One post asked about getting a plain old post office box. I don't know if EVERY post office is as strict, but it was a LOT easier to get my passport than it was to get a box at my local post office. I had to prove, with several documents, that I was a resident of the local area, and had a verifiable physical address. The county just readdressed all the street addresses, and I had just built a house on a lot that the old system showed as being down the street, and already occupied by another postal service box holder. Wow, the whole, long, ridiculous transaction looked like something that would of happened in the old Soviet Union.
My take on it was, with the Patriot act and other government paranoia, they really want to know that you are a full time resident of wherever you claim to be.
