Going to the Winter Olympics? You Need a Passport, Quick! - Expedited Passports

This year, the Winter Olympics are being held in Vancouver, Canada. The games run from February 12th to February 28th, and since they are relatively close to us this year, a lot of Americans are expected to attend. If you’re one of them, make sure you are up to speed on the latest requirements for crossing the US/Canadian border.

Last year, those requirements changed. Previously, you could have driven across to Canada to see the Winter Olympics with just a driver’s license or other state-issued ph0to ID and a copy of your birth certificate or naturalization certificate.

However, now that the final phase of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) is in effect, you may need a passport quick if you want to attend.  To get across the border by land or sea, you will need one of the following documents:

• A passport
• A passport card
• An enhanced driver’s license (only certain states offer this)
• A NEXUS, SENTRI  or FAST card (NEXUS and SENTRI are “trusted traveler” programs for frequent travelers, and FAST is a program for commercial drivers).

If you are flying to Vancouver, you must have a passport book (not a passport card) to board the plane.

To try to minimize problems, according to USA Today, the Department of Homeland Security has launched a $2 million ad campaign to help educate people about the new requirements.

If you don’t have a passport, you’ll need to get one in a hurry- the Winter Olympics are only a month away.

At this point, the easiest way to be sure you’ll get your passport quick enough is to use a private passport expediting company. The State Department’s expedited service takes 2-3 weeks, which is cutting it awfully close.

RushMyPassport can help you get your passport more quickly, in anywhere from a little over a week to 24 hours, depending on the processing option you choose.

Don’t miss the Winter Olympics: Let us help you get a passport, quick!

What is the Passport Denial Program, and could it keep you from getting your passport?

The Passport Denial Program was set up to prevent parents who owe child support from being able to get a passport and leave the country.  Although it doesn’t say so on the passport application form, all passport applications are checked against a list of people who owe more than $2,500 in child support.

If you owe more child support than that and you apply for a passport, your application will be returned along with a letter explaining why you aren’t getting your passport book.  However, the fee you paid along with your application will not be returned. The State Department keeps it-no backsies.

Don’t expect this program to go anywhere anytime soon, either. According to this article on the Fayetteville Observer website, the Passport Denial Program has proven its worth:

The Passport Denial Program has been in place since 1998 and, by the end of 2006, had collected more than $22 million in past-due child support. That figure swelled in 2007 when passports began to be required of people traveling to Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.

To avoid wasting $175 on a passport application that won’t be accepted, if you make child support payments and you think you might be behind, call your state child support agency to check your balance first. If your passport application does get denied for nonpayment of child support, you will have to pay everything that you owe and apply again when your child support payments are current.

Once you have your child support balance taken care of, it still takes approximately 6 weeks to get your passport if you apply with normal processing and about  3 weeks if you apply with the government’s expedited processing. If you need your passport more quickly, you have two options:

• Make an appointment at the nearest passport agency
• Use a private passport expediting company

Of the two, using an expediting company is often easier, especially if you don’t live near a passport agency office or you can’t get time off work to go when one is open.

RushMyPassport.com hand-delivers your passport application to the Department of State, cutting processing time down to as little as 24 hours. If you need a passport in a hurry, apply with us today!

If you’re living under an assumed name, here’s a tip for you: Don’t apply for a US passport.  Arturo Puente, a chief petty officer in the US Navy, learned this particular lesson the hard way.  You see, according to this article on Jacksonville.com, Arturo Puente isn’t the officer’s real name. The real Arturo Puente died of asthma attack in 1980, when he was only 11 years old.

Shortly before his death, the boy’s birth certificate was stolen from the family car. It’s unclear how or why the man who is now referred to as John Doe in court and who has since signed legal papers as Guillermo Salinas Guzman assumed the dead boy’s identity, but he has been using it at least since 1987, when he joined the Navy.

“John Doe” had apparently used the name Arturo Puente on 6 different passport applications filed over the past 2 decades. However, it was his latest passport application form for a diplomatic passport that blew his cover.

The Diplomatic Security Service was looking specifically for people using the names of deceased Oregon citizens on their passport application forms. When they found that Mr. Doe had applied for the passport using the same name, birthday and birth certificate as the deceased child, they sprung into action and he was charged with passport fraud.

In an affidavit, State Department Special Agent Mark P. Baird wrote that the “Subject’s true identity is unknown.” However, for the moment he is still working on the Mayport Naval Base, pending prosecution.

Obviously, living under an assumed identity is a bad idea anyway, but applying for a US passport under an identity that isn’t yours is even worse.

If you do need a passport, RushMyPassport can help-provided you are using your own name and have the necessary documents to prove your identity and US citizenship, of course! We can walk you through the application process and personally deliver your application to the Department of State, resulting in processing times as low as 24 hours.

Apply for your passport with us today!

Since June 1st, 2009, most U.S. citizens traveling to Mexico are required to carry passports to get across the border.  Here are the travel requirements for each of the circumstances below:

Flying Into/Out of Mexico

US citizens of any age flying to or from Mexico must have a US passport book, no exceptions. You should be aware that the US passport CARD is no good for air travel.

Traveling to Mexico by Land

If you are traveling to Mexico by land, under the new rules you must have one of the following documents to re-enter the US:

• US Passport Book
• US Passport Card
• Nexus, SENTRI or FAST card
• Enhanced Driver’s License (EDL)- Currently, only a small number of states offer Enhanced Driver’s Licenses

Traveling to Mexico by Sea

Traveling to Mexico by sea is about the same as traveling to Mexico by land, unless you are on a closed-loop cruise. A closed-loop cruise is a cruise that begins and ends at the same US port.  American citizens on a closed-loop cruise can use a driver’s license or other government-issued photo ID AND an original or copy of their birth certificate, naturalization certificate or certificate of citizenship to re-enter the country.

Children

Children under the age of 16 traveling to and from Mexico by land or by sea can use their birth certificates, certificates of citizenship or naturalization certificates to re-enter the country.

Children under the age 19 traveling with an adult-chaperoned organization such as a school group, religious group, social or cultural organization, or sports team can also use their birth certificates, certificates of citizenship or certificates of naturalization.

However, children of any age traveling by air to and from Mexico must have a passport book.

If you need a passport to go to Mexico, RushMyPassport.com can help. We make getting a passport quick and easy by providing you with a helpful checklist and personal assistance with the application. Then, we hand-deliver your paperwork to the Department of State for super-fast processing, often as a quick as 24 hours.

Apply for your passport today!