Getting a Passport is Easier Today

Friday, March 6th, 2009

There is one benefit to the slacking economy that new travelers are likely to discover.  Getting a passport has become a lot easier.  In response to the 9/11 attacks, the government began requiring passports for all air travel out of the United States even to regions that had been exempt in the past. 

It was two years back that passports became mandatory for United States citizens traveling to the Caribbean, Bermuda, Canada and Mexico by air.  There were not enough workers to keep up with the overwhelming response of applications for passports at that time and the changes caused many people to miss out on trips.  The government also ended up having to delay the enforcement of the rules in order to allow for the processing to catch up.

Today the economy has forced many people to stay home.  Fewer travelers mean fewer applications for passports.  This is good for the applicants because it means that getting a passport is easier than it was just a few months back.  It has taken up to several months to get a passport application through the red tap.  Today that same process may only take around three weeks or even less. 

It is not so good for the employees that process the applications.  It has meant a reduction in contract employees and others that process the applications.

More changes are soon to come for passport usage.  These will be put into place at the first of June of this year (2009).  Even more travelers will need passports when going outside of the United States.  At this time people traveling by car will also be required to product a passport and not just those that are traveling by air.  This could cause another rush of first time applications despite the down turn in the economy.

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