For those of you who aren't aware of it, getting a passport is a long process. I know this because I took a temporary job working for a center where I live. My job was to answer the phone of customer calling in to find out the progress of their passports.
It sounded like a simple job....it didn't end up being that simple. What I found out was the the DOS (Department of State) has a HUGE mess on their hands. What happened was that our government decided that it would be a good matter of security (and the idea IS a good one) that as of January 2008, any US citizen traveling outside the continental United States MUST have a passport to travel. Unfortunately, the government didn't anticipate how many people would apply for the passports.
Here are the statistics
- The DOS expects to issue 17 million passports this year. This is up from last years record of 12 million. I have a friend who works at one of the processing centers and he told me that last year they processed approximately 2 million and this year they expected to do 3-5 million!
-33% of Americans will have passports by the end of this year, perhaps even 40%. Considering that the population of the U.S. is 300 million, a jump from 25% to 33% represents 25 million new passport holders this year. If 40% of Americans wish to have passports by 2008, then 45 million passports will need to be issued by the end of the year (www.workpermit.com)
- Currently, passport applications filed between October and March are up 44% from the same period a year ago, the department told lawmakers this week. In February alone, applications were up 25%. The scary part is that, to meet a target of 33% of Americans holding passports, more than 2 million passports should be applied for and issued each month, or nearly 4 million per month to meet a demand of 40% of the U.S. population receiving new passports.
- Because of the current rush in demand, it could take 10 weeks instead of the usual six to process routine applications, according to the department. Expedited requests, which cost an extra $60 on top of the normal $97 fee, could take four weeks instead of two.
I am in agreement with all of this, but the last part. It may have changed since I left (and I will get to why I am no longer there in a second) but when I was there it seemed more like 12 weeks for routine and 8-10 weeks for expedited. Here is what I think is the biggest failure by the DOS...there are thousands of people trying to travel who WILL miss their travel date. Why? Because the current system to get a passport is a mess. The post offices, where you can get and fill out an application are not being updated (and possibly NOT being told the truth) about how long it will take people to get the passport. So what happens to someone who had never gone through the process? Let's set up the scenario and tell me if this wouldn't upset you.
You plan a trip to Mexico and are taking your spouse and two children. For this "trip" I went to Priceline.com. I found a modestly priced package (which includes plane, car and hotel) my stay at The Radisson Hotel Hacienda Cancun. Total package: $2,858.00. I book the trip because I found out from a friend that it only takes 2 weeks if I pay the extra and expedite it (remember on www.travel.state.gov it tells you that expedited passports will only take a couple of weeks!)
The trouble is checking the status of your passport. Online only tells you that it is "in process." What does THAT mean? Is it done? You check again and one of your son's application doesn't even show up when you check it. Did it get lost? Now you start to panic. Your travel date is coming soon. You don't want to miss your trip.
So you call the number for the National Passport Center to check. You then go through the annoying prompts (choosing "1" for this and "2" for that!) The automated voice tells you a customer service rep will be with you shortly....and you wait and wait and wait. Forty-five minutes on hold and someone finally comes on the phone. After answering questions about where you are calling from, your travel date and social security number....you are told that your application is "in process." No kidding. You already know this!! What does that mean? The CSR really can't tell you, but says that the DOS will do everything to get you the passports before your travel date. "I will strongly recommend you call back next week and check on status again." he says "It should be finished by then."
Next week you call back and are told (after another 40 minute wait) that the passports are done and you should get them on Thursday. GREAT! It was worth the call and wait. Fast forward to Thursday. No passport. Friday... no passport. Now you're days away from your travel date. You call the passport center again. This time you the CSR tells you that it is in process...WHAT? " I was told the last time I called that it was done." The CSR apologizes for the mistake. So when will it be done? The CSR tells you that the process is very slow and he can't really be sure.
You can see where this is going? So your travel date arrives and you miss your trip, lose $2800.00 on a trip (I have yet to be told that travel companies are giving back this money.) You might say...well it's only $2800, but if I booked the Hyatt it would've been $7,700 and if I went for the Omni, it would've been $14,900!
So...what do you do? The CSR might suggest you go to a passport processing centers. There are approximately 14 across the US (yeah...14! Why not more....no one could ever tell me.) Workpermit.com suggest this:
Americans who had not received their passports two weeks before their trips are generally told to go to one of 14 big-city passport offices across the country. There, they were mostly confronted with long lines and no guarantee they will leave with a passport.
This sounds great, but due to so many people applying for passports and NOT able to get them and more and more people opting to go to these "processing centers" it backlogs them up. The last I heard these processing centers didn't have appointments until the middle of May (probably the END of May by now.) So it is a catch 22. You can't get a passport by the "regular" way...you can't get it the secondary way...so what do you do? Why doesn't the government do something?
I have no idea. This is what frustrated me to no end. I have over 15 years of customer service experience and I could do NOTHING! The DOS gave us no tools to work with to help customers. You had to basically pacify the customer and HOPE that the passport would get to them before their travel date. There were some customer whose passports DID arrive on time. Those, however, were far and few between. So my day job got really busy so I decided that it was time to leave.
I do hope that whoever becomes Commander and Chief will seriously consider revamping this mess called The Passport Agency. I know that there are far more important things to work on, but maybe...just maybe this will be something that can be fixed.
If you are someone who is waiting for a passport...my prayers are with you. If you have travel plans outside the US...my best advise...don't plan it UNTIL you get your passport!
Thanks for letting me vent!
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