By STEWART M. POWELL
Hearst Newspapers

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration announced Tuesday that it will ease the controversial border-security rule requiring U.S. citizens to present American passports when they return by land and sea from Canada and Mexico.

The requirement was due to take effect in January.

The decision to relax the rule came in response to complaints by travelers and members of Congress that a surge in passport applications has doubled waiting time for passports to more than 12 weeks, disrupting vacations and other travel plans.

State Department officials said they face a backlog of nearly 3 million passport applications as a result of U.S. citizens seeking the $97 document in response to other new border security requirements for visiting Western Hemisphere nations. The officials also said the backlog was swollen by passport applications from U.S. citizens seeking an iron-clad form of identification for domestic travel.

The State Department expects to issue 17 million passports this year — up from 12.1 million last year.

The revision in U.S. passport requirements will be announced as early as Wednesday by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff in the latest effort to balance travelers’ convenience with a post-Sept. 11 border crackdown.

Maura Harty, assistant secretary of state for consular affairs, disclosed the upcoming policy change in testimony late Tuesday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee panel that oversees State Department operations.

The administration planned to be “very flexible” in implementing the new passport requirement due to take effect in January, Harty said. She offered no details about whether the flexibility meant delaying the January implementation date or revising border crossing procedures to accept documents other than U.S. passports.

Russ Knocke, spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, said officials would announce “plans for phased implementation of security identification at land and sea borders beginning in January.”

The Bush administration has been working to develop an inexpensive alternative to the U.S. passport — a wallet-sized, tamper-proof travel document the size of a driver’s license to be used by residents of border states who travel frequently across U.S. borders with Mexico and Canada.

Knocke said the goal of the phasing in the U.S. passport requirement for land crossings was to “give travelers time to adjust to the new security requirements.

Until recently, U.S. travelers to Mexico, Canada, Bermuda and the Caribbean had been permitted to re-enter the United States with government-issued identification other than a U.S. passport.

But this loophole was closed in response to recommendations by the independent Sept. 11 commission.

The backlog in passport applications prompted the administration last week to show flexibility. Officials said U.S. citizens would fly into the United States from neighboring countries until Sept. 30 without U.S. passports, as long as they could produce government-issued identification and a State Department receipt showing that they have applied for a passport.

Pressure is building on the administration to delay the January passport requirements for land crossings and arrival by sea.

The House and the Senate Appropriations Committee voted separately last week for legislation to require the Bush administration to delay the U.S. passport requirement for arrivals by land and sea until June 2009.

Spreading the word:





http://blog.syracuse.com/news/2007/06/how_...of_passpor.html


How to get a refund of passport fees


Posted by Mark Weiner June 12, 2007 1:08PM

Categories: Breaking News, Government, Politics


If you paid an extra $60 fee for an expedited passport application that took more than 14 days to receive, you may be eligible for a refund, according to the State Department.

Many applicants who paid the fee for speedy service, on top of the regular $97 application fee, had to wait weeks longer because of a backlog caused by new rules implemented Jan. 23 by the Department of Homeland Security.

The new rules required passports for air travel within the Western Hemisphere, including Canada and the Caribbean. But those rules were temporarily eased Friday for the summer travel season.

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY, applauded the change, but asked for refunds for those travelers who already paid the $60 expediting fee.

Schumer said today the State Department agreed to make the refunds in cases where it took more than 14 days to receive a passport. Here's the process he said to follow for a refund:

Submit a written request to the address below. Include your passport number (if available), name, date and place of birth, and approximate date you applied for a passport. A mailing address and phone number should also be included.

Refund applications should be sent to:

Department of State
Passport Services/PPS/Refunds
2100 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20037-3202

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Another system that is dysfunctional in our government.


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