Little-known Facts about U.S. Passports
Since 2007, the U.S. government
has required citizens to have a
passport for travel to any international
destination, including Canada and
Mexico. The Trip Planner chatted
with Deputy Assistant Secretary for
Passport Services Brenda Sprague
of the U.S. Bureau of Consular
Affairs regarding essential information
educators and travel professionals
need to know about passports,
including special requirements for
student applicants.
What are some misperceptions travelers have
about passports?
DAS Sprague: I think that people
don’t think about passports at all until
they’re just about ready to go on a trip.
And the big problem with that is that
a passport is not like getting a library
card. So you really need to plan ahead
to get a passport, and we like to think
it’s not a particularly onerous process.
For the most part you only do it every
10 years, and other than the first time,
you can do it all by mail.
One of the things that we consider
most important is that people think
about passports at the same time they think, “Hey, maybe I’d like to
go overseas or maybe I’d like to go to Canada or Mexico.” If they think
about it in advance, it saves an emergency later on. I think that people
don’t realize that passports are issued by the federal government.
I think most people think they’re issued by the post office, but it’s
actually the Department of State.
The rules are a little different for students under the
age of 16, right?
DAS Sprague: There are a couple of things I want to mention on that,
because not everybody is aware of the distinctions. It is very important
to remember that a child must apply in person for their original
passport and for every renewal until they can apply in their own right
as an adult. But there must be two parents’ consent. Both parents
can appear, which is the preferred way. Or one of the parents must
appear and the other person can provide a notarized affidavit. But we
are very strict about that requirement. There is no exception to that
rule. [Editor’s note: For information on single-parent households, go to
travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/passports/under-16.html.]
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trip planner
Since you have to appear in person to get that first passport, we
have about 8,500 places around the country; about 60 percent of them
are post offices, and some of them are courts and libraries.
The other point I would make is that [a passport] for children under
the age of 16 is only good for five years, which can be a real shock to
families when everybody else’s is good for 10.
I understand that there’s been a real increase in
passport demand.
DAS Sprague: Well, we had an almost 9 percent increase [in 2015],
but what we really are bracing ourselves for is what we think will be a
very large increase in demand over the next three years.
Back in 2007, when the United States rolled out the Western
Hemisphere Travel Initiative—which for the first time required a
passport [for U.S. citizens] to travel to Mexico and Canada—there was
a huge crush of work, and we were unable to handle it. People waited
months for their passports, people missed trips, and the demand
spiked at 18-and-a-half million.
We’ve never had any number like that before or since, but in
projecting what is coming down the road in terms of renewals, because
we’re hitting the 10-year mark, we anticipate that about 50 million
passports will be expiring between now and about the middle of 2018.
Couple that with the fact that many foreign countries are now very
strictly enforcing the requirement that you have at least six months
validity on your passport to be given admittance to the country, we
anticipate … a big push in 2016 and 2017, and probably there’ll be
some residual in 2018.
So travel planners should advise travelers to be aware
of potential longer wait times for passport renewal?
DAS Sprague: Yes, and for first-time passport applications as well.
But the first thing tour operators need to remind people is when you’re
thinking about taking a trip, go get your passport and see when it expires.