Seriously? Get your passports...
Hey all. I know some folks brought it up last week, but in case you thought they weren't serious, check this out:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/07/washington/07passport.html
some excerpts:
The scene was less frantic Wednesday at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Station on Third Avenue and 55th Street in Manhattan, where Manuel Suarez, a postal clerk processing passports, was telling a short line of applicants that the normal wait of four to six weeks was now at least 10 weeks.
Even expedited service, which costs extra, can take two or three weeks, complained Arthur Kuyumchian, 28, a trader who was rushing to replace a lost passport. “I have to travel in two weeks, and if I can’t get that passport I can’t even get on the plane,” Mr. Kuyumchian said.
snip
Much of the spike in applications is attributed to the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, which went into effect Jan. 23 and requires passports, merchant mariner documents or frequent-traveler Nexus cards for air travelers returning from Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean and Bermuda. Next January, the requirement is likely to be extended to ship, rail and road travelers.
But somehow, the government seemed caught by surprise when crowds began besieging passport offices this spring.
Even now, callers to the automated national passport line (1-877-487-2778) are told that because of “unprecedented” volume, appointments can be given only to travelers departing in the next two weeks.
Callers who are leaving within two weeks are then transferred to a 24-hour automated line that often says they cannot be connected because of the volume of calls and urges them to call back during nighttime hours. The line then goes dead.
“We are also experiencing a very high volume of e-mails,” the passport office Web site says. “Responses to e-mails may take 2-4 days.”
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wow. My favorite part is that the government 'seemed caught by surprise'
wow.
good luck all. get your passports early!
--the stealth groom
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/07/washington/07passport.html
some excerpts:
The scene was less frantic Wednesday at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Station on Third Avenue and 55th Street in Manhattan, where Manuel Suarez, a postal clerk processing passports, was telling a short line of applicants that the normal wait of four to six weeks was now at least 10 weeks.
Even expedited service, which costs extra, can take two or three weeks, complained Arthur Kuyumchian, 28, a trader who was rushing to replace a lost passport. “I have to travel in two weeks, and if I can’t get that passport I can’t even get on the plane,” Mr. Kuyumchian said.
snip
Much of the spike in applications is attributed to the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, which went into effect Jan. 23 and requires passports, merchant mariner documents or frequent-traveler Nexus cards for air travelers returning from Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean and Bermuda. Next January, the requirement is likely to be extended to ship, rail and road travelers.
But somehow, the government seemed caught by surprise when crowds began besieging passport offices this spring.
Even now, callers to the automated national passport line (1-877-487-2778) are told that because of “unprecedented” volume, appointments can be given only to travelers departing in the next two weeks.
Callers who are leaving within two weeks are then transferred to a 24-hour automated line that often says they cannot be connected because of the volume of calls and urges them to call back during nighttime hours. The line then goes dead.
“We are also experiencing a very high volume of e-mails,” the passport office Web site says. “Responses to e-mails may take 2-4 days.”
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wow. My favorite part is that the government 'seemed caught by surprise'
wow.
good luck all. get your passports early!
--the stealth groom
