Recent information US Embassy NL on postage and sending options for important documents
Message from the US Embassy NL – Dec 17th, 2020
Applicants for U.S. citizen services at the U.S. Consulate General in Amsterdam must bring sufficient postage to cover the return shipment of any documents related to the requested service. Passport and citizenship documents contain sensitive information and are difficult to replace. We recommend using a trackable delivery service to receive your documents.
Unfortunately, PostNL has ceased the sale of the barcoded registered mail stickers that we currently accept for document delivery. The PostNL registered mail labels that are available cannot be used because they expire within 5 days of issuance, while passport processing can take between 2-4 weeks.
As an alternative, we recommend using the trackable “waybill” from DHL Express. This ‘waybill’ may be purchased online at https://my.dhlexpress.nl/pwa/shipment/package/. When prompted, please select “Mailbox Parcel”, and enter your personal information as the recipient. We recommend you check the option “E-mail Notification”, so you immediately receive the tracking information to follow your shipment after it has been sent. When asked for information about the sender, enter your own name and the mailing address for the U.S. Consulate General Amsterdam: John Adams Park 1, 2244 BZ Wassenaar.
The cost of the trackable service begins at €3.95. Additional options, such as insurance, can be added for an additional fee but are not required. Once you receive your electronic waybill, affix it to the front of the envelope that is required for your service. Please refer to our website for information on what kind of envelope is required for each service.
Note that we are currently unable to accept waybills from other commercial carriers, such as FedEx.
The U.S. Consulate General will also continue to accept the “1” stamps from PostNL. Five of these are sufficient postage for every type of service requested from U.S. Citizen Services. You should note that you will not be able to track your shipment with this option, nor can you file an inquiry with PostNL should your documents get lost in the mail.
The U.S. Consulate General in Amsterdam continues to operate with limited staffing. Social distancing and other measures required to fight the spread of COVID-19 limit the number of customers we can serve daily. Applicants who arrive at their appointment unprepared (without the required forms, photo, envelope, postage, etc.) can negatively impact our ability to provide services to other customers. Applicants who do not bring sufficient postage to their appointment, therefore, will be asked to reschedule.
Need to contact us with additional questions?
For all emergency U.S. Citizen Services, please visit our website for additional information. For any questions not addressed on our website, contact us via email at AmsterdamUSC@state.gov.
Assistance:
U.S. Consulate General Amsterdam
+(31) (0) 70 310 2209
AmsterdamUSC@state.gov
https://nl.usembassy.gov/
Department of State – Consular Affairs
888-407-4747 or 202-501-4444
Netherlands Country Information.
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