Online Passport Application Pilot for Naturalized Citizens

Starting Nov. 16, naturalized citizens applying for their first U.S. passport can use an online version of Form DS-11 instead of appearing in person at a post office or other acceptance facility.

The State Department will open an online passport application pilot on Nov. 16, 2026, and naturalized citizens seeking their first U.S. passport are among the first people allowed to use it. The pilot moves Form DS-11, the application that has always required an in-person appearance, onto the web for two groups of adults in the United States: first-time applicants proving citizenship with a USCIS Certificate of Naturalization, and former passport holders who cannot use the existing online renewal system. The program, set out in a notice filed for public inspection Nov. 12, runs through Nov. 20, 2027, unless extended.

For new citizens, the passport is usually the first federal document they request after the oath ceremony. It proves citizenship for jobs, travel and, increasingly, the citizenship checks run against voter rolls. Until now, getting one meant an in-person appointment, submitting the original certificate and swearing the oath before an agent.

Who qualifies at launch: adults 18 and older located in the United States who are first-time applicants using a Certificate of Naturalization, or who previously held a fully valid passport but are not eligible to renew on Form DS-82.
How it works: applicants start at America.gov, which Nextgov/FCW describes as the AI chatbot the White House launched this fall, then verify identity through Login.gov with a liveness check and Social Security number. They upload a photo and record themselves reciting the oath for a passport agent to review.
Identification: a valid U.S. passport or a state, D.C. or territory driver’s license or ID card; mobile driver’s licenses are excluded.
Fees: unchanged; the notice says the $35 execution fee still applies.

Checking citizenship without the paper certificate in hand

Proof requirements are not relaxed: applicants “will still be required to establish their U.S. citizenship and their identity.” Adjudicators will verify citizenship through system checks, “including those from USCIS,” and the online form asks for the applicant’s USCIS or alien registration number. For some first-time applicants, the notice says, the citizenship evidence required by 22 CFR 51.42 and 51.43 may be submitted electronically only.

That design explains why naturalized citizens go first. Every Certificate of Naturalization traces back to a USCIS record tied to an A-number, which gives the department a single federal database to check. Birth certificates come from state and local vital records offices with no common federal index, and the notice lists them only as an anticipated later expansion, along with Consular Reports of Birth Abroad and applicants overseas.

The practical effect is that the accuracy of a new citizen’s USCIS file now matters to the passport process. A misspelled name, a wrong date of birth entered at naturalization, or a certificate later replaced on Form N-565 is the kind of mismatch likely to send an online application to manual review. The notice does not say what happens when a system check fails, a gap that matters for people whose cases have already drawn closer USCIS scrutiny.

The scale behind the online passport application test

The department processed 13,913,231 DS-11 applications in fiscal year 2025, according to the notice, and estimates that the paper form takes 85 minutes per response. USCIS welcomed 818,500 new citizens in fiscal year 2024, the latest annual total on its naturalization statistics page. The notice sets no cap on participants and gives no estimate of how many will use the pilot; deployment will be phased, and time saved is one of the data points the department says it will measure.

Resting on 22 U.S.C. 211a and 213, the pilot temporarily sets aside several in-person provisions of the passport regulations in 22 CFR Part 51. It is a time-limited test, not a final rule. The department accepts comments on docket DOS-2026-1222 but says they “will not receive a response.” Making it permanent would most likely require amending those regulations, where public input carries more weight.

A point of confusion for derivative citizens

Can I use the online DS-11 pilot with a Certificate of Citizenship instead of a naturalization certificate?

Not at launch. The first phase accepts only the Certificate of Naturalization as citizenship evidence for first-time applicants. People who derived citizenship through a U.S. citizen parent typically hold a Certificate of Citizenship (Form N-560 or N-561) instead, and both the State Department notice and Nextgov/FCW’s report on it list that document only among later, anticipated additions.

The notice could still change before formal publication on Monday. After that, the markers to watch are when America.gov begins taking DS-11 filings, whether the department publishes processing-time results, and when it adds birth-certificate holders, opening the pilot to U.S.-born first-time applicants while proof of birth in the United States sits at the center of the birthright citizenship litigation.

This article is for general information and is not legal advice.

Sources

Vasanth Vaidyanathan, Esq.

Administrator

Vasanth Vaidyanathan is an immigration attorney with over 20 years of experience focused exclusively on U.S. immigration and nationality law. He holds an LL.M. from California Western School of Law, San Diego and advises individuals and businesses on employment and family-based immigration matters, including H-1B, PERM, EB categories, and adjustment of status. He has also been a featured speaker at immigration seminars across the U.S. To reach Vasanth visit: https://www.vnathan.com/

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