What’s the first thing you should do when you get your U.S. Passport? Always check the information on your passport to ensure that it is accurate and without any errors. Spelling errors and incorrect dates may cause future travel nightmares if you are prevented from traveling due to a passport error. Sometimes an applicant will receive their passport back from the U.S. Passport Agency and their name will be misspelled or the gender is issued incorrectly. Any error on your passport MUST be corrected otherwise your passport may not be considered valid to use for travel. If the error is a minor error (minor spelling error for example), then you may be able to still use that passport for travel and update it once you return. We recommend avoiding this potential issue by reviewing your passport the moment it arrives. If you find an error, get it fixed right away!

The second thing you MUST do when you get your passport may not be as obvious. Make sure you sign the first page of your passport. Your passport must have a signature for it to be valid. Please sign your name on the signature line.
What Happens If Your Passport Comes Back With An Error?

If the mistake was done by the U.S. Passport Agency, they will fix the error for free. You have one year to submit proof of the error in order to qualify for the free service. Unfortunately, you will not be able to use an expediting service for this process. Take your license and birth certificate to your local passport acceptance agent and they will be able to provide you with the Data Correction form to submit to the Passport Agency.

Applicants that do not submit the Data Correction within one year of their passport issuance will have to pay for a new passport in order to get passport error correction.