR 2343, Jan. 9, 1981]

§ 51.3 Types of passports.
(a) Regular passport. A regular passport is issued to a national of the
United States proceeding abroad for
personal or business reasons.
(b) Official passport. An official passport is issued to an official or employee
of the U.S. Government proceeding
abroad in the discharge of official duties. Where appropriate, dependents of
such persons may be issued official
passports.
(c) Diplomatic passport. A diplomatic
passport is issued to a Foreign Service
Officer, a person in the diplomatic
service or to a person having diplomatic status either because of the nature of his or her foreign mission or by
reason of the office he or she holds.
Where appropriate, dependents of such
persons may be issued diplomatic passports.
(22 U.S.C. 2658 and 3926)
[31 FR 13540, Oct. 20, 1966, as amended at 49
FR 16989, Apr. 23, 1984]

§ 51.4 Validity of passports.
(a) Signature of bearer. A passport is
valid only when signed by the bearer in
the space designated for his signature.
(b) Period of validity of a regular passport. (1) A regular passport issued on or
after February 1, 1998, to an applicant
16 years of age or older is valid for 10
years from date of issue unless limited
by the Secretary to a shorter period.
(2) A regular passport issued on or
after February 1, 1998 to an applicant

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