WashPost: Canadians Fear Fallout Of U.S. Passport Rules

Rudy wrote:

Why should it take 6 months or more to get a passport?


I applied by mail last Summer and got it back in about 5 weeks


If the government is going to require more people to get them, it should
be prepared to handle them.


"People" shouldn't wait til the 'last minute'


Is 6 months = "last minute"?

There have been reports of people waiting 6 months or longer.

On Jun 17, 7:04 pm, (John L) wrote:
Too bad the people not thinking ahead are in the passport office.
They're completely swamped by the completely predictable flood of
applications.
I would not be surprised if there were lots of memos from FSOs begging
for more staff in anticipation of this increased demand for
passports. After all, they should know the number entering without
passports, so it would be trivial to make a pretty good estimate.
Given the track record of this adminstration, these career employees
were probably encouraged by the political appointees to take early
retirement for attempting to provide competent service to the public.
Some enterprising reporter should submit a FOIA request (after all,
revealing this can only be embarassing, but it cannot possibly
compromise national security). Georgie Porgie, once agin', you're
doin' a heckuva jub.

Sleepyguy wrote:

On 13 Jan 2007 22:27:36 -0800, wrote:


Canadians Fear Fallout Of U.S. Passport Rules
By Doug Struck



Yeah, and how long have we known that these new passport rules would
come into existance. People just don't think ahead.

Actually, right now, I have no confidence that I know when the rules for
requiring a passport for surface transit from Canada will come into
effect. I know when the idiots in Washington have said they will come
into effect but they have changed their minds so often that they have no
real credibility.

Do you think you know when the various rules will come into effect?

Rudy wrote:

Why should it take 6 months or more to get a passport?


I applied by mail last Summer and got it back in about 5 weeks


If the government is going to require more people to get them, it should
be prepared to handle them.


"People" shouldn't wait til the 'last minute'


The government used to say that 3 weeks was the 'last minute'. What is
supposed to be the last minute?

3 years perhaps?

"Rudy" wrote:
Why should it take 6 months or more to get a passport?

I applied by mail last Summer and got it back in about 5 weeks

If the government is going to require more people to get them, it
should be prepared to handle them.

"People" shouldn't wait til the 'last minute'

"Last minute"? People sure have been beaten down to remarkably low
expectations.

The last time I went with someone to renew their passport in the
Netherlands, it was ready the next morning, and that was the normal
service in a small town.

Here in Malaysia it's while-you-wait, like getting your brakes checked.
And the passports here are more advanced than those in the US.

miguel
--
Hit the road! Photos from around the world: http://travel.u.nu
Detailed airport information: http://airport.u.nu

"Rudy" wrote:


Why should it take 6 months or more to get a passport?

I applied by mail last Summer and got it back in about 5 weeks

Five weeks? You really consider that fast?

If Visa and Mastercard can issue me a credit card with a high credit
limit the same day, why can't the passport agencies do the same? What
kind of checks do they make that take so long? Everything they need
should be accessible using computers, with only minor exceptions.

The agency also says that the processing time is now up to 10 to 12 weeks
with normal service, but have admitted that there are 500,000
applications that have been in the system for longer than 12 weeks.

If the government is going to require more people to get them, it
should be prepared to handle them.

"People" shouldn't wait til the 'last minute'

Last minute? Do you always plan all of your trips out of the country more
than 4 months ahead? The agency used to say that you could get a
passport within two or three weeks. If you based your planning on that
promise, then waited 3 months for your passport, wouldn't you be a bit
peeved? They've had to refund the expedite fee to a number of people
because they couldn't even meet the two week target for people who spent
the extra $60.

I had to renew my passport a few months ago, and was worried that I
wouldn't have a passport to travel while the surge in demand was peaking.
I paid the higher fee, and got it back in two weeks. However, in the
meantime, I didn't make any plans for trips for two months, just in case.
It's ridiculous to have to pay an extra fee for what should be normal
service, and ridiculous that the service isn't far faster than it is for
something that is essential to travel.

It is obvious that the agency didn't have a plan to handle the surge in
applications, even though it was obvious it would come with the new
passport rules.

To add insult, you also have to send your birth certificate in with the
passport, so you can't even use that for trips to Canada or Mexico in the
meantime, unless you happen to have to official copies.

On Jun 18, 3:13 pm, James Robinson wrote:
They've had to refund the expedite fee to a number of people
because they couldn't even meet the two week target for people who spent
the extra $60.

More correctly, they have offered to refund the money for expedited
service only after they receive the proper froms requesting the refund
(do those forms even exist yet?). They will not automatically issue
refunds, and they will certainly not compensate anyone for cancelled
trips. Given the proven quality of their service, I would bet that
the first of these refunds will not be received until 2008, and
probably not until 2009.

On Jun 17, 7:04 pm, (John L) wrote:
Too bad the people not thinking ahead are in the passport office.
They're completely swamped by the completely predictable flood of
applications.

There is an article about fixing the "passport debacle" on the opinion
page of today's (June 26) San Jose Mercury News (not yet available on
the web site). Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (D-Calif 14) writes:

"The Government Accountability Office raised concerns last year about
passport-processing capacity, and the administration responded by
assuring Congress that they would be ready."
.....
"The question now is: Will the administration actually learn from its
mistake?"

This question is easy to answer. This administration has publicly
stated that it talks to God. It has proven that it will never admit
to having made a mistake. It has nothing to learn from mere mortals.

wrote:

This question is easy to answer. This administration has publicly
stated that it talks to God. It has proven that it will never admit
to having made a mistake.

Bush doesn't make mistakes.