8 FAM 103
Responsibilities
8 FAM 103.1
Responsibilities
(CT:CITZ-1; 06-27-2018)
(Office of Origin: CA/PPT/S/A)
8 FAM 103.1-1 Responsibilities of
the Passport Specialist and Consular Officer
(CT:CITZ-1; 06-27-2018)
a. This section is a summary of your adjudicative
responsibilities and is not all-inclusive. Your full adjudicative
responsibilities are provided in this and other sections of the 8 FAM, the 8
FAH-1, guides, and other guidance.
(1) Consular officers receive additional
responsibilities in their work requirements and via ALDACs; and
(2) Passport specialists receive additional
responsibilities in their work commitments in the individual performance plan,
via memoranda to the field from CA/PPT headquarters or regional/local
management, and from other duties as assigned.
b. You must follow established adjudication and
annotation procedures to ensure that the passport application and submitted
documents are legible, accurate, and complete. The submitted documents must be
issued and certified by the appropriate custodian of records, e.g., a
government agency or court that issued and maintains the record.
c. You must issue the passport application if the
applicant is entitled to the passport, has met the standard of evidence for
both identity and citizenship, the passport application is acceptable in its
totality, and there are no other barriers to issuance.
d. You must ensure that the passport application is
acceptable in its totality and resolve any outstanding issues by adjudicating
the passport application to the extent possible and then suspending or
referring, as appropriate, the passport application until adequate information
and/or documentation is obtained.
8 FAM 103.1-2 Fraud Awareness
(CT:CITZ-1; 06-27-2018)
a. You must ensure the submitted documents are genuine
and unaltered, following established anti-fraud procedures.
b. You must be alert for fraud indicators (see 8 FAM 200,
"Fraud Prevention").
c. You must use appropriate resources to verify facts
and develop fraud cases.
8 FAM 103.1-3 Citizenship
Adjudication
(CT:CITZ-1; 06-27-2018)
a. You must follow established adjudication policies
and procedures; use adjudicative logic and discretion; and research and use
appropriate resources to ensure that the standard of evidence for citizenship
is met.
b. You must ensure that the submitted documents fulfill
the criteria for acceptable primary or secondary evidence of citizenship
provided in 8 FAM 300,
"U.S. Citizenship and Nationality."
c. You must ensure that the applicant has not lost
her/his citizenship (see 7 FAM 1200, Loss and Restoration of U.S.
Citizenship) and that there are no other barriers to acquisition of
citizenship, e.g., children of foreign mission members.
8 FAM 103.1-4 Identity
Adjudication
(CT:CITZ-1; 06-27-2018)
a. You must follow established adjudication policies
and procedures; use adjudicative logic and discretion; and research and use
appropriate resources to ensure that the preponderance of the evidence of
evidence for identity is met (see 8 FAM 401
"Identity").
(1) The applicant has the burden of establishing her/his
identity; and
(2) You may require additional evidence of identity in
accordance with Department guidelines (see 8 FAM 803.4,
"Denial for Failure to Establish Identity").
b. You must ensure that all biometric checks are
conducted in accordance with 8 FAM 402,
"Biometrics."
c. You must ensure that personally identifiable
information changes and discrepancies are resolved in accordance with 8 FAM 403,
"Personally Identifiable Information."
8 FAM 103.1-5 (U) Entitlement
Adjudication
(CT:CITZ-1; 06-27-2018)
You must ensure that the applicant is entitled to a
passport or Consular Report of Birth Abroad (CRBA):
(1) You must address and resolve all namechecks (see 8 FAM 501,
"Name Checks;"
(2) You must ensure that there is appropriate parental
consent before approving a passport for a minor under the age of 16, and
appropriate parental consent to issuance for minors over the age of 16 (see 8 FAM 502,
"Minors;"
(3) You must ensure that the applicant is entitled to
the type and validity of the passport requested or the CRBA (see 8 FAM 503,
"Special Issuance Passports," 8 FAM 504,
"Second Passports," 8 FAM 505,
"Limited Validity Passports and Passport Endorsements" and 8 FAM 506,
"Entitlement to a CRBA."
8 FAM 103.1-6 Management and
Internal Controls
(CT:CITZ-1; 06-27-2018)
a. Consular officers must follow all consular
management controls (see 7 FAH-1 H-640,
Management Controls for Consular Operations at Overseas Posts).
b. Passport specialists must follow all applicable
passport management controls (see 8 FAH-1 H-640, Management Controls for
Passport Operations) and the internal controls procedures in the Internal
Controls Guide for Employees (ICG).
c. All employees are required to safeguard the privacy
rights of passport applicants (see 8 FAM 1201,
"Authorized Access to Electronic Passport Records" and 8 FAM 1202,
"Reporting Policy for Incidents of Unauthorized Access to Electronic
Passport Records").
d. You must ensure that the appropriate fees have been
collected and recorded on the passport application (see 8 FAM 602.2,
"Passport Fees").
8 FAM 103.1-7 Customer Service
(CT:CITZ-1; 06-27-2018)
a. You must conduct in-person interviews courteously
and professionally at the public counter or window and determine appropriate
service (see 8 FAM 600,
"Pre-Adjudication Processing and Acceptance of Applications").
b. You must conduct any telephone or email exchanges
courteously and professionally as you provide, clarify, or request additional
information. For example, you may be assigned to contact customers who are in
unusual circumstances to clarify previously-sent correspondence.
c. You must draft and/or provide appropriate reasoning
for denial letters to passport applicants for the signature of the passport
agency/center director or designee or consular section chief at post (see 8 FAM 802.1,
"Issuance, Denial, or Withdrawal in Writing").
d. Passport specialists must provide timely and
efficient customer service by selecting appropriate Information Request Letters
only as needed that remove the impediment(s) to issuance or draft supplemental
language for IRLs in unusual circumstances on a case-by-case basis (see 8 FAM 801.2,
"Information Request Letters and Information Notices").