U.S. State Department officials representing the Detroit Passport Agency met with Arab American leaders on Wednesday to discuss opportunities and issues of concern to immigrant communities.

The officials encouraged summer travelers to take advantage of upcoming Passport Day on March 27, in which the Detroit office, 211 West Fort Street, and other passport application acceptance facilities like many post offices, will be open for special Saturday hours, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Passport seekers can walk in and file applications on that day without appointments, and extra fees normally required to have applications expedited will be waived on March 27, the officials said.

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee Michigan brought the officials to the Lebanese American Heritage Club on Wednesday to promote Passport Day and to talk about other issues of concern, including the replacement of traditional passports with new electronic passports that have a small integrated circuit, or chip, embedded in the back cover.

ADC Michigan Regional Director Imad Hamad said many Arab Americans who fear or have endured extra government scrutiny since 9/11 are unnerved by the idea of carrying around an electronic chip while traveling.

“Lots of people are under the assumption that this is like an international GPS device,” Hamad said.

But head of the Detroit Passport Agency Marc Meznar told the gathering of about 20 that the chips only store the same information that appears in print on a passport, to help prevent fraud.

“As technology changes, what we’re trying to do… is make the documentation more secure,” Meznar said. “There’s a lot of misinformation about the chip… The only information in the chip is what’s in the passport — name, date and place of birth and a photograph, and it’s locked… It will emit only a short distance from the reader to the chip.”

He said the new passports also have metal linings that block any transmission of information when folded shut. And simpler, less expensive passport cards used for travel to and from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda come with envelopes that have similar shielding to block any transmission of information.

The Detroit Passport Agency opened last year, partly to help accommodate increased demand for passports and passport cards with the implementation of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, requiring proof of citizenship or national identity to re-enter the U.S. from Canada.

Meznar is an experienced diplomat, having spent time as U.S. Consul General in Nicaragua and in other State Department posts in Kuwait and in Greece, from which he also provided consular services for Lebanon.

He spoke Wednesday about the agency trying to enhance interaction with other agencies like U.S. Citizenship and Immigration.

Hamad had brought up a common problem among naturalized citizens seeking passports who can’t locate their naturalization certificates. The documents are required for first passports and getting a new copy from USCIS when lost requires a drawn-out process.

Meznar said the burden of proof is on the applicant to show citizenship, but that efforts are being made to coordinate information sharing to make such processes easier.

“We want to help,” he said. “We want to have better inter-agencey relations… information sharing both to help services and to ensure that those who shouldn’t have passports don’t get passports.”

“I was gratified to hear about dialogue between the Passport Agency and CIS. In many cases, the Passport Agency is basically limited… especially when a person loses their naturalization certificate. “A lot of people, when they lose their naturalization certif, they are stuck.”

Meznar also recommend that Arab Americans who travel frequently to their homeland ask for a 52-page passport, rather than the standard 24 pages. He said visa documentation can take up a lot of room and 24 pages can easily be filled up over the 10-year span that passports stay valid. Applicants should ask specifically for 52-pages.

“If you don’t ask for it, you’re going to get 24 pages,” he said.

Having extra pages added to a passport is currently free, but Meznar said a fee for the service is expected to be implemented in the coming months, along with other significant proposed passport fee increases the State Department has announced.

The total cost for a first-time applicant aged 16 and older will go up to $135, from the current $100. Other fees are also expected to increase — another reason for passport seekers to apply well ahead of expected travel dates and to take advantage of Passport Day on March 27, Meznar said.

Passports can be renewed before the expiration date passes.

Less expensive Enhanced Driver’s Licenses can also be acquired from Secretary of State offices for use in international travel within North America.

Visit www.travel.state.gov/passport for more information on applications, answers to frequently asked questions on new electronic passports and more.