Passport requests flood State Department

#1

Passport requests flood State Department

WASHINGTON - Overwhelmed by unprecedented demand, the State Department is warning would-be travelers to brace for lengthy delays in getting U.S. passports, even when they pay a hefty fee to speed their applications.

The department has hired hundreds of employees to process passport requests over the past two years as tougher immigration rules have taken effect. Even so, the department says a crush of new applicants ” more than 1 million a month ” has inundated its staff and caused delays of up to a month-and-a-half at the peak January-to-April season when many people are preparing to travel over the spring and summer.

In addition, a regulation that took effect this year requiring Americans to have passports when traveling by air to any country, including Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean "has increased passport demand and production to record levels," the department said in a statement this week.

Applications received between October and this March have risen 44 percent over the same period in 2005-2006, the department said in a notice sent Thursday to lawmakers. Some members of Congress have received complaints from constituents about delays.

According to the notice, routine passport processing could take 10 weeks instead of the previous six, and expedited processing could take four weeks instead of two weeks.

About 12 million passport applications were processed in 2006 and as many as 17 million are expected this year, the department said.

For adults getting their first passport, the routine processing fee is $97 with an additional $60 charge for expedited service. Passport renewals for adults cost $67, with the same expedited fee.

The department said by the end of 2008 it plans to have hired 400 passport adjudicators since 2004.

The agency's 16 production facilities are also working overtime, including 24 hours-a-day in three shifts at the National Passport Center in New Hampshire. A new center capable of making as many as 10 million passports a year is to open in Arkansas in April, it said.

Some 74 million Americans have valid U.S. passports.

#2

Pretty soon they will require a passport at birth just like they do with SS numbers.