The purpose of the whole thing is to improve security. If terrorists use a system as poor as ours for their passport, we're safe.

Another sterling example of how our country is being sold piecemeal. The administration which promises to "keep us safe" outsources passport applications to another one of their big-money contributors. Citigroup makes big bucks and the service, never known as particularly fast, is worse than ever.

Want to bet there was never even a bid on this one?

This is typical of the Bush administration. All smoke and mirrors with no real direction or leadership. The the right-wing, "I hope you're happy with the mess you got us into?" We are hated around the world because we are being led by an imbicile and his bunch of idiots.

Um, is it just me or did the public not know way in advance of the new passport requirements? Personal responsibility, give it a try sometime, it really works!

This is not surprising. Things in government agencies move slow because many of those in charge are afraid to make decisions, and agency politics play a huge part in how decisions get made. People who planned travel requiring a passport should have applied well in advance because, as I said before, this is not surprising.

After going through a huge delay in my passport approval this year I can tell you that in this case its all about the money. I submitted my application long before the deadlines posted. Three others I was travelling with submitted applications two weeks before travel. They received passports within one week. The reason? They paid the extra money to have them "expedited". Meanwhile I tried in vain to check on my application and when I finally reached someone they suggested I send more money to have mine expedited also. My application had already been received but was going to take another 3-4 weeks. Magically when I sent them the expedite fee I had it in four days. Makes you wonder huh?

Well, that explaines it all! I applied back in the beginning of March, in preperation for my trip to Mexico (Second Honeymoon. I was one of the poor schmucks stuck in Cancun during Wilma in '05.) on June 2nd. I got my passport on June 1st, and it wasn't easy. My congress woman had to help and so did my local post office, bless their souls. My husband applied for his three weeks after I did, yet recieved his in the mail three weeks before we were to leave. So why did mine take so long? It apparently was in one of the bins piled six feet high in the break room! I am glad that I got my passport in the nick of time, but I find it EXTREMELY unsettling to know that after twelve weeks of waiting they spent two minutes to make sure I was legit!!!

My friend, a 74 year old born in the USA who wants a renewal, has not received her passport in 13 weeks, even though her congressman has now entered the fray. Another friend, a naturalized citizen who paid the expedited price, received hers in a little more than a week. My first friend has now cancelled her trip because she needs a visa for Russia and she knows that takes about 4 weeks. The trip is less than four weeks from now.

I AM A SENIOR DISABLED AMERICAN GO AMERICA MAY GOD ALWAYS,
NEJ/PBCF

Wow, 150 seconds per application. Cost: almost $100. That's over $0.50 per second ($1800 per hour). I'm surprised there is such a dearth of worker applicants at that rate. Maybe we are all being ripped off.

I'll bet there would have been less chaos if people didn't wait till the last minute to get it done.

I AM A SENIOR DISABLED AMERICAN GO AMERICA MAY GOD ALWAYS,
NEJ/PBCF

More government bumbling

My wife and I both had passports up for renewal this September (2007). We mailed in our passports with checks and renewal forms three months ago. The checks were cashed immediately, and as of today, June 18, 2007 ( three months after sending our passports back ) we still do not have our renewed passports. We are having difficulty communicating with anyone working for the Passport Department, our emails have not been answered, and we are without our original soon to be expired passports as well as our new ones. This is probably one of the largest government screwups I have ever seen occur. The were quick to take our money, but do not seem to care about helping us renew our passports.

I have applied for a passport in Florida on May 29th 2007. Does anyone know how I check status? My Driver's License and application have different addresses, but both homes are mine. Will this delay the application? Thanks

This passport problem is absolutely ridiculous. My wife and I are supposed to travel to Europe next month. We sent her application off for a simple renewal 14 weeks (3-1/2 months) before we are supposed to leave. I e-mailed them to check on it after hearing of all these problems and they replied, saying I could call in and pay more to have it "expedited". I called and held for an hour before being told, "We just got an e-mail saying we couldn't do that anymore." I was then told there was nothing I could do until 2 weeks before our departure date. At that time, I can call back and try to see what can be done. In the meantime, I have spent a fortune on tickets and deposits for accomodations. I cannot even imagine how furious I will be if my wife is not able to go because of our ridiculous and ineffectual government. I have absolutely zero faith in our government. They cannot handle even the most mundane of tasks. I wish I could leave, but it's just as hard to immigrate somewhere else as it is for people to do here. Believe me, I have tried.

People should apply for passports before they purchse the tickets for cruise as they did announce that they would need them for the cruises, and to get into mexico and canada

People should apply for passports before they purchse the tickets for cruise as they did announce that they would need them for the cruises, and to get into mexico and canada

I have been waiting for 7 months to fill a position as an adjudicator. I was notified that I got the job back in November of 2006. My security clearance was not forwarded I had to forward it myself and Now I’ve been waiting for travel orders for 3 months. I have been a passport specialist here at the Consulate in Frankfurt, Germany for 4 years, I feel there pain, but I can’t do much from here. Seattle couldn’t pick me up because they didn’t know how many position they could fill. Just a little frustrated from all the red tape.
V/r
Saunders

A person applying for a passport is already in the US and has documentation which verifies his American citizenship. A foreign terrorist in this situation wouldn't need a passport, since he is probably on a one-way journey anyway, and has already reached his destination. This is just more GWOT (global war on terror) hype to justify increased governemnt waste and intrusion into our lives.

And how does Specter expect Homeland Security to check the credentials of 12 to 20 million illegal immigrants as part of the proposed 'amnesty' program?

The biggest glaring problem is that US Postal Service is involved with this. They destroy everything they touch. Too many self proclaimed (oppressed people)standing around doing nothing but passing the blame and the buck. Hey here's a thought....DO YOUR JOB!

thank you for a reather obtuse explanation. I sent my current and valid passport to the Philadelphia, PA Center ONLY to have extra pages added. After 6 weeks, I attempted to contact the ONLY phone number listed for information. I tried at least 10-15 times at various times during the day. I could NEE speak with anyone. I also tried e mail to no avail. This went on until June 1. It was only after I contacted my Senator from Florida that I received my passport from the Charleston NC office on June 11. I was advised on one occassion by the Senator's office staff that the passport had been sent to Seattle, then to Charleston.

So this is why I still don't have my passport that I applied for in March...typical of the government from the sound of things. They don't seem to care about the regular citizens trying to get ready for a vacation later in the year...they just want their money.

Don't feel sorry for the delays. People knew this was coming, so instead of applying early, a lot waited until 2 - 3 months before the trip. Boo Hoo! You snooze, you lose!

Perhaps the real problem lays with windbag and pompus politicians. By the time they are done expounding on the subject and their own virtues' we are all either asleep or ill. Put the solution to the problem in the hands of private industry, and then act on th recommendations without the "political" changes that always seem to occur when the Govt. is involved.

I applied for a renewal in Dec 2006. Check was not cashed until April 2007. Finally received passport June 2007. I cancelled a trip to Mexico, scheduled for June. Missed out on a great deal, booking in advance.

Thank you for this insightful article. To obtain a passport 4 months prior to a European vacation I was required to solicit help from my Congressman two weeks prior to departure. The email and automatic telephone systems cannot deal with the excessive number of inquirys; even at 5AM on a Sunday it is nearly impossable to get through. The whole system has broken down due to the ineptitude of the Administration. The workings of this Agency, as well as other Federal Agencies are typical of a third world nation. Is this where we are heading?

No doubt no one will lose their jobs over this. Does anyone step down or get fired for incompetency in government anymore?

On the flipside though, the American public has been hearing about these requirements for years and put off getting the passport until the last minute, exacerbating the problem.

OUR GOVERNMENT AT WORK! AMAZING ISN'T IT?!
Seems the larger the organization gets, the worse it gets at control. and why are they farming this out to an outside agency in the first place??? Doesn't that make some people, besides me, angry? This is our private information and we turned it over to the government in our requests for passports! We didn't turn it over to Citigroup or any other agency.
How dare they handle this information with such lack of care and lack of security! With all the identity theft going on, one would think the government would be more concerned to handle people's private information with more care.
2.5 minutes per application...doesn't sound like enough time to me. Are they depending on the computer to verify everything for them? What mathmatical genius came up with this number anyway? Who made it an assembly line and said you must do 2.5 minutes per app? Checking over these apps should be a thorough process and they should be given however much time they need to do this properly; if that means hiring more employees, then hire more employees and do it right (the first time).

There are many temporary IRS workers idle at this time of year - already pre-screened and computer literate - why couldn't they be used for some of this work?

Here is the question of the day on this topic. What country holds a large block of Citigroup stock. I believe that it is Saudi Arabia. Imagine that.

Why is CITICORP involved in passport approval at all? Citicorp is supposedly a private company, not a government agency. Or is it? Too many private companies involved in government operations these days, I think. Blackwater who? Bah. Get your passport eventually, and get out while you still can.

Outsourcing some of Our nations most imprtant functions does not make sense and is quite clear to say is failing the American People. The only way this could get worse is if the trasury dept moved the jobs to India. Thankfully with sensitive data such as PIPPA and COPA, and PII this will not happen. Get rid of citi group and pay a federal employee to handle these application judiciously, maybe that way we can keep fakes and terrorists from applying and getting a passport from a system ripe with failure.

The government and big business want them to fail. Apparently it’s in their best interest if we allow another terrorist attack happen. Why would a high level government official deny the addition of more passport workers? Maybe because they were told to deny the addition and allow a large backlog to develop. It’s all connected.

I am very very very very disappointed in the postal service and also the government. My son applied for a passport 12 weeks before his youth mission trip to Mexico with our church and was told the most it would take was 10 weeks. Well they left last Saturday (6/16) for the mission trip and NO PASSPORT. This is why I refuse to use the postal service anymore unless I absolutely have to which is once a year. I hate you all!!!! You all are worthless and move at snails pace at every post office I've ever been too. This is why I pay ALL my bills online. I could care less if the postal service is doing poor. You reap what you sow. We are very disappointed in your work. You all are just a bunch of LIARS and are worthless!!! Get my son's passport to him like we were promised even though it's too late now for the youth mission trip. Don't think God would approve of your terrible work - I think everyone there should be fired and start over with people who aren't liars and who can be trusted with their WORD!!!!

Another heckuva job, Bushie!

Errors with handwritten applications? No kidding! But the quick fix is blocked by poor software. Try entering an application via the web. After filling out all the information I had available to me, I tried to print the form for mailing. The error message said I didn't have the issue date of the passport I destroyed when it expired. Rather than printing an application with data missing and allowing me to hand write only that info, I was required to print a blank app and hand write ALL the info. The reason? The software creates a barcode based on the completed application and prints it along one edge.

Writing software is an art, not a commodity. A good analyst sits down and develops the specifications with the user and then writes the code with all the options covered. Problems develop when users write the requirements (all fields must have data) and the req's are sent overseas to a country where it is culturally improper to ask questions. The software you get back is technically correct and practically unusable. And people are appalled by the resulting backlogs.

A good software analyst would have asked the basic question -- if the application is not complete, should we offer the option to allow it to be printed with the information provided and simply not print a barcode? Or print a special "incomplete" barcode?

As with any system, fix one part and all the other parts run better (sometimes significantly better).

With the US border with Mexico the way it is, what terrorist needs a US passport? They can just come and go as they please into the US and buy a $10 passport from Mexico.

well I guess I should apply now for my renewal on my passport that expires in Mar99. maybe then I'll get it back on time....

This is total tripe, why should it take 4 hours to add a set of pages to an existing passport. The answer is simple, the union and its less than hard-working members. That is the amount of time that I wasted 3 months ago at the local passport office while 3 guards and 6 "passport handlers" tried everything possible to string out the process to the limit. Good old Government bureauaracy at its best/worst.

We applied for a passport over 3 months ago for our 14 year old son who was going on a mission trip with our church. The group left yesterday, we had already bought his plane ticket, he couldn't go....no passport. I spent atleast 20 hours on hold with the passport authorities. Each person I talked to told me something different. I never had any response to e-mails that I sent out almost everyday for the past two weeks. We are disappointed and you can imagine how our son felt when his missed the trip that he has been training for for 6 months. This has been a mor than stressful ordeal and a no "faith in the system" lesson for our son.

Yes, the public knew in advance of the passport requirement. HOWEVER, we were promises turnaround times of about six to eight weeks for a routine passport application. I received my passport after I waited 14 weeks, which was two weeks past the date I needed it. In good faith, I applied with what should have been plenty of time to spare, but the system let me down.

It's the government agency and private contractors that are not taking personal responsibility for what they are charged to do. Don't blame the leadtime problems on those who applied for a passport. It it's going to take 13 weeks, they need to TELL people this honestly.

Wow, thanks Bob for uncovering yet another government incompetency job. Here's my question: Is this playing in the hands of republicans who claim that this situation is proof that the government can't do anything right and needs to be smaller, or is this playing in the hands of democrats who can nicely blame the outsourcing to Citigroup? Either way: citizens are screwed, because blame will be sought, someone will be fired, and the back-log of applications will only grow.

As for the security clearance issue. I knew someone who worked at a place where things could be given secrecy stamps. At some point the newly appointed dude-in-charge figured way too much was secret and that valuable time was lost by non-sense related to secrecy. The problem was sloved by assigning the official secrecy stamp to some old grumpy dude hidden deep down in the complex, who had office hours from 9h13-12h03 and 2h24-3h59. Everybody who wanted something declared secret had to go see him personally. Guess what? The amount of documents deemed secret dropped instantaneously by 60%.

If adjusticators only have 2m30 to check on the errors in a passport application, I don't think a security check is necessary. The randomization of the files handed to the clerc should do the trick.

With the money that Citigroup is making from our passport applications, perhaps the new ballpark being built by the METS should have its name changed from CITIPARK to PASSPORT FIELD. Why was this job farmed out in the first place? Too few government workers?

Does ANYTHING in this country really work?

I can tell you right now that emails are being answered within 24 hours. People that wait until the last minute and send in the wrong documentation and then blame it on the agency really need to start taking some responsibility. Please people, let's not complain about the backlog and then complain about the little time on adjudicating your passport. Does that make sense? Complain about both sides of the coin. Give them a friggin break. Why plan a trip two years in advance and apply for your passport four weeks in advance. I hope you people realize right now that those who are working to get your passport done actually do care about your situation. Think about being on that side as well. They have to go home at night and sleep too. Do you think the people answering your phone calls really want to her thousands of people crying every day? No. They don't. If you have a problem, write to your government. Stop complaining to people that are actually trying to do their job. Plan ahead and stop blaming people that actually want to help you. Don't give them crap about not doing their job and then complaining about them having to do their job quickly.

All these people that are saying people are waiting to the last minute & need to check their information before they open their mouth. Unless you have a trip planned, they will not even deal with you. Sorry I just went all threw this & applied way in advance. It's just typical putting in rules then not being able to back them up.

Does anyone think that having or not having a passport to the US is really going to keep a dedicated terrorist out of the country? All of this uproar over issuing passports is a feel good effort from the government to make eveybody think they might be safer.

another case where the American people need to remember when you point a finger at someone, you are points four back at yourself. Do what you at told, try readings the rules, do it on time and remember you are not the only person in the world and not everyone is going to kiss *** so you can have your way. A lot of the passport problems reported could have been resolved if everyone did their jobs right.
Lastly, I am in favor of everyone having a passport.

$95 - proper application and support documents - 30 minutes at the postoffice and 6 days later a brand new first time passport.

Having workind in a processing department, I was amazed. The time frame did not allow for even a simple computer search for validity of the birth certificate or a quick criminal data base check.

This is just a wonderful example of our homeland security post 9/11.

BUT, May God help you if you try to board a plane with a bottle of nail polish.

Funny - my 14-year-old son was able to understand the requirements, submit the packet, and his passport was received 6 weeks later.

The whole thing is pretty upsetting. My husband (finace at the time) applied to get his passport "renewed" not a brand new passport in the time they told him it would take 4-6 weeks. This happened at the begining of the year in January. We ended up not being able to go on our honeymoon as a result. He made several phone calls everyday and all they could tell him was that they had it, but didn't know were it was in the process. I guess those of you that said he need to pay the extra money were right. Would have saved us the hundreds of dollars to rebook our honeymoon for next year and use our wedding gift money to take a trip in the states. After the wedding I sent mine back in for the name change and it took 14 weeks. When I tried to check on it all I recieved were recordings whenever I called. I was just concerened if it was lost and if I would have to re-apply before I actually get to take my really honeymoon vacation.

well what i have to say is why do we not have the right sources checking our passports is it because your not paying well hmmmmmmmmm well i would love to workackgroud will check out if you can please call me on this for the passport industry and yes my b

Once private contractors, like Citicorp, lock in their government contracts, they have little need to worry about maintaining quality and the government doesn't have much recourse given that the government employees who used to do the job have all been laid off and are gone. I don't think the passport delays are so much a case of government incompetence as much as a case of rich guys using government funding as a welfare program. The execs at Citicorp just wanted fatter paychecks without having to do more work and the voters sat back and allowed it to happen. They never cared about providing the public with a service. Benjamin Disraeli (who once was a well-respected British Prime Minister) said that "People may not have the government they want, but they have the government they deserve." If you don't like the passport situation then you have no one to blame but yourself.

To the person who said personal responsiblity. Explain that to the people that applied within the required waiting period 4-6 weeks and missed there vacations. The government should have been ready for the over whelming response for passports what did they expect. The amendment to that was a little late for those that had to lose or reschedule their trips at the begining of this year.

This seems really odd. The junk mail credit card offers keep rolling in, typo free, and like clockwork. They couldnt possibly be understaffed.

It was in January that we found out about an educational trip for our 15-year0old. We applied immediately for his first passport.
In April (11 weeks later) we were informed on the internet that people applying before February 27th would be getting their passports in 6 weeks, yet when (after 11 weeks) I queried the system his name was not even entered in the procesing queue!

To argue that people should take the personal responsibility to apply well in advance doesn't understand the reality of every day life for most Americans - we don't decide on trips a year ahead. Sometimes a couple decides to take their first international trip only when their church group sets up a visit to the Holy Lands. Sometimes a child takes an international trip in the summer when their teacher announces an opportunity, and the parents scrape up the dollars to pay for it.
What used to be reasobnable planning time has changed, without sufficiently good reason.
Saving tax money by not hiring people? I want my tax dollars to give me good value (for example, if my property taxes are high but I get effective street cleaning after a blizzard). When I've got relatives on the Gulf Coast who were not well served in the hurricane summer ('05), I can see the problems with budget cutting and outsourcing on the part of the federal gov't.

I sent my passport in for a name change only. This is "free" of charge if you submit it within a year of getting your other passport. I sent it in the beginning of March and still have not received it back. It's not right. Can you imagine taking this long to get around to paying your taxes?

Oh boy..I was going to let this go, but I am reading some very ignorant comments here. First of all, we were all assured several times that the turn around time for a passport was 8 to 10 weeks. PERIOD. The government did not start singing a different tune UNTIL JUNE 1st. So to all of you that are calling us travelers "cry babies" and saying we were not prepaired, you are seeing the wrong picture. We were assured that we were in fact more then prepaired fileing three months ahead of travel dates. And I am more them positive that those of you who think we are cry babies have not and will not be traveling any time soon yourself anyway, so your opinion does not count to us travelers! Second of all, Passports were being required for "Airline" travel only. No one needed them yet to cross by land or sea. So I have NO IDEA why anyone is even talking about that point?! No one was denied sea boarding to the Caribbean.

What is going to happen to happen in 10 years when everyone has to renew their passports. Were going to have the same issue.

We crossed the Canadian border in both 2004, and 2005. We had all our documentation. Border agent asked for our drivers licenses, looked at them, and said "have a nice day". We could have had a terrorist or two in the trunk, and he would never have known. What are we getting for the BILLIONS spent on "homeland security"? President Bush is totally incomptent!

I note a few comments here on personal responsibility. I couldn't agree more with them. When I first read of the new requirement, I immediately sent in my Passport Renewal Request. I received it back, error free, inside of a month. Those people who wait to the last minute have no one to blame but themselves in my view.

Citigroup is horrible in all aspects of their corporation- everything from customer service to home loans and dealing with the home-buying procees, to credit cards and "losing your payment." I will never bank/ develop a line of credit with them ever again.

It is no wonder why things are so messed up. You have a government and president that do not even understand the meaning of illegal (immigrants) and legal (immigrants). There is a difference but the snafu of the bush administration makes you wish you were working on getting us a revolution to have a new government with people that are held responsible to who elected them and not private interest groups.

Applied Feb. and got May which was about 12 weeks instead of the 8 that they told us. Anyway, our trip is in Nov. so we made sure that we applied way ahead of time and booked the vacation only "after" we received our passports. Suggestion..don't book until you have your passports in your hands.

Let's let illegal people come into the country for free with no paperwork but let's make it hard for anyone who is here legally to visit other countries.
My step dad, who is 72, was born in this country,went to school here, fought in the war and was issued a metal. He couldn't get a passport because they said he did not exsist.
He had to get his military papers together, pay money, then had to pay for the census, get his school records from all schools he attended, pay more money, draw a map of the area he grew up it, named buildings around his house on the map, pay more money. Had to wait almost four months to finally get his passport before he got it. Oh and did I mention he had to pay more money.
Makes you wonder who they are protecting.

Sounds like beaurocratic failure to me. When there's a paper backlog anywhere, things slow down. Every time someone gets extra "help," from a congressperson or whomever, the item gets special handling. But that just slows down everything else even more. Sounds like poor planning and foresight on everybody's part. Isn't it crazy? I applied for my passport renewal when I was in South Korea, told it had to be sent to the embassy there, then on to Washington for processing. Had it back in 5 days.

Our family of seven is scheduled to fly to Europe today to visit my husband's grandparents' homeland. Unfortunately there will be only six of us going since our son's passport (applied for 13 weeks ago) has not yet arrived in spite of the intervention of our Congressman's office and being told they would process it Saturday and it would arrive Monday (yesterday). When the Congressman's office called yesterday, they hadn't even started to process it!

Even here, with yet another obvious case of Bush administration bungling, we have apologists saying, "people should have applied earlier." When you apply weeks before the longest time estimate given by Homeland Security, and you still don't have passports on time because they didn't hire enough people and their contractor isn't performing adequately, what then?

Now will you neo-fascists admit that the Bush administration is LOUSY at managing government? Now will you admit that contractors whose main objective is making profit are the last persons you should trust with something as important as this? Now will you admit that you have been used? Or are you still stubbornly clinging to your man, despite almost seven years of destruction? Republicans, why do you hate America?

Illegal immigrants will be granted amnesty in minutes and given paperwork before a hard working American citizen can travel beyond their own borders. How stupid does that sound. Because of Bush, not only are we hated around the world. But, we can find solace that they also laugh at how our government works, sorry doesn't work for Americans and legal immigrants. Many if not all politicans must think that we are naive. And big business has their fingers is all those politicans pockets, i.e. Citigroup. Wake up American and let them hear your voice for once collectively.

what site do i go to find the status of my renewal for passport, its been 4 months now.

If those applying for the passport were illegal aliens they would already be using their newly acquired citizenship! Actually, they really don't need to bother since they already cfome and go as they please. Americans are now second class citizens

I think you can travel to Mexico and Canada now if you show proof that you have applied...For those of you going to these places, check before you cancel your trip. I too work for the Gov. not the Passport office, and I can tell you more often than not our hands are tied do to the Washington DC staff!!! It IS all about money! What difference does it make to pay more to have it processed faster. In my office we work everything by date received. That is only fair!

Even though I do agree that the government has handled this issue poorly, I myself applied a year ago for a position as a passport adjudicator and just received an email stating that the vacancy was cancelled and I needed to re-apply, but the State Department warned, notified on their website, the media covered this over and over, that the restrictions were coming but most people just waited TOO close to the due date to apply for their passport.

Who's minding the store? Not only is there problems with passports; my wife has been trying to renew her greencard for months. Homeland Security sends them through the mail but they never get to the mailbox. HS's solution, reapply and send another $260. Will they send it registered? No. I could get her one for $$$$$ on the street. Where do they get them? Probably paying someone at HS or the USPS. This is not an isolated case; happens to many...too many! Security? Who's protecting us from U.S.

I have tried the department of Greater New York Federal Building number 1-877-487-2778 about 100 times to make an appointment to get my passport spent about 10 hours on the phone Seriously I still do not have an appointment. Called to the building this morning at 7:30am opening time and Guess what there was about 100 people with the same story.I was told to leave as i did not make an appointment.Try the number if you dont believe me. I am a European Citizen I am soo lucky and only appreciated my european citizenship after living in AMERICA.

The common thread seems to be:
If you want it done right, and done quicky, you must pay the extra "expedite" fee.

So, charge everyone the "expedite" fee in the first place, and hire the staff needed to do the job.

How simple does it have to be!!!!!!

Oh, and to those who say "you snooze you lose" - two to three months should be ample time for a government as large as the one George W. Bush has put in place to do its job.

Hmmm. I applied for a renewal of my passport in March. Hope it arrives before my trip to England next summer. I'm getting a little concerned.

For all you wise guys bashing travelers for waiting to the last minute, my husband and I, along with 2 other couples, applied for a passport in early February for a trip to be taken in June. We got the passports the day before our plane left - 16 weeks later. We would have applied earlier if we had known we were going somewhere. I don't consider 4 months to be 'last minute.'

I cannot help but wonder if this entire system to create a safe America has done just the opposite? These workers are now pressured to merely scan through applications and be nothing more than a rubber stamp due to a process that was crammed down everyones throat without any planning. I think in fact, its less safe that it has ever been now after reading this article. Who the heck was asleep at the wheel when it came to hiring the adjucators? Show me a company with an inadequate human rescoures and hiring process and I will show you gauranteed failure.

Some know-it-all reader posted:
Don't feel sorry for the delays. People knew this was coming, so instead of applying early, a lot waited until 2 - 3 months before the trip. Boo Hoo! You snooze, you lose!

News Flash...Some people don't have four or more months to spare. Some people need their passport SEVERAL times a year! I'll bet you that there are not nearly as many passports to be processed as there are tax returns every year...but if YOU had to wait longer than three months for a refund (if you were due one), you would be one of the first to complain.
Boo Hoo to you, too!

All I will say is pay for the expediting and pay for the overnight shipping back to you thereby skipping the USPS. We did that in Feb and got ours back in March. Good luck!

This has set up a vicious cycle for decades to come. Every ten years we can expect the same crush of Passport renewal requests...just my luck, my existing Passport expired in the midst of this bureacratic nightmare!

Perhaps a thinking government would have eased into this policy so as to smooth out the application process (maybe 1 or 2 letters of the alphabet each month over a 24 month period, with penalty fees for missing your month to keep everyone on track.)

[And how does Specter expect Homeland Security to check the credentials of 12 to 20 million illegal immigrants as part of the proposed 'amnesty' program?]

WOW...that is one heck of a question right there!!! You should forward that one to your local congressmen/women and senators...I'm certainly going to!!!

I don't get it...The key to getting your passport in time seems to be paying the extra money to expedite. A friend started her process for herself & her daughter through the military (her new husband was stationed in Japan)4 months before they got married(Sept.2006), and 2 months after the honeymoon she had to go to Houston, the nearest passport office office, to get their passports(Feb.2007). On the other hand, My son applied for his passport in May, paid the extra fee, and had it within 2 weeks. Makes you wonder.

My son applied for a passport in April. He was scheduled to leave on May 30. He was told by the clerk's office where he applied for his passport that it would take 10 weeks. He was also told he could not expedite his passport, because the passport service was backed up. He had a friend in Memphis, Tn who was allowed to expedite her passport and received it in four weeks. Hey, here is where the money comes in. Pay more; get it faster. In order to be insured of a flight to France, he had to buy his ticket in advance. He had never bought an airline ticket before, so he ended up getting a non-refundable ticket. He was going to France on a study abroad program. We had to reschedule his flight twice before he got his passport; which was on June 4. He was late for the beginning of the study abroad program and has had to catch up on what he missed. He has had to spend an extra $2000 on his flight ticket. I know this is a meager amount for our government, but this is a lot of money for us.

Well, DUH!!! Did you reaally expect anything the government does to work efficirntly? Wake up people! It's business as usual - SNAFU all the way.

Why blame Bush for all of this? The passport agency and post office had problems loooong before Bush took office. That's why the cost of postage keeps going up (and up and up and). Now if you want to blame him for the cost of gas.......

People should know that yes there was gonna be a backlog of applicants. I mean seriously guys all the sudden if you want to leave US soil you have to have a passport is going to make it tough on one agency to accomendate all those applications. Did the agency screw up? Yes they should have know that millions of people will want to have a passport and they should have been prepared. We all knew this was gonna happen as soon as this law was passed. You can blame this on the right-wing if you want but this is entire government failure. Just like they are failing on every matter these days too much politics and nothing gets done. If you want to take a trip in the next year you'd better start now else you might end up like a friend of mine that had to drive accross the border to mexico then fly to cancun.

E-mail from PR stated that we are led by an imbecile. I wonder who put that imbecile where he is now; I know I didn't.

WHY WOULD A BABY 16 MONTHS WITH BOTH PARENTS NEED A PASSPORT? THERE IS NOT ANY BACKGROUND TO CHECK.

I agree with the posters who have stated, if you knew in advance that you were planning a trip that required a passport then you should accept at least an equal amount of responsibility for not having your passport in time for your trip. We have known for a few years when the changes would be effective. When do we begin to accept at least some responsibility for our own actions? We were also told to expect delays in the processing of the passport applications as well as the renewal of passports. The Post Office employee I dealt with when applying for my renewal made it very clear to me that I should not expect a response for quite some time. It is inexcusable for anyone to state that they have been blindsided by the outcome. Should the government taken steps to be prepared....well, yes they should have and apparently did to some extent. Maybe they just didn't foresee the procrastination by the US Citizens in applying for their passports. There is enough blame to go around, but let's admit that we are also responsible.

IF THERE'S NO EMERGENCY, THERE'S NO LAST MINUTE...LUL!!

Typical public reactions -- born of frustration, inbred cynicsm, and abysmal ignorance about how a government bureaucracy works.

"Wow, 150 seconds per application. Cost: almost $100. That's over $0.50 per second ($1800 per hour)."

What, you think that Citibank processes applications for free? The article tells us how much time an adjudicator is allocated to process a passport, but it doesn't tell us how much time it takes Citibank to preprocess the application or how much it costs to produce the passport once the adjudicator approves it.

The cost has an additional benefit; it discourages individuals from obtaining one for frivilous reasons and prevents the backlog from being horrendously worse.

"This is typical of the Bush administration. All smoke and mirrors with no real direction or leadership."

Sure, blame the government bureaucracy and red tape which has existed for over 200 years and gotten worse each year on Bush. In case you haven't noticed, there's a war going on, a war which Bush haters want us to lose because it validates their hatred.

"A person applying for a passport is already in the US and has documentation which verifies his American citizenship. A foreign terrorist in this situation wouldn't need a passport, since he is probably on a one-way journey anyway, and has already reached his destination. This is just more GWOT (global war on terror) hype to justify increased governemnt waste and intrusion into our lives."

I would hope that the State Department is taking a few minimal precautions to ensure that the documentation provided to verify citizenship is valid. If not, it wouldn't be too difficult for a terrorist cell in Wichita to submit applications with fake documentation on behalf of Al Qaeda terrorists who aren't yet in the country. I recently watched a TSA screener spend several minutes scrutinizing the San Salavador passport of a passenger in line ahead of me on a DOMESTIC flight. The screener examined every page in the passport and used a jeweler's loupe and a flashlight (infared?) to pore over certain pages more closely. After he eventually let her go through, I handed him my retired military ID card and he probably spent all of a second looking at it before waving me through. I suspect that having an authentic U.S. passport based upon falsified documentation would be ideal for getting a real terrorist into the country.

With everything that has been said, I want to know who is responsible for paying me for the day of work I missed, the hotel I had to book and the gas to go to Chicago the day before our trip? This is after waiting in to week 14 for passports. The toll free number that is the only valid number to call, is not honored in Chicago. You cannot speak to anyone at the New Orleans office where your passports sit unattended. Not only did we surpass the deadlines for passports, we are out $300.00 dollars waiting on our government. We even got a 9:00am appointment for the Chicago office, which they did not honor and finally left there at 4:00pm, for a six hour drive back to St. Louis. Who is responsible for this?
Colleen B.

Does anyone think ahead anymore? Everyone knew these changes were going to take effect and when they were happening. However, people still decide to wait till the last minute and expect to be catered to because they are leaving for their trip overseas in a few weeks. Put in your application before you make any travel plans, or you may lose out on your precious vacation. Use your heads, people! A mind is a terrible thing to waste!

I recently applied for a passport though my local Post Office. I was told that there was a lag in the processing time and to expect delays. I went ahead and paid the slight increase in cost for ten day processing (at that time the State Department's web site said ten day applications were taking a month).

I was able to log on to the web site and see when my application was recieved, when it was proccessed and when it was mailed. Total time from application to having the passport in my hands was about twenty-two days. I was very happy with the service I recieved.

I was married in December but wasn't able to receive my marriage license for 2 months due to a mistake the office made. When I did recieve my license I had to use it to change the normal things like SS card etc and by early April sent it with my old passport to be renewed. I actually had 4 years left on the pasport so I figured the renewal wouldn't take as much time anyway. Well, here I am more than 2 months later, waiting, and I am supposed to moving on Thursday out of the country. With no passport, and no marriage license. All I can do now is pray.

http://travel.state.gov/passport/get/status/status_2567.html

Would you all like some cheese to go with that whine?

Cry babies, cry! See where that gets you.

So far, this is the worst nightmare that we are experience with the Passport office.None of the procedures are working well, nor the website,nor the e-mail, nor the phone, nor the "automated" appointment system.Where can I talk with someone? My son's application was filed on 4/4/07 and the system does not have record of it. Our trip has been delayed for weeks and I don't know at this point if we are going to make it.
I thought that only the cuban citizens were the only ones that are not allowed to leave the country when they wanted.

My family applied for a passport and received them within 8 weeks. If people will take responsibility and apply early they might have the same experience. When did pass-the-buck become so in.

My daughter, a wonderful, holsom 16 year old, was told the end of February 2007, of a mission trip to the Czech Republic that was to take place June 16-26, 2007. We applied for her a passport on March 3, 2007. We could not talk with anyone about the status of her passport until two weeks prior to departure. So on May 31, 2007 after holding on the telephone for 30 minutes, I got to talk with a CSR about her passport. They stated is was being processed in New Orleans and they would send a message to them to expedited her passport. The week of June 4th I talked with a CSR. They stated the could not do anything else until 48 hours before departure. At that point, I talked with a CSR daily, holding 30 minutes or more each time, to no relief. They could not do anything other than check on the passport status.
My daughter was going on a mission trip with the Methodist Church. When it came time for her to go on June 16, 2007, she still did not have her passport and did not get to go on the Mission Trip which she had her heart set on. If the bureaucrats and politicians had to explained this to their 16 year old and lose over $1000,00 for a plane ticket, the problem with the passport office would be taken care of.

Do not forget to sign the application.......

If all else fails, blame the Bush Administration. 9/11, Katrina, passports, gas prices...what else can you blame them for? Blame everyone back to admins in the 60's-70's...up to this one.

i agrre with all who have left a msg here the us gov is a joke as are the ones who run it they want your money but give nothing in return most who work for our wonderfulle gov are black and want the benifits but do not want to work they would rather sit on their lazy butts and do nothing but collect money and ins everyone i taled to at the passport office was black and lazy all they could do is offer excuses some goverment we have

What i think is that if you need a passport you should be able to get one even though you owe back child support. I lived in California and pay my child support every month and can not get one. I feel like that I'm a prisioner of my own country. This passport thing is alittle over kill. I can' even go to Mexico or Canada on a cruise line for my Honeymoon.

I used to work for Citigroup and am familiar with this deal. It is much more screwed up than you could even imagine. As far as I know this process has been outsourced for quite some time - it was with another major financial institution prior to Citi.

I have a mixed bag of feelings on this topic. On one hand I have to agree with those saying that people should have been better prepared. I've had a lack of faith in our govenment for a long time and had a "feeling" that this process would get seriously backlogged by 2007. On the other hand, it is the government's responsibility to set processing standards that allow for applications to be processed in a fair and timely manner. I can't for the life of me figure out why some people get thier passport in 12 weeks and others have been waiting 5 months, expitited or not.
An extra bit of random information. I'm not sure about border security either. I was coming back from Canada last April. There was a group of 4 of us in an SUV. We reached the US border. The gentleman asked us all what our nationality was, we all replied US. Then he asked us how much ciggarettes and alcohol we were bringing into the US, then he stated "have a nice day" and opened the gate. He NEVER asked for IDs from any of us. Why do we need passports if border patrol doesn't even ask for ID?

We need to find out who the top-level political appointee was who nixed hiring the full complement of 400 adjudicators. This person should be fired.
This MSNBC article is excellent and should get an award.

My wife and I must have missed the rush. We knew we had a mid summer trip planned so we applied during Christmas break. 10 weeks later the passports arrived. We anticipated the crush of applications that would happen later when the rules went into effect. Why blame the post office or passport office?

Ya know, America is such a beautiful and diverse land. Why not just stay home and enjoy. Go to the Grand Canyon, visit New York, or take a train ride.

"Family Summer European Vacation in Ruins". Passport renew process over 14 weeks, redicious. Congressional Intervention? sounded great, but same answers, back logged, e-mail process for update on passport processing a "Joke" at best! Out of 20 times calling for status, one live answer from a real person. The answer: "your passport is in the system", no really I asumed as much since it was sent in for processing. Our summer vacation 2007? A trip to Washington,DC in a mad dash appointment from North Carolina the 19th or 20th of June too be able to fly out of RDU on June 23rd 3-days from now at best. "Cost": fee's for the orginal processing of the renewed passports, second charge to re-file a second time in person. Travel expenses to drive, fly or train to Washington and return. Cost of stress on the American family and tax payers, "Priceless" for the government which has inheritied another way to raise additional revnue for the government "Cash Cow". The disappointment of these teenagers (2) who graduated June 2007, and had been given the graduation present of a summer vacation trip too Europe devisating. As qouted earlier by others, don't set the requirement for a time frame you can not meet and don't give others false hope that they will receive their passport in time for their trip. I served my country for 20 proud years, now its time for my country to give a little something back.

Stop blaming the government for everything bad that happens. Proper planning is the key ingredients you knew since 2005, you were going to need your passports, you should have plan..............

Lucky me, especially after reading this article. Live in London now and needed more pages added to passport. Only took one phone call to have it picked up by SMS (Secure Mail System), and have it delivered back to me within 5 days- complete with text message letting me know it was on its way. Sorry for your troubles!

I also used the expedite service but have not got mine in three weeks. $67 processing, $60 expedite service fee, $30 for postal fee, and $30 for Express Mail. In total $187 spent, three weeks since application and still waiting.

At the end of March I sent my passport that had expired to be renewed and my husband is getting one for the first time for our trip in October '07. I have checked on the US Passport website and we have locater numbers issued to us. I hope that is good news. Any comments?

Remember that if you paid to expedite your passport and you don’t feel that you received expedited service, you can request a refund of your $60 (just that, no refund of the overnight delivery charges). Here is the US Department of State’s web page that discusses it: http://travel.state.gov/travel/cbpmc/cbpmc_3259.html

I Have had a passport for over 30 years, and submitted an application at the end of february 2007, and have yet to receive my new passport, I understand security etc. but if i have been issued numerous passports in the past and am a u.s. citizen, what can take so long to process a renewal!!!

Mr Charles Jones, The web site is travel.state.gov

No wonder we are the laughing stock of the world. The questions about why is CitiCorp invoved is a good one. The other issue is that they (govt) knew this was going to happen but true to form they did nothing about it. Why should it be so hard for us LEGALS to travel when terrorists & illegals seem to come & go as they please. ( even if its a one way tik) . Remind me again why we are the home of the free?

I used a company that hand delivers your doc's to the State Department to assist you in expediting your pass port. (this is not a plug, I was not happy with the service)They charge you a lot of money and guarantee your passport within a few days or as fast as 24hrs. They failed. This is there business and you would think that they would know about the delays. The 2 min. thing checking your identity? Why did we go to the U.S.Post Office and have the doc's authenticated by one of the agents there. They verify your State issued ID, birth certificate, etc... So why does it have to be done again, do they not trust their own employees (Government). I guess not because I recieved a call that my passport was suspended. I had to send in secondary identification-I sent over 20 different items, see the list they provide. I finally recieved my passport while I was four days into my cruise, wow. Becareful in using other companies to assist you. It might take a little longer but do it the old fashion way, by going to the post office. Locate the nearest U.S. Passport Office in your area, I thing that there are about 13 of them around the country. I didn't know this until I checked, I had one in my own city and used one 2000 miles away. I learned from my mistakes. If you have the time you can hand deliver your own doc's, if your close to a Passport Office.

It is supposed to take 10 weeks to get a passport. You can pay extra to get it rushed if you need one sooner. They got log jammed because you used to not need a passport to travel to Mexico or Canada and they changed it to where you needed to (this has now been suspended due to the backup). My wife and I took our kids to get passports 15 weeks before we were to leave on a trip to Mexico. The person said it could take 15+ weeks to get them, not 10 weeks like the paperwork says. Since we were right on the cusp we decided to pay the extra rush charge which when all said and done was around $300 for 2 passports. We got the passports 2 weeks later and the next thing you know they decided to lift the passport requirement to travel to Mexico and Canada. As far as I'm concerned I got screwed and should be refunded the money I spent to have them rushed. Total BS. Citigroup you suck! Bush you suck too!

Gee at least most people made it past the post office. I had to apply three times they kept giving me the wrong forms. Finally I showed up at the post office at the specific window and time and no one was at the window. After 20 minutes I asked another worker if they were open, and he replied the guy was off work. I asked if he could do the passport and was told only specially trained persons could. I demanded a supervisor, one came and told the worker Harry you are trained step over here and hand him the form. I never will forget this never, but hey Harry has a good racket can we say 50 cent stamp for homeland security coming up!!!!!!!!!

We submitted a renewal application for our daughters one month ago, one as a standard application and one expedited, because our daughter is leaving on a Rotary Exchange semester later this summer and needs the passport to apply for a VISA. We paid double for the expedited service. Not only have we not received the passport, it hasn't even shown up in their online tracking system. Oddly, the one we didn't pay to expedite has shown up in the online tracking system. According to our congressman's staffer (last week) the expedited passport has surfaced in LA, but we have no word on when they intend to deliver on the 2 week processing commitment they made for the extra payment. Anyone interested in taking on a class action suit against the state department for fraud?

just another way for political appointees and civil servants to make more money. create a backlog, and the public will send in more and more money to expidite their passport. why not let the market decide how much getting a passport within a week is really worth. auction them off on ebay.

"What is going to happen in 10 years when everyone has to renew their passports? We're going to have the same issue."
Excellent point brought up by another person!

My son also applied for his passport well before his departure date. A medical student that volunteered his time to travel to Equador and help in the medical clinics along with several other students and MD's. He paid for his plane ticket, etc in advance, also paid for his shots to travel abroad. The info said 6-8 weeks. Try 12 or more. You cannot speak to anyone (a person) until you are less than two weeks from your departure date, so he called and still no passport. He received a call on Saturday before his trip on Tuesday and they had him travel 4 hours to an office to actually pick it up. He left 5 hours before his scheduled arrival time and sat in their office for another 6-7 hours before his treck back 4 hours home---with NO passport. Not to mention all the cost of gas at $3.00 a gallon. He was to leave on Tuesday, well he didn't get his passport until Thursday. My question-why did they ask him to drive to the office if they weren't going to give it to him?? In hind sight we would have paid the extra to get it sooner had we thought it would end this way. Live and learn I guess.

The general public has no concept of how devastating the financial impact has been on the tourism industry. Small businesses like travel agencies are greatly feeling the pinch along with large tour operators to the Caribbean & Mexico, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

And some of the public is crying for a government run health care system?? God help us!

Here is a question no one really seems to be asking. Why is it that for more money they can somehow get your passport processed..? Maybe they should get rid of the expedited process and this would help with the back log. Think about it, "normal" applications are being pushed aside to allow for the "expited" ones to be processed. And for those saying that people who waited have to live with it... the government knew this would be coming. If people hadn't waited to the last minute, then there would have been a huge back log earlier. It was going to happen. Anytime you require people to have a passport anytime they leave the country, this will happen!

Hmmmm...I don't leave for my Mexican cruise until April of 08...I was planning on just going through the usual processes now, but judging by the comments I've seen thus far, perhaps I should expedite the paperwork now. At least I'd be somewhat assured of my passport getting to me before my trip...

To everyone who is complaining let me say this to you. As a travel agent I have been advising all of my clients since 2004; when everyone was made aware of the WHTI was to be emplemented in 2005 and postponed every year since then; to apply for their passports. As a travel consultant I explained to everyone they will eventually need one for all international air travel, cruising as well as border crossings and they are good for 10 years (for adults) and are a great way to air travel in the US, which is what I do. They are also good for any type of photo identification when you need it. For those that are waiting for your passports, buck up and quit whinning. If your travel professional advised you to get a passport years ago then it's your fault for not doing so and if you don't use a travel agent then or didn't do it then you have no one to blame but yourself. For those who have not applied for a passport, DO SO TODAY, DON'T WAIT till you need it.

I am going through the same problem that everyone else is experiencing. Applied for on April 19, check cashed and deposited. No passport, simple renewal. Many phone calls and nothing but made up lies and false hopes. If they cannot fill the the bil, get someone in there that can. It is funny that KBR gets 300 passports a week and the people get them in several days but Mr Public cannot get one in 4 months. I think this is case of money talks and BS walks. I wonder how many millions of dollars the public is losing because of this SNAFU. Thanks Mr. President for your help?? I will be ready to party when YOU gets out of office!! Hey I don't drink but I think that I will make an exception to that rule!!!

My daughters and I applied way in advance to receive our passports. We knew there would be a wait. But even with that, we ended up driving to Chicago and waiting for twelve hours before we finally got our passports. My daughter still has yet to receive her birth certificate that was mailed with her original application. We went two days without sleeping because we had to make this trip, wait for our passports, drive back home, and get ready to leave that next day for our trip. It doesn't matter how much in advance you think you have taken care of this matter, if your application went to New Orleans like ours and thousands of others, you will have triple the waiting time. Good Luck!

After reading a lot of comments, there seems to be a difference in delays depending on where the application is processed. Does anyone know where passport applications are processed, and which ones are the most delayed? Are they like the IRS and sent to one based on your location?

This passport situation is just another one of those government operations that can barely give the impression of functionality. The right hand (Congress) has no idea about the ability of the left hand's (Govt. agencies)to carry out what they deem necessary to ensure a working system. This immigration mess can be simplified into a few words. We couldn't stop them from coming in. We can't do anything to make them comply with our laws(like paying taxes). Let's do what we can do. Issue pieces of paper making them full citizens. When more follow their lead, issue more pieces of paper.
We aren't any safer today than 9/11, we just can't move as freely. Every citizen is a potential criminal and should be processed to reflect that. Thank God the terrorists that want to destroy our country haven't yet realized that left to our own devices, our own mismanagement will do us in.

My husband's employer decided in March to send him to Germany - in April. OMG. But...no worry. He works for the govt. He received his passport in about a week.

I applied for my passport back on May 6, 2007 for my wedding destination set for April 2008 - I chose not to pay the extra $120.00 to expidite as advised by the post office staff - after reading this I am quite alarmed at this system's inefficiency - People, I had to provide them with my ORGINAL Citizenship documents - god help me!

So if we apply for a new passport and pay an extra $100 for "Rush Processing" (pun totally intended) we will get it within three weeks?

Also, you people need to learn how to spell. Maybe that's why your passport applications are taking so long.

I find it very offensive that there are people sending messages about how wonderful our government is, and then bashing people for having an issue obtaining their passports saying ”we must have waited until the last minute” or “You knew this was coming”.

My husband and I applied and paid for our passports on January 16, 2007 for a cruise on August 20 – 25, 2007. We were told we should have them no later than April 1, 2007. On April 7, 2007 I called and was able to speak to a passport rep on the phone who told me that she couldn’t find my application. (our checks were cashed on January 18, 2007 by the way) She suggested I call back in 3-4 weeks due to the fact that their system was not functioning at full capacity. I called several times a day from April 23 – June 14, 2007. I NEVER got another person on the phone. The best information that I could gain from sitting on hold was that I should go to the website and send an e-mail. I sent an e-mail on May 2, 2007 and another on June 1, 2007. I still have not gotten a response to either e-mail. We finally received our passports on Monday, June 18, 2007. For all those counting that is 5 months (20 weeks) almost to the day. That is excessive for any process not to mention something that our government is requiring you to have in order to go on vacation.

To the “you knew this was coming” comment. Yes, we knew this was coming but so did the government – did they do ANYTHING to alleviate the stress and strain on their system? No. They didn’t. I find it amazing that if you paid more money, you don’t have to have the stress and strain of worrying IF you are going to be able to go on your vacation.

It's the same with most industries. They articulate customer service well. Mission Statements always include added value statements. When it comes down to it, it all relates to profit and in this case, average time spent. It all converts to money no matter what industry we are in. Trained and qualified employees are the key issues in good customer service. Most want to do a good job. Problem is rate of return. All of this will be simplified one day when we all get our own computer chips implanted. When you think about it, it's probably the most effective way. Though surgically they can be removed and manipulated or inserted into someone else they will be the way of the future. I don't necessarily agree but the writing is on the wall. Knowledge, Good character and respect are the only non-evasive solution to many of today's problems.

I applied for a passport for my adult disabled son on March 29 for expected travel on June 8. I paid the expedited processing fee. Nothing in the mail by May 25th. After repeated attempts to get through to a representative at the call center (usually required 100-150 dial in attempts), I was told (on June 4th) that there was "a problem" with the application, and I would have to go to the Passport Agency if there was to be any chance of a passport being issued in time. The call center representative made an "appointment" for me. I showed up at the "appointment" time (along with 200 others who also had "appointments" for the same time), and was in line for 6 1/2 hours. This place (the Passport Agency) makes the MVA look good. We did finally get his passport, but if I relied on the system, I would still be waiting.

This is a classic example of the left hand not knowing, or caring to know, what the right hand is doing. It is also a prime example of waste in terms of failing to plan to accomodate the inevitable response to proposed policy changes (Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative) that even a blind man could see would have catastrophic effects. Someone, or a group of someones, should be held accountable for this really lousy performance. Whoever the set of burocrats are that allegedly "planned" the agency response to the proposed policy change should be fired. Better yet, take their passports away and make them apply for new ones as a condition of employment. They might, repeat, might, have a better feel for the havoc they have imposed on folks who follow the rules, yet consistently get the shaft.

In case you hadn't guessed, I'm not very happy about how this case was handled.

My now husband (then fiance) and I applied for our passports, with all proper documentation, in February. We booked our honeymoon in the Dominican Republic for May 7-14, as we were getting married May 5th, thinking it SHOULD be plenty of time, right!!??? Wrong!! Didn't get passports until May 3rd, and that's only because, after being told they couldn't talk to us until we were within 2 weeks of our departure date, he & I kept calling day after day after day in those last 2 weeks, and I think they just got tired of us calling and they over-nighted the things to us! Ridiculous!
Problems are poor management, under-staffing, and too many applications, including ones for people who DON'T have trips booked, and are just trying to get their passports just in case, and are clogging everything up for people who have planned trips.
Kind of scary to me that it takes that long, or longer, to get a passport, and that's all the amount of time they spend on it. Mmmmmmm, I feel safe & secure.....somebody get this whole administration out of here!!!!!!

I read about, and then applied for my passport as soon as they ststed they were becoming necessary. I got mine back in 4 weeks. Because I planned ahead, and also made the assumption that what is now happening was going to happen. The only ones I feel sorry for are those that have had an emergency come up that requires them to leave the country. All others, shame on you for not planning ahead...

You know, all of you people that are just happy to sit behind your computer in the safety of your home and the anonymity of the internet blaming people for being too f'ing stupid to plan ahead and get their passports knowing "this was coming" need to just stop typing and go get some fresh air. People followed the instructions as they were published in post offices and the internet to plan for these new rules. The rules were published in plenty of time to allow for a new wave of applications. The issue is not Joe Citizen planning his vacation. The problem is these lousy louts we have running the place into the ground. Read the article. Read the part where it talks about wanting to hire 400+ additional screeners and some bureaucrat sitting behind a desk somewhere saying "no." Fear works wonders on getting people to do what you want them to. It is time for us to stop being fearful of a threat that is miniscule at best. I was happy to see the first wave voted out last fall. Now let's get rid of the rest and move things back to how they used to be--without us being fearful that anyone not intended to be here will get in. All these rules and regulations Dubya and his cronies have pushed, including these on passports to travel to Canada and Mexico are nothing more than another way to fill the coffers of his best friends--big business--and interfere in our lives more than they already do.

After all the mess with the handling of U.S. Passports, the Iraq War, Katrina, Trade ~~~~ doesn't it give you complete confidence that the handling of this government's amnesty will be thorough and efficient!!!!

I didn’t have any problems when I traveled to the UK this spring for work, because I took personal responsibility and I already had my passport. But my 2 year-old son didn’t have the foresight to apply for his passport in advance because he is a slacker and a procrastinator. He had the audacity to think that he be able to go with his family if he applied for a passport 3 months prior to traveling. Talk about waiting until the last minute! Needless to say, his passport never arrived. Now he’s being a crybaby and a whiner complaining about the fact that our government is spending billions of dollars to bring democracy and freedom to Iraq, but that he doesn’t even have the freedom to leave his only country. Boo-hoo!

I absolutely LOVE reading stuff like this on my lunch break while I eat. It is so glaringly obvious who amongst us are planners and who are not. I guess I don't understand how in one sentance people describe waiting for 12-16 weeks (which has almost always been the standard delivery time for a non-expedited passport) for a trip they have already booked, and in the next sentence say that they have no faith in the government or its agencies. I don't trust too much of the government, but if you feel that way, wouldn't you plan WAY AHEAD since you have that distrust? Also, my wife and I are planning to go to Acapulco for Christmas. For one, we applied (both on the same day at the same place) back in February. I received mine in April, hers just came. Now I can't come up with any concrete reason, but I did note on my passport application that I was planning to travel before Christmas, and she didn't. One other quick point too...for the people talking about immigrating away from the US. Feel free to go that route. You can leave the country without your passport to many other countries. It is the return trip that you need the passport for. So if you really don't like things here, then just take your trip without the passport and they won't allow you back into the country when you try to come back. Oh yeah one final point....those of us who actually did some research (on the web, phone calls, visit to post office) well ahead of the need for the passport seem to have things in order. I wonder WHY? For those of you who book a trip and don't get your passport in time....THANK YOU....you make exotic vacations that are normally quite expensive quite reasonable for short notice booking.

Lovely. Just lovely.

Couldn't help but notice the number of people that had to go to their congress person to get results. Think they have any fault in this fiasco. Vote for me I helped you get your passport. Never mind that I screwed it up in the first place.

Even before the new requirements were put in place, getting a passport could be unpredictable. I got my passport in 2004. I applied in mid-July, got it early August for a September trip.

My hubby applied for his late November 2005 and was told it would take 6-8 weeks. In the meantime, we booked a Mexican cruise for m