By PHK
Note: Please see WV's "The Erratic State of US Passport Issuance: What works and what doesn't," May 16, 2007 for a summary of the actions available to American citizens needing US passports for overseas travel. Please note: we will accept no additional comments on this post as of May 16, 2007 - but comments on the more recent "The Erratic State of US Passport Issuance" are welcome.
On January 23, 2007 the U.S. started requiring passports for air travel to and from Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean as a result of a 2004 law passed by Congress upon the recommendation of the 9/11 Commission. By January 1, 2008, passports will also be required for travel to and from the US by land or sea. The number of American passport applications is likely to rise between four and six million just during 2007 as a result of the new law.
Since I have a valid passport, I never thought about the problems of having to jump over this latest bureaucratic foreign travel hurdle – that is until I received an e-mail from someone who had applied for an expedited US passport over three weeks ago and discovered this week that it had not been issued. Only after calling the Department’s help-line (1-877-487-2778) did he learn that it now “takes three weeks for the (passport) application to arrive in the mail – and be logged in.” And then what? State already charges an additional $60 for expedited service which is supposed to reduce the applicant’s wait time to two weeks from the normal six.
So when does expedited service kick in? And how long does it really take from start to finish? And what about the applicant who did not fork over the additional $60 for what should be normal service and thought that State’s leisurely six weeks processing time from start to finish would work for him – or her? How many months does that now take?
Meanwhile, my friend reported that he had checked the State Department’s website – but he found no warning to expect passport issuance delay. I just double checked it myself before this posting and found nothing either that even hints at the possibity.
In fact, State’s November 2006 press release announcing the program's January start date suggests the contrary.
Here is the relevant text: “The Department has dedicated additional resources and personnel to meet the increased demand for passports generated by these requirements. In Fiscal Year 2006, the Department issued a record 12.1 million passports to American citizens, and anticipates issuing 16 million passports in Fiscal Year 2007. U.S. citizens can find information about how to apply for a passport at travel.state.gov or by calling 1-877-487-2778."
It’s quite clear, however, that something is wrong with this announcement.
Two recent New York Times articles – contrary to State’s claims that it was ready to handle the expected surge in applications and is “meeting the unprecedented demand for American passports” – suggest that the State announcement is just wrong. The January 22 article "Tighter Passport Rules for U.S. Citizens Start Tuesday" is in its restricted section.
But this one by Jane Levere is not. In it she reported major snafus with the Department’s handling of the American citizen pay-for-fee passport service in a January 23, 2007 article. This was the day the new law took effect. American business travelers, she wrote, after interviewing the executive director of the National Business Travel Association and an executive with CIBT, one of the largest US passport and foreign visa expediters, are particularly hard hit.
Since the State Department had over two years to prepare for the expected onslaught in volume, you would think that it would have geared up sufficiently to meet the increased demand and that it also would have announced the start date far earlier.
In the same NYT article, Levere quotes Deputy Assistant Secretary for Passport Services Frank Moss. He told her that in 2005, State added 250 more “adjudicators who approve and process the applications and more contract workers – and that it has expanded hours at some of the regional passport processing centers.”
Guess that was an underestimate of what is needed.
But that’s been a problem with the State Department for years: too many requirements and too little staff to do the job well and on time. Or maybe I’ve got it wrong and State’s passport issuance system is working as efficiently as its website promises. Readers’ experiences – pro and con – are welcome.
