Kill It With Tech: 5 Apps To Alleviate Passport Speed Bumps

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It might be a low-tech travel necessity, but there is high-tech help as pertains to acquiring and renewing your passport.

Granted, you will still have to meander through the various old school channels of passport applications.

However, it’s never been easier to snap off a photo from home, easing the burden of finding a place to get the perfect passport picture, which usually resembles how you look right out of bed on a Monday morning.

While you might never look grumpier than in your passport photo, here are some things that could turn that frown upside down.

ItsEasy:

There are a few ways to get your photos delivered to you after snapping off a masterpiece via your phone.

However, the relatively new app ItsEasy (the company has been around since 1976) can handle just about every aspect of the passport dilemma for you.

Its website, listed above, even has a handy drop down menu that will instantly explain what requirements you need as far as visas and other such documents. The pain of figuring out the administrative part of travel is whittled down to nearly nothing.

Mobile Passport:

Life is actually a whole lot easier when you have an electronic pal to play the part of passport.

Mobile Passport allows its users to utilize things like document scanners for easier entry into the U.S.

As the app explains, it “effectively replaces the traditional blue-and-white paper declaration form required of all travelers entering the U.S. by air.”

My TSA:

We have mentioned this app before. While it’s just a generally useful airport application, it also has the added measure of notating whether the location to which you are flying is TSA Pre approved.

ID PhotoPrint:

If you want to bypass the rigmarole of getting to a place that will snap off a passport photo, you can fire up this easy-to-use app that will also send you prints for a fee.

Passport Booth:

Or you can opt for a similar app that will, like the ones listed above, allow you to print an image at home or pick it up at any of a number of locations like Costco or Walgreens.

Regardless of what app you decide to use, the point is really quite simple: the days of waiting in line or leaving the house to check off a number of passport chores is over.

You can do a great deal of them from the comfort of your home. Feel free to even wear your pajamas; just be sure to keep the smiling to a minimum.

UPDATE: Thursday, 12:12 p.m. ET - Article has been updated for clairty.

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