Question: How can we find out about special events to get a passport if we don’t happen to see a flyer? I mentioned to a friend that I was trying to make an appointment at the main library to get my passport, and he said there was a walk-in event, which is over now. He knew about it because he uses that library a lot.
Answer: The U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs posts a calendar of “special passport acceptance fairs” on its website, travel.state.gov, which shows that the Hawaii State Library on King Street hosted fairs Monday and Tuesday morning, with no appointment required.
Although you missed those events, there’s another passport fair scheduled for Saturday, this time at the Waimanalo Post Office, at 41-859 Kalanianaole Highway. It’s scheduled to run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and space will be limited. Applicants can pre-register by calling 808-259-0234. “Walk-in customers with completed paperwork will be accommodated only if time permits,” according to a news release from the U.S. Postal Service.
This event will accept Form DS-11, which is for people who are applying for a passport for the first time, or who are under age 16, or who don’t meet the requirements to renew their old passport, according to the bureau.
Applicants should fill out and print the DS-11 application in advance and bring it to the post office unsigned, along with an acceptable passport photo, documents and fees, which at this fair must be paid by check; neither cash nor credit/debit cards will be accepted, the news release said. Select the DS-11 form at 808ne.ws/3JkPuPL or find it via the travel.state.gov website.
For more information, including about fees, check the website or call the National Passport Information Center at 877-487-2778.
As for the state library, besides listing its passport fairs on the bureau’s website, details were posted on the library’s website, as well as at the library, which usually accepts passport applications only on Thursday afternoons and Saturday mornings, by appointment. Appointments are booked through March, but the April schedule will open today, as “the library takes passport appointments only on the 15th of each month for the following month,” its website says.
Q: Will the IRS office be open another Saturday before tax day?
A: Yes, the Honolulu office is scheduled to be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 8, which is a Saturday. Walk-in service on that date is designed to serve people who can’t resolve their questions by phone, online or during regular weekday hours.
Auwe
Police ought to keep staking out Kapiolani Boulevard near Kamakee Street. I was out front of McKinley Car Wash between 6:30 and 8 p.m. I saw three speeders and someone on a minimotorcycle showing off the wheelie technique. The message has got to go out repeatedly: Slow down! This is not the mainland! — Concerned citizen
(Editor’s note: A camera system that will generate a ticket when a vehicle runs a red light is being installed at that location, where a McKinley High School student in a crosswalk was killed by a hit-and-run driver.)
Mahalo
I was in a checkout line at the Kahala Mall Longs on Feb. 24 when a kind young lady in front of me offered to let me get ahead of her as she had several items to purchase while I had only one. I declined at first but she insisted. So I moved ahead of her and began to fumble with my wallet when she said that was not necessary as she would pay for my item. I was so surprised but accepted her most generous gesture gratefully. — A bit embarrassed but happy kupuna
Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-500, Honolulu, HI 96813; call 808-529-4773; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
