Customers to Washington County’s License Centers and Service Centers will be able to get a free passport photo (a $10 value) when they apply for a passport from Sept. 17, 2007 through Nov. 9, 2007. This offer is part of the opening activities of the county’s new Service Center and License Center in Forest Lake. The Forest Lake Service Center opened on Monday. The county also opened a new service center in Cottage Grove in May that offers passport acceptance and photos as well as many other county services. “We hope this free passport photo offer will attract customers to visit our offices to see the many services that are being offered in these new locations,” said Kevin Corbid, director of the property records and taxpayer services department. The Forest Lake License Center is now at 19955 Forest Road. N., south of 202nd Street and west of US-61. Recent federal passport rule changes require travelers to Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean to obtain a passport when traveling by air, with the new requirements to be added for sea and land travel in 2008. The additional volume of passports has lead to longer processing times at the federal level, and customers should expect a 10-12 week wait to receive passports from the federal Department of State.

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