Passport to Nowhere

A couple of years ago, I wrote a couple of posts about the then-recently announced plans to require passports to enter the United States from Mexico, Canada, Bermuda, and the Caribbean. These new regulations went into effect toward the beginning of this year, but as predicted by many all along, a lot of people weren't prepared for them. The new requirements meant that a lot of people who didn't need passports before need them now, and the U.S. passport office has been able to keep up with demand. The government has built up a backlog of applications. The passport office in Houston experienced people starting to line up at 2:00 in the morning, and on one day recently a reporter saw about 100 people lined up outside the building. Some people are having to cancel their travel plans because the U.S. passport office can't turn around their applications in enough time.

So how is the government dealing with this entirely expected surge of applications? Why, by temporarily waiving the passport requirements, of course. Unfortunately, that does nothing to help travelers waiting for a passport to go overseas to Europe, Asia, Australia, or South America. You always needed a passport to go to and from those areas, but the applications for those travelers are caught in the same backlog. The process used to take six weeks, but it's now officially expected to take 10 to 12. Unfortunately, at least 500,000 requests have already gone beyond even that length of time.

As I said above, this was entirely foreseeable. There was a weird quote in The Washington Post article I linked to above.

Maura Harty, the assistant secretary for consular affairs, acknowledged the department did not adequately anticipate "the American citizens' willingness and desire to comply" with the rule "in the timeframe that they did."

Is she suggesting that they expected American citizens to try to fly to Canada and take their chances at the border? Since when is it a surprise for people to want to comply with passport laws? Unfortunately, the whole thing is set to get even worse. Estimates are that the tougher rules for air travel affect about 6 million travelers. In January, travelers entering the United States by land or sea will also need passports. The estimated number of those people is 27 million over five years. It'll be interesting to see how smoothly that need is met. Members of Congress have expressed a willingness to delay that implementation, but so far the Bush administration has shown little interest in making any changes.

So if you're looking to go overseas this summer and haven't yet applied for a passport, you're pretty much screwed. But maybe you can change your plans. There are plenty of interesting things to see and do in this country.