U.S. citizens from the U.S. Virgin Islands who need to obtain an emergency passport will have to travel to the newly opened Passport Agency in San Juan, Puerto Rico, for the service as of July 11, according to Delegate Donna M. Christensen.

“My St. Croix District staff immediately contacted the staff of the Office of the Lieutenant Governor’s Passport Office, who were also included on the July 11 e-mail correspondence, to discuss how resolve the matter,” Christensen said in a statement. “My staff has been in contact with the U.S. Department of State Office of Legislative Affairs to determine how we should move forward, as well as the Miami Passport Agency, to obtain a process that will not subject my constituency to these cumbersome, expensive and unrealistic demands that have recently been put in place.”

Passport services are under the auspices of the Office of the Lieutenant Governor.

“Since June 2010, my district staff has worked closely with the Lieutenant Governor’s Passport Offices and the Miami Passport Agency to assist U.S. citizens in obtaining emergency passports and passport renewals in life or death situations,” said Christensen. “We had hoped to continue this service with the San Juan Passport Agency; unfortunately, this has not been the case and my staff and I are working with the State Department to determine how best Virgin Islanders can be accommodated.”

In jurisdictions across the United States, American citizens who want an emergency passport can go to the nearest U.S. Department of State facility and apply in person. Prior to the opening of the San Juan office, the nearest facility for Virgin Islanders was the Miami Passport Office, according to Christensen. Realizing that it was a financial burden for residents to fly to Miami for this service, the Miami Passport Office worked with the delegate’s office to establish a method to assist Virgin Islands residents.

The process was that a passport applicant who needed to travel immediately for a funeral in a jurisdiction outside of the U.S. would be referred by the Lt. Governor’s Passport Office to one of the delegate’s district offices in St. Thomas or St. Croix. The delegate’s staff would then request that the Miami Passport Agency process the emergency passport application, which is sent overnight by FedEx, immediately and applicants would typically receive their U.S. passport within two or three days. On average, the delegate’s offices handled five emergency passports a month.

According to Christensen, officials at the San Juan Passport Agency said mailing passport applications and accompanying documentation directly to a Passport Agency “represents a vulnerability in the passport application process.” Therefore, they have asked that the delegate’s office immediately discontinue mailing emergency passport applications to San Juan for processing and instead direct residents to travel to the San Juan Passport Agency to apply for, or renew, their U.S. passport.

“My staff and I do recognize that traveling to San Juan also represents an unfair financial burden on our residents,” said Christensen.

Christensen encouraged U.S. citizens residing in the Virgin Islands to make sure their U.S. passports are valid and if they do not have a U.S. passport, and there is a possibility they may have to travel outside of the U.S. to visit a gravely ill relative or attend a funeral, to apply for a passport now to avoid running into an emergency situation and having to incur the additional cost of traveling to Puerto Rico.

“In the meantime, we are trying to establish a more realistic method that is beneficial to my constituents and also to the passport agencies that serve the public,” Christensen said.