The U.S. Department of State is opening a passport office in Orlando. Previously, the only passport office in the state was in Miami.
Democratic Congressman Maxwell Frost announced Tuesday afternoon after receiving a call from the U.S. Department of State.
“The Orlando International Airport is one of the busiest airports in the entire world,” said Frost. “My office is very excited about this huge win.”
According to Frost, Orlando is one of six sites in the country receiving a new passport office. The new office differs from a passport counter, which typically will take a person’s picture and six weeks to process. The new office will allow people to schedule an appointment, arrive, and leave with a passport on the same day.
There are 22 passport offices in the country. Outside of Florida, the only other two states to have passport offices in the Southeast U.S. are Georgia and Louisiana. Frost has been working with the State Department to secure the office and said this will provide relief to the Miami office, and those who were traveling to Miami.
“We have people drive hours and hours. A lot of people have to spend their own money to get a hotel to stay overnight because it's so far from their home,” Frost said. “I want to emphasize this is a huge win for not just our region, but our state and the entire Southeast. Up until now, the Miami passport office was the only one in the state.”
The Miami office was also vulnerable during Hurricane Season, which started at the beginning of the month. The office faced previous backlogs after closing for storms, Frost said.
“Whenever a hurricane would happen. If that office was shut down for a few weeks, we would have no offices across the entire state of Florida. Well, that all is about to change,” he said. “
Frost said it was a joint effort and included former Congresswoman Val Demings and former Congresswoman Stephanie Murphy.
Maxwell’s office, the City of Orlando, and Orange County will spend about a year working with the federal government to determine the office’s location.
