Tourism News – US
August 17th, 2007 by Christina Putz
According to the Chicago Tribune, expediting passports may soon be a thing of the past. With the increase of passport applications after 9/11, and new laws stating that crossing any country boarder (including Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean) now requires a passport, the State Department is overwhelmed with passport processing. So overwhelmed, in fact, that they have hired hundreds of new employees, and even shipped ex-employees back to the United States to try to deal with the backlog.
Usually, people can pay an extra $60 fee to have their passport expedited in a week. Now, the realistic wait for an expedited passport is three weeks, or longer. A regular passport, usually taking 6 weeks, can take anywhere from 10 to 12 weeks. Though the State Department website can be checked regularly to see how fast expediting is, there is no guarantee for when your passport will be returned.
