A California-based visa and passport processing visitor announced information technology would be accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment every bit the U.Due south. State Department's operations are commencement to return to normal.

Co-ordinate to a November. half-dozen announcement from passport and visa expeditor Peninsula Visa based in San Jose, the company stated it would exist giving customers the option to pay for select passport services using Bitcoin (BTC). Backed by retailer payment facilitator Coinbase Commerce, Peninsula Visa will be offering passport renewals and name changes in addition to applications related to 2nd passports. U.S. citizens over the age of 16 are allowed to hold one "chief" passport volume or bill of fare valid for 10 years in addition to a 2d one valid for 4 years.

"Offer travelers the ability to pay via Bitcoin feels like the right move at the right fourth dimension," said Peninsula Visa COO Evan James, citing his hope that travel would return to normal once the threat from the pandemic was over.

When government offices and businesses were first shut downward in March following measures to curb the spread of COVID-xix, many of the Country Department's 26 passport agencies across the continental U.s. and Puerto Rico were likewise affected, causing delays in passport processing for beginning-time applicants equally well as those renewing or altering their documents for common events like marriage. According to a report from the LA Times, at that place was a excess of nearly one million passports every bit of Sept. 23.

Nevertheless, many of the Land Department's offices have already opened with staff for in-person passport applicants. The government agency announced on Nov. 3 that it had reduced processing time to 10-12 weeks for standards applications, and four-6 weeks for expedited passports — pre-COVID, one could obtain a passport in person within a week nether certain circumstances.

Though private businesses take offered Bitcoiners the opportunity to buy international flights using crypto, governments have seemingly been less than forthcoming to practice so for certain services. In June, a Venezuela government bureau briefly listed Bitcoin equally a form of payment for passport applications from Venezuelan citizens living abroad earlier disabling the service the side by side 24-hour interval.