More Passport Clarification

We have been fielding a huge number of calls in the last three days about the passport regulations. People continue be confused. The key is to remember that the government needs to be able to guarantee that the person traveling is who they say they are and that they are an American citizen. Nothing has changed for any destinations but Canada, the Bahamas, the Caribbean or Mexico. Those were the places impacted by the changes implemented by the State Department in January, 2007 and are causing the backlog.

If you are planning to travel to one of those places, you still need to apply for a passport well in advance of your departure. If your passport doesn't come in time, you can download confirmation that you applied off of the State Department website. You can show that along with a government issued picture ID (driver's license) and official state issued birth certificate (usually with a raised seal) in lieu of a passport. We hear rumors that a notarized document attesting to your citizenship will work, but I am skeptical. In my experience, the government has rules and they adhere to them. It is safer to follow them exactly.

The key here is that it will take four weeks for the record of the application to appear on the government website. If you have expedited your passport, it will still take a week. This means that it will not be possible to apply and fly the next day. I keep wondering why more people don't apply before they know they want to go anywhere to avoid these problems. If you get a passport now you can avoid expeditors fees and then you will be able to take advantage of any opportunities that come along.