Tuesday, June 19, 2007

U. S. Department of State Temporarily Relaxes Passport Restrictions

Due to the high backlog of passport applications which have not yet been processed, the U.S. State Department recently announced that the restrictions regarding the need for passports for all air travel to specified destinations for U.S. citizens has been temporarily relaxed through September 30, 2007.

From now through September 30, 2007, U.S. citizens who have applied for a passport and have not received it in time for their travel to Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, or Bermuda can temporarily enter and depart from the United States by air with a government issued photo identification and a Department of State official proof of a pending passport application.

U.S. citizens who take advantage of this relaxation of the passport restriction will need to present the official proof of passport application to air carriers and to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at airports of entry.  Such individuals may be subject to secondary inspections.

For those U.S. citizens who have not yet applied for a passport, be aware that the current turn-around time has been increased to ten- to twelve-weeks for a normal application, and two- to three-weeks for an expedited application.  Complete information on how to apply for a U.S. passport, as well as how to check the status of a pending application, is available on the Consular Affairs web site at http://travel.state.gov.  (Source:  U. S. Department of State Web Site)