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State anticipates passport rush



 
 
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  #1  
Old January 16th, 2008, 03:53 PM posted to rec.travel.europe, rec.travel.air
Mike[_10_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 25
Default 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  
Old January 16th, 2008, 10:52 PM posted to rec.travel.europe,rec.travel.air
Runge 9
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 227
Default 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.


 




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