If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
State anticipates passport rush
news.google.com
State anticipates passport rush January 15, 2008 By Nicholas Kralev - The State Department is creating a "ready reserve" of officers to process an expected increase in passport applications in the next several months -- a preventive measure meant to avoid repeating the huge backlog that affected the travel plans of millions of Americans last summer. Passports have been required for travelers returning to the United States from Canada, Mexico, Bermuda and the Caribbean by air since last year, but Congress has extended the deadline for using land and sea borders until June 2009. Still, beginning next month, Americans must show proof of their citizenship, such as a birth certificate, at those borders, in addition to a government-issued ID, such as a driver's license. An oral declaration of citizenship has been sufficient in the past. Travelers can avoid bringing those two documents by carrying a passport or a "passport card," and the State Department expects most people to do just that. As a result, it anticipates more applications than it usually receives. "It's much more convenient for people to carry one document, especially when it can be a wallet-size card," one department official said, referring to the passport card, which will be issued starting in the spring. Because those cards will not be valid for air travel, some Americans probably will apply for a regular passport, he said. "U.S. citizens may begin applying in advance for this new, limited- use, wallet-size passport card beginning Feb. 1, 2008. We expect cards will be available and mailed to applicants in spring 2008," the State Department said on its Web site. The reserve that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has instructed the department's consular bureau to create will process applications for both passports and passport cards, the official added. The reserve "will be deployed to serve as necessary when passport demand begins to surge," the bureau said in a note to employees last week, "if and when passport demand exceeds our ability to maintain our four-to-six-week service standard for routine applications." More than 200 entry-level Foreign Service officers and civil servants known as presidential management fellows will take part in the reserve. They will join hundreds of employees who process passport applications full-time, the State Department official said. In June, the department issued an urgent call to its diplomats worldwide to volunteer for monthlong assignments in U.S. passport offices, offering to pay their expenses if they return home and help clear a backlog of 3 million passport applications. Department officials acknowledged that they had grossly underestimated the number of Americans who would need a passport. Thousands of applications came in daily, and huge lines snaked in front of passport offices across the country. The backlog was cleared by the end of September. |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
State anticipates passport rush
Who cares about your copy/paste stuff???
We are big enough to fetch our news if we want to "Mike" a écrit dans le message de ... news.google.com State anticipates passport rush January 15, 2008 By Nicholas Kralev - The State Department is creating a "ready reserve" of officers to process an expected increase in passport applications in the next several months -- a preventive measure meant to avoid repeating the huge backlog that affected the travel plans of millions of Americans last summer. Passports have been required for travelers returning to the United States from Canada, Mexico, Bermuda and the Caribbean by air since last year, but Congress has extended the deadline for using land and sea borders until June 2009. Still, beginning next month, Americans must show proof of their citizenship, such as a birth certificate, at those borders, in addition to a government-issued ID, such as a driver's license. An oral declaration of citizenship has been sufficient in the past. Travelers can avoid bringing those two documents by carrying a passport or a "passport card," and the State Department expects most people to do just that. As a result, it anticipates more applications than it usually receives. "It's much more convenient for people to carry one document, especially when it can be a wallet-size card," one department official said, referring to the passport card, which will be issued starting in the spring. Because those cards will not be valid for air travel, some Americans probably will apply for a regular passport, he said. "U.S. citizens may begin applying in advance for this new, limited- use, wallet-size passport card beginning Feb. 1, 2008. We expect cards will be available and mailed to applicants in spring 2008," the State Department said on its Web site. The reserve that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has instructed the department's consular bureau to create will process applications for both passports and passport cards, the official added. The reserve "will be deployed to serve as necessary when passport demand begins to surge," the bureau said in a note to employees last week, "if and when passport demand exceeds our ability to maintain our four-to-six-week service standard for routine applications." More than 200 entry-level Foreign Service officers and civil servants known as presidential management fellows will take part in the reserve. They will join hundreds of employees who process passport applications full-time, the State Department official said. In June, the department issued an urgent call to its diplomats worldwide to volunteer for monthlong assignments in U.S. passport offices, offering to pay their expenses if they return home and help clear a backlog of 3 million passport applications. Department officials acknowledged that they had grossly underestimated the number of Americans who would need a passport. Thousands of applications came in daily, and huge lines snaked in front of passport offices across the country. The backlog was cleared by the end of September. |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
The passport rush | John Sisker | Cruises | 37 | September 21st, 2006 04:18 PM |
U.S. State Dept. link new passport rules | How B | Cruises | 50 | April 11th, 2005 09:00 PM |
Why rush through London when you can walkthrough? | London Walkthrough | Europe | 0 | July 1st, 2004 11:15 PM |
Easter rush in Spain | Ruth | Europe | 0 | March 26th, 2004 04:48 PM |