1405-0222__PRA Supporting Statement

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

FOR PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT SUBMISSION

Courier Drop-Off List for U.S. Passport Applications

OMB #1405-0222 (DS-4283)

A. JUSTIFICATION

1. U.S. citizens and nationals residing in the continental United States with urgent travel plans who do not wish to or cannot apply for a U.S. passport in person at a U.S. Department of State passport agency may hire a private courier company to deliver a passport application to one of fourteen participating passport agencies located in the continental United States.  In an effort to maintain normal wait times for other customers at agency counters while protecting the integrity of passport applications dropped off via a courier company, the Department permits couriers to drop off multiple applications in a sealed envelope or package at a designated drop-off site at a passport agency.

The Secretary of State is authorized to issue U.S. passports under 22 U.S.C. 211a and is authorized to establish, maintain, and operate passport agencies pursuant to 22 U.S.C. 2670(m). The Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs, Passport Services Directorate, administers the U.S. passport issuance program and manages twenty-six U.S. passport agencies within the United States with public counters (fourteen of which participate in the courier program). The Department of State derives the authority to manage the delivery of applications to its passport agencies from its statutory authority to issue U.S. passports and manage the U.S. passport issuance program.

2. The Department asks courier company employees to list certain information describing the specific passport applications or supporting materials they drop off at a passport agency on the Courier Drop-Off List for U.S. Passport Applications (Form DS-4283). The Department uses the DS-4283 to track the intake of these applications and materials delivered by courier companies to designated drop-off sites within a passport agency. Passport agencies use the DS-4283 form as a receipt to record the applications and materials delivered in bulk to the agency. The form also serves as an acknowledgement by courier employees affirming that they dropped off specific passport applications and materials on a particular day for a specified (one, two, or three-day) turnaround time.

The DS-4283 is retained by the Department for no more than two years before it is destroyed. The DS-4283 may be shared with certain parties outside of the Department of State, as permitted by the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, including as set forth in the Department of State’s Prefatory Statement of Routine Uses, the Department’s System of Records Notice (SORN) for Passport Records (STATE-26), and the SORN for Overseas Citizens Services Records and Other Overseas Records (STATE-05) available on the Department’s website at System of Records Notices – Privacy Office - United States Department of State.

2. Passport agencies provide the DS-4283 to private courier companies via email as requested.

2. The DS-4283 asks for the name of the courier company, the name and signature of the courier employee who delivers the application(s) and other material to the passport agency, the turnaround time requested (one, two, or three days), the date the application(s) was/were delivered to the passport agency, the name(s) and birthdate(s) of the applicant(s), the type of passport application submitted, the applicant’s or applicants’ departure date, and an indication of whether the applicant(s) is/are seeking a foreign visa once the passport has been issued. If an individual is merely submitting supplemental materials in response to an agency request for additional documentation, or a passport containing inaccurate identifying information to be corrected, the courier may note relevant information for these materials in the bottom three spaces of the form. The name of the courier employee is critical to help verify who dropped off the application. The name of the courier company and applicant whose application is being delivered is requested so that the agency can match the DS-4283 with the applications it accompanied. The applicant’s birthdate is requested so that the agency can distinguish between applications submitted by more than one person with the same name. Listing the departure date helps ensure that the individual requesting courier service has upcoming travel plans necessitating expedited service.

2. This collection of information creates a minimal burden on private courier companies, some of which are small businesses. The form is completed by the employees of courier companies who deliver passport applications to passport agencies. The time required for the courier company employee to submit the name of the courier company, the application delivery date, the service type (one, two, three-day) window requested, the name and birthdate of the applicant, the type of passport application submitted, a checkmark indicating whether the individual will be applying for a foreign visa, and his/her (the employee’s) name and signature by hand is minimal. Courier companies would not be required to expend any resources updating technological systems or pay additional fees in order to complete the information listed on the form.

2. The DS-4283 is important to the Department’s efforts to track the intake of passport applications delivered in bulk by a courier company at an agency drop-off site. Listing the courier company, the name and signature of the courier employee who drops off the application, the service type (one, two, or three-day service) requested, the application delivery date, the applicant’s name and date of birth, the type of application, and the applicant’s departure date on the form helps strengthen the integrity of the passport application process by providing a means of documenting the applications and materials received by the Department, as well as who delivered them and when.

2. The DS-4283 requires courier companies to report information to the Department with each group of passport applications submitted in a sealed envelope or package to a passport agency. The need for the agency to track the intake of individual passport applications constitutes a special circumstance warranting the collection of information more frequently than on a quarterly basis.

2. The Department of State did not publish a 60-day notice in the Federal Register to solicit public comments.

2. This information collection does not provide any payment or gift to respondents.

2. There are no assurances of privacy/confidentiality.

2. The DS-4283 does not ask questions of a sensitive nature.

2. Passport Services estimates that the average time required for this information collection is 10 minutes per response. Therefore, the estimated total annual burden for the collection is:

210,000 (number of responses) x 10 (minutes) / 60 = 35,000 hours per year.

To estimate the cost to respondents for this form based on the hourly wage and weighted wage multiplier, the Department calculated the following:

$16.40ⁱ is the mean hourly earnings for couriers and messengers based on estimated income per hour from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for 2020.

35,000 (annual hours) x $16.40 (mean hourly wage) = $574,000 (hour cost burden)

The estimated number of minutes required per response is based on a sampling of the time required to search existing data sources, gather the necessary information, provide the information required, review the final collection, and submit the collection to the passport agency for processing. The sampling was completed through consultation with a group of Consular Affairs employees to validate the time.

2. DS-4283 forms are submitted with the passport applications delivered in bulk that the courier company is already transporting to the passport agency. Therefore, there are no postage fees or additional transportation costs associated with this form. The Department will provide a copy of the DS-4283 to courier companies at annual meetings and may also provide copies of the DS-4283 by request via email. As a result, the only additional costs imposed on courier companies are those associated with making copies of the form.

The cost of printing is $0.22 each (black and white), based on a quote from FedEx.

Cost of Printing Form - Black & White 210,000	x	$0.22	=	$46,200
Total Cost to Respondents				$46,200

2. As the Department will be providing original copies of the form via e-mail and at annual meetings with the courier company, there are no equipment or overhead costs and printing costs associated with the form are negligible.
   
   

3. The program change reflects a decrease in burden hours from 39,759 in 2018 to 35,000. This decrease is based on the fact that the number of responses has also decreased, from 238,554 to 210,000. The form burden time remains the same (10 minutes).

2. In addition to general format changes, the following content changes have been made to the form:

   1. Page 1: Swapped INSTRUCTIONS and USE OF THIS FORM sections

   2. Page 1: INSTRUCTIONS section, Item 3: Modified language

   3. Page 1: USE OF THIS FORM section: Modified language

   4. Page 1: INFORMATION OR QUESTIONS section: Deleted “FOR”

   5. Page 2: EXAMPLE row: Inserted “1/1/2000” in DOB field

   6. Page 2: EXAMPLE row: Changed Departure Date to “1/8/2022”
      
      
      

3. The data gathered in this collection of information will not be published.
   
   
   

4. The expiration date for OMB approval will be displayed.

2. The Department is not requesting any exceptions to the certification statement.

B. Collection of Information Employing Statistical Methods

This collection does not employ statistical methods.

i Source, Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2020

43-5021 Couriers and Messengers,” https://www.bls.gov/iag/tgs/iag492.htm