SAN FRANCISCO – If you’re planning to fly across our nation’s borders any time soon, your preflight itinerary may include a passport office.
On Jan. 23, U.S. travelers will need a passport to fly back into this country from any destination outside the United States, including Mexico, the Caribbean and Canada. Until the new rules, travelers often could complete such a trip with the proper photo identification and birth certificate alone.
Thanks to the new rules, the number of people applying for passports is ramping up, and that means anyone hoping to fly soon may need to expedite their passport application.
“There is definite increased demand for passports. People realize the rules are changing,” said Steve Royster, spokesman for consular affairs at the U.S. State Department.
About 1.1 million travelers applied for a passport in November, a 60 percent rise from the same month a year earlier, Royster said. In fiscal 2006, more than 12 million people applied for passports, compared with about 10 million a year earlier.
Despite the rush, he said, passport agencies continue to promise their standard six-week turnaround time. “We’ve added people; we’ve added resources in anticipation of the increased demand. We’re holding pretty much to that six-week target and expect to continue to do so,” he said.
But if you need a passport in, say, eight weeks or sooner, you may not want to risk that six-week promise.
The State Department offers an expedited service that offers passports within about two weeks, for an additional $60 fee on top of the $97 to apply for a new passport (for kids under age 16, the cost is $82) or $67 to renew a passport.
Don’t forget to add in courier charges (both for delivering your application to the office and for getting the passport back) if you need your passport fast and are eligible to mail in your passport. You can renew a passport by mail under certain conditions: Your most recent passport is available to submit and it is not damaged; you received the passport within the past 15 years; you were over age 16 when it was issued; you still have the same name or can legally document your name change. If your passport has been altered or damaged, you cannot apply by mail.
You must apply for a new passport in person at one of about 9,000 passport application acceptance facilities nationwide. You will need two photographs of yourself, proof of U.S. citizenship and a valid form of photo identification such as a driver’s license.
So, if you pay $157 for a new passport, or $127 for a renewal, you can get a passport within two weeks. But you might be able to get one within 24 hours.
“If you want it back the next day, it can be had if you have a proven emergency and you can make an appointment at a passport agency,” Royster said, referring to the 15 passport agencies nationwide that are open to the public.
“But that’s the extreme of expedited service. If you physically appear at a passport agency, we will turn the passport around in a matter of days in case of a proven emergency.”
But he wouldn’t detail exactly what qualifies as an emergency.
“It would be establishing that there is a demonstrated need to travel,” Royster said. “We’re going to make every effort to accommodate your desire to travel.”
Royster recommends people seeking a passport call the State Department’s toll-free number at 877-487-2778.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
