Travelers May Face Long Wait for U.S. Passports

Overwhelmed by unprecedented demand, the State Department is warning would-be travelers to brace for lengthy delays in getting U.S. passports, even when they pay a hefty fee to speed their applications. The Department has hired hundreds of employees to process passport requests over the past two years as tougher immigration rules have taken effect.

Even so, the department says a crush of new applicants –more than 1 million a month are scrambling to get their passports- has inundated its staff and caused delays of up to a month-and-a-half at the peak January-to-April season when many people are preparing to travel over the spring and summer.

In addition, a regulation that took effect this year requiring Americans to have passports when traveling by air to any country, including Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean “has increased passport demand and production to record levels,” the department said in a statement this week.

Applications received between October and this March have risen 44 percent over the same period in 2005-2006, the department said in a notice sent Thursday to lawmakers. Some members of Congress have received complaints from constituents about delays.

According to the notice, routine passport processing could take 10 weeks instead of the previous six, and expedited processing could take four weeks instead of two weeks. See related story for passport facts and tips

About 12 million passport applications were processed in 2006 and as many as 17 million are expected this year, the department said.