by Sarah Henshall

Not yet applied for a passport…..get ready for a changing, confusing, lengthy roller coaster ride.

Much like riding Disney’s Space Mountain, many feel they are in the dark when it comes to current passport regulations and processes. And no wonder, they seem to change at the drop of a hat. Besides the confusion, travelers are dealing with high anxiety levels due to the unacceptable processing time and chaos surrounding passport processing.

This year, all air travelers entering the United States from the Caribbean, Bermuda, Mexico and Canada are required to have a passport.  The US State Department obviously underestimated the number of Americans who would apply for a new passport or need to renew. So much so, that wait times have grown from the usual 4 weeks for processing to more than 12-15 weeks.  This summer, travelers have been in a panic about receiving their passports in time for their vacations and many have missed or almost missed their getaways because of the lack of government planning and government personnel to process the huge increases.

Take Julie Elberson of Charlotte, for example. She applied March 23 to renew passports for her children.  She felt that was early enough for a June 21st Mediterranean cruise departure.  Two weeks before departure(and 11 weeks after submission), Julie had not received the renewed passports and couldn’t get anyone to tell her if she would even receive them in time for her vacation. She even called Sue Myrick, her congresswoman, who despite being a member of Congress, was allowed to make one – and only one - inquiry on Elberson’s behalf. Myrick got the same non committal response as Elberson.

“I was so angry”, said Elberson. “I played by all the rules, applied 3 months in advance and I couldn’t get anyone to help me.” Luckily, Elberson received the passport three days before her departure. “The whole process reeked of incompetence,” said Elberson.

In June, some travelers received a reprieve.  The US government would allow official proof of submission of a passport to be used along with a government issued photo identification (such as a driver license) to reenter the US from the Caribbean, Bermuda, Mexico and Canada through September 30, 2007. Confusion and chaos began again as the communication was very unclear and a lot of assumptions were made by travelers based on what they read. Many weren’t permitted to board their aircraft as they didn’t possess the correct documentation to enter the country they were flying to, even though they were meeting the regulations to reenter the US.  Also, the government has decided to refund, in some cases, the expedite fee that many travelers paid to have their passport process streamlined.  Mostly because, it didn’t work!

Now, there’s more coming your way.  In January 2008, travelers reentering the US by land or sea from the Caribbean, Bermuda, Mexico and Canada will be required to have a passport.  Congress has voted to delay this until June 2009.  However,  the President has  indicated he would veto this and Homeland Security is totally against this delay.

So, by the time you read this, rules and processing times could be totally different.  Always check with your AAA travel agent or AAA.com for the most up to date regulations when planning your vacations. As you’re planning, you will need to know the entry requirements of the country you are visiting; what’s currently required to reenter the US and how much time you will most likely need to receive the proper documentation. The last thing anyone wants to do is give up a hard earned vacation.