Jun 14, 2007
Travel humor from the nation's capitol
A Keystone Cops Comedy, or maybe a Marx Brothers Movie, are about the only images that can do justice to the Bush administration’s recent handling of the passport rules. You’ll recall the proud announcement of several months ago, that Americans flying back and forth to Canada, Mexico, Bermuda and the Caribbean would henceforth have to possess U.S. passports. Terrorists would be thwarted, security insured.
But no one thought of hiring additional people to process the many millions of passport applications that travelers would be forced to make. The result: chaos at the Passport Offices and a twelve-week backlog -- that’s twelve full weeks -- in the issuance of passports. Last week, the Department of State was forced to announce a reprieve (see official announcement on its website): from now until September 30, people will be permitted to board flights to Canada, etc., without a passport but with a receipt showing that they have applied for a passport, whether or not it’s been issued. And the receipts are obtainable via printouts from the Internet.
It gets worse. At the same time that they are literally drowning in passport applications (see the claim in red on State's passport application page), the Department of Homeland Security has even more recently announced that as of January 1, 2008, persons walking or driving back and forth by car to Canada or Mexico will also need passports. (Those multitudes in Detroit who each day drive into Windsor, Canada, those hundreds of thousands who each month walk over into Niagara Falls, Canada, will need passports). Meantime, no one knows how to quickly issue tens of millions of additional passports to loyal patriots only.
Stay tuned.
Write and read comments about this post.
But no one thought of hiring additional people to process the many millions of passport applications that travelers would be forced to make. The result: chaos at the Passport Offices and a twelve-week backlog -- that’s twelve full weeks -- in the issuance of passports. Last week, the Department of State was forced to announce a reprieve (see official announcement on its website): from now until September 30, people will be permitted to board flights to Canada, etc., without a passport but with a receipt showing that they have applied for a passport, whether or not it’s been issued. And the receipts are obtainable via printouts from the Internet.
It gets worse. At the same time that they are literally drowning in passport applications (see the claim in red on State's passport application page), the Department of Homeland Security has even more recently announced that as of January 1, 2008, persons walking or driving back and forth by car to Canada or Mexico will also need passports. (Those multitudes in Detroit who each day drive into Windsor, Canada, those hundreds of thousands who each month walk over into Niagara Falls, Canada, will need passports). Meantime, no one knows how to quickly issue tens of millions of additional passports to loyal patriots only.
Stay tuned.
Write and read comments about this post.
Labels: passports
Fifty years ago, 
Arthur Frommer is generally acknowledged to be the nation's foremost travel authority. He is the founder of the
