Privacy Policy
The short version. We collect the information needed to prepare your U.S. passport application, including your Social Security number and passport photo, because the government forms require them. We encrypt it on the way to us and while we hold it. We use it to do the job you hired us for. We do not sell your personal information, and we never use your application data or photo for advertising. Once your passport is issued, you can ask us to delete your application data (Section 8).
depart.us is an independent, private company. We are not a government agency and are not affiliated with the U.S. Department of State.
This Privacy Policy explains how A Legal Passport LLC, doing business as depart.us ("depart.us," "we," "us," or "our"), collects, uses, shares, and protects personal information when you use depart.us, our application flow, your account, and our support channels (the "Service"). It should be read together with our Terms of Service.
1. Who is responsible for your information
A Legal Passport LLC, a Florida limited liability company based in Miami, Florida, is responsible for the personal information described in this Policy. When your application is filed with the U.S. Department of State or another government body, that body handles your information under its own laws and privacy notices (for passports, see the Privacy Act statements on the DS forms and at travel.state.gov). We do not control how the government uses information once it receives it.
2. Information we collect
2.1 Information you give us
- Identity and contact details: full legal name and any former names, date and place of birth, sex/gender marker, email address, phone number, mailing and permanent addresses, and emergency contact.
- Government identifiers: Social Security number, current or previous passport book and card numbers and issue dates, and driver's license or other ID numbers. The U.S. Department of State requires your Social Security number on passport applications under 22 U.S.C. § 2714a and 26 U.S.C. § 6039E.
- Application details: physical description (height, hair and eye color), occupation and employer, parents' names and details, marriage and name-change information, travel plans, and details about a lost, stolen, or damaged passport.
- Photos and documents: the passport photo you take with your phone, and images of documents you upload, such as birth certificates, naturalization or citizenship certificates, IDs, marriage certificates, court orders, and your current passport.
- Information about other people: if you apply for a child or family member, the same kinds of information about them. You must have their permission or legal authority to share it.
- Payment information: card and PayPal payments are processed by our payment providers. We receive only limited details such as the card type, last four digits, expiration date, billing ZIP code, and transaction status. We do not store full card numbers.
- Communications: emails, chat messages, and, where permitted by law and with notice, call recordings.
- Account details: login email, hashed password, and preferences.
2.2 Information collected automatically
When you use the Service, we and our providers collect device and usage information such as IP address, browser and device type, operating system, pages viewed, referring URLs, time spent, and approximate location derived from your IP address, using cookies, pixels, and similar technologies (see Section 9).
2.3 Information from others
We may receive information from payment processors and PayPal (for example, transaction and fraud-screening results), identity-verification and photo-processing providers, shipping carriers (delivery status), government status tools (application status), and advertising or referral partners (for example, which ad or link brought you to us).
3. Your passport photo and biometric information
Your passport photo is processed with software that checks lighting, background, glasses, expression, head position, and framing, and crops the image to government specifications. Some of these checks detect the position of your face and facial features in the image. Our staff then review the photo.
- Purpose only. We use your photo, and any facial measurements generated during these checks, only to produce and check a compliant passport photo for your application. We do not use them to identify you, to build a face template database, for advertising, or to train models for any unrelated purpose.
- Consent. Before you take or upload your photo, we ask for your consent to this processing. If you do not consent, you may supply a professionally taken passport photo instead.
- No sale. We never sell, lease, trade, or otherwise profit from your photo or any biometric data.
- Retention. Any facial measurements generated during the photo check are temporary and are deleted when the check is complete. The final photo is kept only as described in Section 7, and in no case longer than the earlier of when the purpose is satisfied or three years after your last interaction with us, as required by laws such as the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act.
4. How we use information
- To provide the Service: determine which forms you need, complete them, check your photo, review your application, tell you what documents to bring and where, track your status, arrange shipping, and give you support.
- To process payments and prevent fraud: charge your payment method, issue refunds, respond to chargebacks, and detect and prevent fraud and abuse.
- To communicate with you: order confirmations, document requests, status updates, and service messages by email, SMS, or through your account.
- To keep the Service secure and working: debugging, security monitoring, and improving our questionnaire and error checks. Where we use application data to improve our checks, we use it in de-identified or aggregated form wherever possible.
- To comply with law: tax, accounting, record-keeping, and responding to lawful requests.
- Marketing: to send you offers about our services where the law allows, or with your consent. You can opt out at any time.
We do not use your application data, Social Security number, documents, or photo for advertising or to build advertising profiles. We do not make decisions about you that produce legal or similarly significant effects based solely on automated processing; the government makes all passport decisions.
5. Legal bases (EEA, UK, and similar jurisdictions)
If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, or another jurisdiction that requires a legal basis for processing, we rely on the following:
| Purpose | Legal basis |
|---|---|
| Preparing your application, payment, shipping, and support | Performance of a contract |
| Passport photo processing and special-category data | Your explicit consent |
| Fraud prevention, security, and service improvement | Legitimate interests |
| Tax, accounting, and responding to legal requests | Legal obligation |
| Marketing and non-essential cookies | Consent |
6. How we share information
We share personal information only as needed for the purposes above:
- Government bodies: the U.S. Department of State and its agents when your application is filed, and passport acceptance facilities as needed for your appointment.
- Payment providers: card processors and PayPal, to process payments, refunds, and fraud screening.
- Service providers: cloud hosting and storage, photo-processing and identity-verification tools, email and SMS delivery, customer support (including outsourced support teams working under our instructions), analytics, and printing. They may use your information only to provide services to us and must keep it confidential and secure.
- Shipping carriers: your name, address, phone number, and tracking details, when shipping is part of your Order.
- Advertising and analytics partners: limited device and usage information collected through cookies and pixels on our marketing pages, subject to your choices in Section 9. We do not share application data, documents, photos, or Social Security numbers with these partners.
- Professional advisers and authorities: lawyers, auditors, and insurers; and law enforcement, regulators, or courts when required by law or to protect rights, safety, and the integrity of the Service.
- Business transfers: a buyer, successor, or affiliate in connection with a merger, acquisition, financing, or sale of assets, subject to this Policy.
- With your direction: anyone else you ask us to share with, such as a family member on your account.
We do not sell personal information.
7. How long we keep information
| Category | How long |
|---|---|
| Application data, Social Security number, uploaded documents, and final passport photo | Until your passport is issued or your Order is closed, plus up to 12 months to handle follow-up requests, then deleted. You may ask us to delete it sooner once your passport is issued. |
| Facial measurements generated during the photo check | Deleted when the check is complete |
| Order, payment, and refund records (no SSN, documents, or photo) | 7 years, for tax, accounting, and chargeback purposes |
| Support communications | 3 years after your last contact |
| Account information | Until you close your account, plus 30 days |
| Marketing opt-out records | As long as needed to honor your choice |
| Website analytics | Up to 26 months |
We may keep information longer if the law requires it or if it is needed for a legal claim or investigation.
8. Your rights and choices
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to:
- Know and access the personal information we hold about you;
- Correct inaccurate or incomplete information;
- Delete your information, subject to legal retention requirements;
- Receive a portable copy of your information;
- Restrict or object to certain processing;
- Withdraw consent at any time (this does not affect processing already done);
- Opt out of targeted advertising, sale, or sharing of personal information, and of certain profiling;
- Limit the use of sensitive personal information; and
- Not be discriminated against for exercising these rights.
Delete-after-issuance. Wherever you live, once your passport has been issued you may ask us to delete your application data, documents, and photo, and we will do so except for records we must keep by law (Section 7).
How to make a request. Email [email protected] or use the request option in your account. We will verify your identity before acting and respond within the time required by law (generally 30 days, or 45 days for California and other U.S. state requests, which may be extended as permitted). You may use an authorized agent where the law allows; we may ask for proof of authorization. If we deny your request, you may appeal by replying to our decision, and if you are still not satisfied you may contact your state attorney general.
Important limit. We cannot recall or delete information that has already been filed with the government.
Marketing. Use the unsubscribe link in any marketing email, or reply STOP to any marketing text.
9. Cookies and tracking
We use cookies and similar technologies for:
- Essential functions: keeping you signed in, saving your progress, securing checkout, and preventing fraud. These cannot be turned off.
- Analytics: understanding how the Service is used so we can improve it.
- Advertising: measuring the effectiveness of our ads and showing ads for our services on other sites.
Advertising and analytics tags are not placed on the pages where you enter application details, upload documents, or take your photo. Where required, we ask for your consent before setting non-essential cookies. You can change your choices using the "Cookie settings" link in our footer or through your browser settings.
10. Security
We protect your information with measures that include encryption in transit (TLS) and at rest; additional protection for Social Security numbers and uploaded documents; access controls based on least privilege; logging and monitoring; staff confidentiality obligations and training; vendor security reviews; regular backups; and PCI DSS-compliant payment processing through our providers. No system is perfectly secure. If a breach affects your personal information, we will notify you and the authorities as required by law, including the Florida Information Protection Act.
11. Children
The Service is intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal information directly from children under 16. We process a minor's information only when a parent, legal guardian, or other legally authorized person places an Order for that minor, and we protect it with the same care as all application data. If you believe a child has given us information without that authority, contact [email protected] and we will delete it.
12. Region-specific disclosures
12.1 California (CCPA/CPRA)
In the past 12 months we collected the following categories of personal information: identifiers; personal records described in Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.80(e); characteristics of protected classifications (such as age and sex); commercial information; biometric-related information (the passport photo and temporary facial measurements described in Section 3); internet or network activity; approximate geolocation; audio or electronic information (call recordings, photos); professional information (occupation and employer); and sensitive personal information (Social Security and passport numbers, and citizenship documents). We collected them from the sources in Section 2, used them for the purposes in Section 4, and disclosed them for business purposes to the recipients in Section 6. We do not sell personal information. We may "share" limited device and usage information for cross-context behavioral advertising through advertising cookies; you can opt out using the "Your Privacy Choices" link or a Global Privacy Control signal. We use sensitive personal information only to provide the Service and as otherwise permitted by the CCPA, so no "limit" right is triggered. We do not knowingly sell or share the information of consumers under 16. Retention periods are in Section 7.
12.2 Other U.S. states
Residents of Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, Texas, Oregon, Montana, Florida, and other states with consumer privacy laws have the rights described in Section 8, as applicable under their state law. Where those laws treat biometric data, Social Security numbers, citizenship status, or information about children as sensitive, we process it only with your consent or as needed to provide the Service.
12.3 Illinois, Texas, and Washington biometric laws
Section 3 is our written policy for any biometric identifiers or biometric information. We obtain your consent before processing your photo, do not sell or profit from biometric data, and destroy it on the schedule in Section 3.
12.4 EEA, UK, and Switzerland
If you are a U.S. citizen living in the EEA, the UK, or Switzerland, you have the rights in Section 8 under the GDPR, UK GDPR, or Swiss FADP, and you may complain to your local data protection authority (in the UK, the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk). Your information is transferred to and processed in the United States. Where required, we use safeguards recognized by law, such as the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses or the UK International Data Transfer Addendum, for transfers to our service providers.
12.5 Canada and Australia
If you live in Canada or Australia, we handle your information in line with applicable privacy law, including PIPEDA and the Australian Privacy Principles. Your information is processed in the United States. You may complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada or the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.
13. Text messaging (SMS)
If you give us your mobile number, we send transactional texts about your Order, such as confirmations, document requests, status updates, and delivery notices. Message frequency varies, and message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP to opt out or HELP for help. We send marketing texts only with your separate, express consent. We do not share or sell mobile numbers or SMS opt-in consent with third parties for their marketing purposes.
14. Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control
Our site does not respond to browser "Do Not Track" signals. We treat a Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal from your browser as a request to opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information for that browser, where the law requires.
15. Changes to this Policy
We may update this Policy from time to time. We will post the updated version with a new "Last updated" date and, for material changes, notify you by email or on the site before the change takes effect.
16. Contact us
A Legal Passport LLC d/b/a depart.us
Attn: Privacy
2500 Biscayne Blvd
Miami, FL 33137, United States
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +1 385-567-1008
Legal
Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy explains how A Legal Passport LLC, doing business as Depart.us ("Depart.us," "we," "us," or "our"), collects, uses, shares, and protects personal information when you use epassportonlinecenter.com, our related sites and applications, and our passport, visa, and travel-authorization facilitation services (together, the "Service").
Because our Service involves preparing government applications on your behalf, we necessarily handle sensitive information such as passport details, dates of birth, photographs, and travel history. We take that responsibility seriously. This Policy is written to be read; if anything is unclear, contact us at [email protected].
1. Who is responsible for your information
A Legal Passport LLC, a Florida limited liability company headquartered in Miami, Florida, is the controller of personal information collected through the Service. Where we submit your application to a government, that government becomes an independent controller of the information it receives, under its own laws and privacy rules.
Depart.us is strictly an independent, third-party facilitation service. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of the government of any country, and we do not represent or imitate any government agency or official visa-processing service. Information you give us is shared with a government only because you have asked us to submit an application to it.
If you are in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, our representative for data-protection purposes is [EU/UK representative name and address, if appointed].
2. Information we collect
2.1 Information you provide
Identity and contact details: full name, date and place of birth, gender, nationality, email address, phone number, and mailing address.
Travel-document information: passport number, issue and expiry dates, issuing country, previous passport details, national ID numbers, and details of prior visas or travel authorizations.
Application details: the information required by the government form you are applying for, which may include employment, education, address history, travel history, family details, criminal-history declarations, health declarations, and answers to security questions.
Documents and images: passport scans, photographs, signatures, supporting documents (such as invitation letters, itineraries, bank statements, or employment letters), and, where a government requires it, biometric photos.
Payment information: billing name, billing address, and payment card details. Card numbers are collected directly by our payment processor and are never stored on our systems; we retain only the card type, last four digits, and transaction records.
Communications: emails, chat transcripts, call recordings (where permitted and disclosed), and support tickets.
Account details: username, password (stored hashed), and preferences.
2.2 Information we collect automatically
When you use our website we collect device and usage information such as IP address, browser type, operating system, referring pages, pages viewed, time on page, clicks, and approximate location derived from IP address, using cookies and similar technologies (see Section 9).
2.3 Information from third parties
We may receive information from: payment processors (transaction status, fraud signals); identity-verification and fraud-prevention providers; couriers (delivery status); government portals (application status and decisions); and, where you were referred to us, the referring partner.
2.4 Information about other people
If you place an order for someone else, you must have their permission to give us their information and to receive updates about their application. You are responsible for informing them of this Policy.
3. How we use information
We use personal information to:
- Provide the Service — prepare, review, submit, pay for, and monitor applications; arrange courier delivery; and communicate with you about your order.
- Process payments and prevent fraud — verify identity, detect and prevent fraudulent orders, respond to chargebacks, and comply with payment-network rules.
- Provide support — answer your questions, resolve problems, and process refunds.
- Comply with law — meet legal, regulatory, tax, and record-keeping obligations; respond to lawful requests from authorities; and establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.
- Improve and secure the Service — analyze usage, test features, monitor for security threats, and maintain backups.
- Send marketing — with your consent where required, tell you about services we think may interest you. You can opt out at any time.
We do not sell personal information, and we do not use application data (such as passport details or answers on government forms) for advertising or profiling.
4. Legal bases (EEA, UK, and similar jurisdictions)
Where data-protection law requires a legal basis, we rely on:
| Purpose | Legal basis |
|---|---|
| Preparing and submitting your application, taking payment, delivering documents, providing support | Performance of a contract with you |
| Handling government-required declarations (e.g., criminal history, health) and biometric photographs | Your explicit consent, and/or necessity for legal claims or substantial public interest as permitted by local law; we ask for this consent at checkout |
| Fraud prevention, security, analytics, service improvement | Legitimate interests, balanced against your rights |
| Tax records, anti-fraud obligations, responding to authorities | Legal obligation |
| Marketing emails and non-essential cookies | Consent, which you may withdraw at any time |
5. How we share information
We share personal information only as needed to provide the Service and as described here. We do not sell it.
Governments and their agents. We submit your application, documents, and payment to the relevant government, embassy, consulate, or authorized visa-application center. Once submitted, that information is governed by that government's laws and policies, which may differ from ours.
Payment processors and financial partners. Payment providers and banks process your payment, handle refunds and disputes, and screen for fraud. Where we pay government fees on your behalf using our own accounts, our banks and card issuers see the government transaction but not your application contents.
Service providers. We use vetted providers for customer support (including outsourced support agents who act under our instructions and confidentiality obligations), cloud hosting and storage, email and SMS delivery, identity verification, analytics, and website operation. They may access information only to perform services for us.
Couriers. Where physical documents are handled, couriers receive your name, address, phone number, and tracking details.
Professional advisers and authorities. We may disclose information to lawyers, accountants, auditors, insurers, regulators, law enforcement, or courts where required by law, to protect our rights, or to prevent fraud or harm.
Business transfers. If we sell, merge, or reorganize our business, information may be transferred to the successor, who must honor this Policy.
With your direction. We share information with others when you ask us to.
6. International transfers
We operate from the United States, and the governments to which we submit applications may be anywhere in the world. Your information will therefore be transferred to, and processed in, countries that may not provide the same level of data protection as your home country.
Where we transfer information from the EEA, UK, or Switzerland to a service provider outside those regions, we use safeguards recognized under applicable law, such as the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses or the UK International Data Transfer Addendum. Transfers to a government for the purpose of your application are necessary for the performance of your contract with us and are made at your request.
7. How long we keep information
| Category | Retention |
|---|---|
| Application data, documents, and images | Until the application is decided and the order closed, plus [12] months to support resubmissions, corrections, and refund requests; then deleted or anonymized unless a longer period is required below |
| Order, payment, and refund records | 7 years for tax, accounting, and chargeback-defense obligations |
| Support communications | 3 years after the last contact |
| Account information | Until you close your account, then 30 days |
| Marketing preferences and opt-outs | Indefinitely, so we can honor your choices |
| Website analytics | 26 months, or as set by the analytics provider |
You may request earlier deletion (Section 8); we will honor it unless we must keep the information for a legal reason, in which case we will tell you.
8. Your rights and choices
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to:
- Access the personal information we hold about you and receive a copy;
- Correct inaccurate or incomplete information;
- Delete your information, subject to legal retention requirements;
- Restrict or object to certain processing, including processing based on legitimate interests;
- Port your information to another provider in a structured, machine-readable format;
- Withdraw consent at any time, without affecting processing that occurred before withdrawal;
- Opt out of marketing by clicking "unsubscribe" in any marketing email, replying STOP to any marketing SMS, or contacting us;
- Not be discriminated against for exercising your rights;
- Lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority (see Section 12).
To exercise these rights, email [email protected] or use the request form in your account. We will verify your identity before acting — for a service that handles passport data, this may include asking you to confirm details we already hold or to log in to your account. We respond within 30 days (45 days for California requests), and will tell you if we need longer. You may authorize an agent to make a request on your behalf; we will require proof of that authorization.
Please note: we cannot recall or delete information that has already been submitted to a government. Requests concerning that information must be directed to the relevant government.
9. Cookies and tracking
We use cookies and similar technologies for:
- Essential functions — keeping you logged in, remembering your cart, securing checkout, and preventing fraud. These cannot be switched off.
- Analytics — understanding how the site is used so we can improve it.
- Marketing — measuring the effectiveness of our advertising and, where you consent, showing you relevant ads on other sites.
Where required by law, we ask for your consent to non-essential cookies through a banner when you first visit, and you can change your choices at any time via the "Cookie settings" link in our footer. You can also control cookies through your browser settings. We honor Global Privacy Control signals where legally required.
10. Security
We protect personal information using administrative, technical, and physical safeguards appropriate to its sensitivity, including encryption of data in transit (TLS) and at rest, access controls and least-privilege permissions, logging and monitoring, staff confidentiality obligations and training, vendor security reviews, and regular backups. Payment card data is handled by PCI DSS–compliant processors and never stored on our systems.
No system is perfectly secure. If we become aware of a breach affecting your personal information, we will notify you and the relevant authorities as required by law. You can help by using a strong, unique password and by sending documents only through the secure upload in your account rather than by email.
11. Children
The Service is intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect information directly from children under 16 (or the applicable age in your jurisdiction). We do process information about minors when a parent or legal guardian places an order for a child's passport or visa; that information is handled with the same care as all application data and used only for that application. If you believe a child has provided us information without appropriate consent, contact us and we will delete it.
12. Region-specific disclosures
12.1 European Economic Area, United Kingdom, and Switzerland
You have the rights described in Section 8 under the GDPR, UK GDPR, and Swiss FADP. You may lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority; in the UK this is the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk). Special-category data (such as health or criminal-history declarations required by a government form, or biometric photographs) is processed only with your explicit consent or where necessary for legal claims, and only to complete the application you have requested.
12.2 California (CCPA/CPRA)
In the last 12 months we have collected the categories of personal information described in Section 2, used them for the purposes in Section 3, and disclosed them for business purposes to the categories of recipients in Section 5. We have not sold personal information and do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising, other than through advertising cookies you can opt out of under Section 9. We do not use or disclose sensitive personal information (such as passport numbers) for purposes other than providing the Service, which is permitted under the CPRA without a "limit use" right. California residents may exercise the rights in Section 8, including the right to know, delete, correct, and opt out, and may designate an authorized agent. We do not discriminate against you for exercising your rights.
12.3 Other U.S. states
Residents of Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, Texas, Oregon, Montana, and other states with comprehensive privacy laws have similar rights to access, correct, delete, port, and opt out of targeted advertising and profiling, and may appeal a denied request by replying to our response.
12.4 Canada
We comply with PIPEDA and applicable provincial laws. You may withdraw consent subject to legal and contractual restrictions, and may complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
12.5 Australia
We comply with the Australian Privacy Principles. Information may be disclosed overseas as described in Section 6. You may complain to us and, if unsatisfied, to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.
13. Text messaging (SMS)
By providing your mobile number at checkout you agree to receive transactional SMS messages about your order (confirmations, status updates, document requests, delivery notifications). Message frequency varies by order. Message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP to opt out and HELP for help. Opting out may limit our ability to update you on time-sensitive matters; we will then use email. We do not share your mobile number with third parties for their own marketing. Marketing texts are sent only with your separate consent.
14. Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control
Our site does not respond to browser "Do Not Track" signals, for which there is no common standard. We honor Global Privacy Control (GPC) signals as an opt-out of sale or sharing where required by law.
15. Changes to this Policy
We may update this Policy from time to time. We will post the updated version with a new "Last updated" date and, for material changes, notify you by email or a prominent notice on the site before they take effect. Your continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance.
16. Contact us
A Legal Passport LLC d/b/a Depart.us
Attn: Privacy
2500 Biscayne Blvd
Miami, FL 33137, United States
[email protected]
+1 385-567-1008
EU/UK representative (if appointed): [Name, address, email]
Depart.us is strictly an independent, third-party facilitation service operated by A Legal Passport LLC. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of the government of any country, and we do not represent or imitate any government agency or official visa-processing service. Information you submit through the Service will be shared with the governments to which you are applying, as required to process your application.