ECU partners with LCC for satellite passport office
East Carolina University and Lenoir Community College have partnered to operate a satellite passport office in Greenville, providing a more convenient location for ECU students and employees to apply for a passport.
“LCC contacted me to discuss this partnership,” said Dr. Virginia Hardy, vice chancellor for student affairs. “They were interested in providing this service because they have been seeing some of our students and others from Greenville (in their Kinston passport office).”
Between 600 and 650 students and accompanying faculty travel abroad each year, said Dr. Ravi Paul, interim executive director of global affairs. Some faculty and staff members also travel abroad for conferences and seminars.
U.S. citizens applying for a passport for the first time must do so in person.
“This should help our students and employees to be able to get their passports with shorter wait times and be more convenient than going to Kinston or the post office,” Hardy said.
The satellite passport office in Greenville will be located in ECU’s International House at 306 E. Ninth St. LCC will staff and operate the office one day each month this fall and twice a month in the spring. The hours will likely be expanded to meet increased demand in preparation for spring break, which is when LCC has seen the most demand from ECU students, Hardy said.
The dates for Fall 2016 are Sept. 14, Oct. 19 and Nov. 9, and the office will be open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The process and documentation for applying for a passport remain the same and can be found at the U.S. Department of State website at travel.state.gov. Required documents include a certified birth certificate; a printed passport photo, minimum 2 inches square; and photo identification (driver’s license, military or state ID). Passport photos can be taken at the satellite passport office.
Routine processing takes four to six weeks and costs $110, while expedited processing takes three weeks and costs $170; there is a processing fee of $25.
For more information contact Dr. Ravi Paul at paulr@ecu.edu or 252-328-1936.
–Jules Norwood