Going somewhere?
There are no comments for this page [ Add Comment ]Sunday, April 15, 2007
By Loretta Park
Standard-Examiner Davis Bureau
lpark@standard.net
Get yours early
LAYTON -- Valree Lowe knows what some of her clients are going through as she waits for her children's passport applications to be approved.
Lowe, manager of Morris Murdock Travel Agency in Ogden, said some of her clients have become panicky as they have not seen their passports, and their departure dates for vacation are drawing closer.
"If you're planning a trip, you need to start on (the application) as soon as possible," said Lowe, who is taking her children on a cruise in May.
She still doesn't have their passports.
Passports are not yet required for anyone traveling by boat or vehicle into Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean, but they are required to fly into those areas. Lowe, like other travel agents, is recommending her clients get their passports anyway if they're traveling there.
"You cannot fly back into the country if there is an emergency and most people don't want to take that chance," Lowe said.
Passport services across the country have seen an almost 50 percent increase in applications during the first three months of this year because of the implementation of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative.
It is taking 10 to 12 weeks for passport applications to be processed and up to four weeks for them to be expedited. In the past, it took up to six weeks for an application to be processed normally or up to two weeks for an expedited processing.
Even those who are renewing passports are seeing a delay.
Several people, from the state's congressional delegates to the postmaster in Huntsville, said passport applications are taking longer to process because of the increased demand caused by the law change.
During the last week in March, passport services processed a record 412,000 applications, according to the State Department's Web site.
The demand is being felt locally as well.
Davis County commissioners recently approved hiring two to three part-time employees to help with passport applications. The county clerk's office has seen an 82 percent increase in applications in the past three months.
The Weber County clerk's office experienced a 200 percent increase in applications the first three months of this year, but "we're still able to handle them quite well," said Deputy Clerk Roger Brunker.
In Box Elder County, Marie McKinnon said after 3 p.m. people line up in her office waiting to get their applications filled out and every clerk is busy.
In an effort to reduce the lines, a number of post offices, including Layton, now require appointments for anyone applying for a passport.
"We cannot take care of the postal customers because of the number of people wanting a passport and I think (the postal customers) should come first," said Jenice Gomm, a clerk at the Bountiful post office.
Gomm said people are traveling from as far away as Lehi to her office to apply for passports in an effort to bypass the lines in Utah and Salt Lake counties. Appointments are now necessary for Saturday passport applications, she said.
The office is open for only three hours on Saturday to accept applications, and it takes about 20 minutes per customer, she said. There have been as many as 50 customers standing in line waiting to apply for a passport.
"We're swamped," Gomm said.
The Layton office is booked with appointments for the next several days, said Randy Cook, a supervisor at the Layton post office. The office began requiring appointments for all passport applications this past week.
Lowe said when she took her children to the Ogden post office about a month ago she stood in line for 21/2 hours with one child and 31/2 hours with the second child.
Her advice to anyone who's planning a trip: Apply as soon as possible for a passport.
That's the same advice the missionary department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is giving prospective missionaries.
"As soon as they get their call, they are recommending they apply for their passports and ask that it be expedited," said Robert Howell, spokesman for the church.
Generally there is plenty of time to get a passport between receipt of the letter stating where the young adult or couple is going on their mission and the time they report to the Mission Training Center in Provo, Howell said.
But there have been instances when passports have not arrived and the date to leave for the mission or the trip is fast approaching.
Some residents are even calling their congressmen for help.
Ben Horsley, deputy district director for U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, said in the past two weeks he has handled 85 requests to look into why a passport has not arrived.
A couple of those requests were for LDS missionaries, but the majority have been for travelers.
Peter Carr, spokesman for Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said in the past month his office has received 150 requests. Some of those requests were entire families looking for their passports.
"When we've called the congressional liaison (with passport services), they've been very responsive and very helpful," Carr said.
Horsley said he does not make any inquiries unless the person is leaving the country within two weeks because of the number of requests the passport service staff receives each day, not only from his office but from across the country.
Only two of the 85 requests did not get their passports before their departure date, Horsley said, and that was because the person did not call his office until the day of departure.
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