If you’ve seen the lines outside you passport offices, you’ll realize that yes, the new passport rules are affecting a lot of people. The new security rules have swamped offices and infuriated the would-be travelers.
Prior to new security laws about one in five U.S. citizens had passports. This year, the figure is already approaching one in four and is expected to increase in the coming years. The surge in applications led to the massive delay in processing passports. The regular passport applications that generally took six weeks to deliver to the applicant were delayed by as much as 12 weeks or more.
To adjust the higher levels of demand and tackle the mountain of paperwork, the State Department is planning to hire 800 new workers (double the current passport staff). Also, changes have been made in wait time for the pricier, faster service. These changes are expected to increase the production of passports in the coming years, which will reduce the wait time for regular passport applications.
The demand for passports is expected to increase by next year with new travel rules. The State Department and travelers are already facing so many problems with new travel rules that went into affect this year. I wonder what will happen with the next wave of travel rules.
Source: MSNBC
