Expedited Passports

Until last week, Susie Williams-Allen, a newspaper columnist for the Purcell Register in Purcell, Oklahoma, wasn’t aware of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI). The WHTI, which has been in effect since June 1, 2009,  requires that American citizens returning from Mexico prove their identity and citizenship with a US passport on their way back across the border.

Last week, she and her husband decided to take a day trip into Mexico without first obtaining a passport.  Unfortunately, on her way back across she learned about the new laws the hard way…from a decidedly unsympathetic border guard. Mrs. Williams-Allen and her husband faced a stern round of questioning before they were eventually allowed back across, treatment that she did not expect from a US border patrol officer as a US citizen.

The rules have been in place since June, and the Department of State has been diligent about publicizing the new requirements, but it appears that infrequent travelers are still falling through the cracks. As Mrs. Williams-Allen noted in her column, “Maybe I should have known I needed a passport. I think there may be more out there like me who do not know. It is not like I am a world traveler.”

The moral of the story?  If you are planning a trip to Mexico, even if it’s just walking across and taking a taxi back to the US, obtaining a passport should be your first step! It’s also a step that should be taken well in advance of a trip, if possible.  Currently,  obtaining a passport takes about 6 weeks if you apply with normal processing and about 3 weeks if you apply with regular processing.

To get your passport more quickly and with less hassle, consider using a private passport expediting company like RushMyPassport.com. You’ll get detailed, easy-to-follow instructions to help you with your paperwork, plus personal help and guidance from a professional passport specialist.

Also, an expediting company will personally deliver your passport application to the Department of State, drastically reducing the time you have to wait. In fact, with an expediting company, your passport could be on its way back to you in as little as 24 hours!

At RushMyPassport.com, we make obtaining a passport quick and easy. Apply with us today!

The small village of Nuevo Progreso lies just on the other side of the Texas/Mexican border. Known for its safe streets and great bargains on everything from alcohol to medications to souvenirs, over the past few decades Nuevo Progreso has built an economy based largely on Texans who like to winter in Mexico. In the summer, they depend on casual tourists who cross the border to shop.

However, after the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative went into effect on June, 2009, the ability to casually pop over to the Mexican side of the border became a thing of the past for US residents without passports. The new law requires that citizens show US passports or passport cards to get back into the country. Previously, all you had to have was your driver’s license and a birth certificate.

Since the rules went into effect, tourism in Nuevo Progreso has plummeted, according to this article in the Brownsville Herald.   According to Nuevo Progreso civic leaders, business is down 60 percent since the winter. For many in town, this is the slowest slow season they can remember.

For example, the article quotes Smiriam Hernandez, a local shop owner, who said that her 30-year-old establishment has never before lost so much money.  She told the Brownsville Herald that “The problem is the passport.”

However, there is hope: traffic across the border is slowly increasing, and according to Nuevo Progreso’s chamber treasurer, Dr. Maribel Martinez, more Americans living near the border are beginning to understand the necessity of having passports.  She told the Herald:  “People said they had problems with the cost, or gathering their documents. But it seems to be getting better and people are more conscientious now. Before, people didn’t want to accept it.”

Applying for a passport can be intimidating, and it does cost a little bit money. A private passport expediting company like RushMyPassport.com can make it by easier by offering personal assistance and faster processing. With RushMyPassport, you’ll be connected to a professional passport specialist and receive detailed, easy-to-understand instructions to help you through the application process, step by step.

Plus, applications for passports submitted through us are delivered directly to the Department of State for faster processing-often as quick as 24 hours!

Don’t miss out 0n everything Mexico has to offer- apply for your passport with us today!

When you apply for a new passport, should you get a passport book or passport card? According to this report, one family learned the difference the hard way.  Sherry Housley and her daughter Whitney  had planned to to take a mother/daughter vacation by the ocean in Cozumel, Mexico.

However, when they went to apply for new passports, the clerk steered them toward ordering one of the wallet-sized new passport cards. Apparently, neither the clerk nor the Housleys was aware of one of the crucial differences between a passport book and a passport card:  A  passport card is only good for travel by land and sea, not by plane. So, when the Housleys tried to board the plane for Mexico, they were not allowed on board and they missed their vacation.

The passport book is only type of passport that is accepted for international air travel. The passport card was really meant to be a cheaper form of identification for people who live near the border and drive across frequently, to make it easier for them to comply with the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative that requires passports for border crossings.

Unless you drive across the border frequently,  go ahead and spring for a full-fledged passport book when you apply for a new passport.  Also, make sure to allow enough time for your passport to arrive-it can take at least 6 weeks with regular service and 3 weeks for the government’s expedited service.

However, a private passport expediting company can speed this process up by personally dropping off your passport application at the Department of State. With an expediting company, depending on the package you buy, your new passport could be on its way back to you in as little as 24 hours!

Apply for your new passport today!

A Wisconsin high school student going on a school trip to Peru was not allowed to leave the US after his dog damaged his passport. The dog, a 1-year-old golden retriever named Sunshine, found the passport in a waistband the student had borrowed to keep his valuables secure in Peru.  She only nibbled off the top corner, but the damage was done.

Chicago airport officials let the boy fly to Miami with his class despite the chewed-up passport. However, once he was in Miami, officials there refused to allow him on the plane to Peru because of the damage. He flew back to Chicago, where his parents picked him and tried to arrange getting an emergency passport from the passport office in Miami. However, the passport office said that due a backlog of applications, there was no way for them to process an emergency passport application that quickly.

The moral of this story? If your passport is damaged, you need to replace it before the trip-even if it’s still mostly intact! Also, you should be aware that applying for an emergency passport is often easier if you use a private passport expediting company. RushMyPassport.com offers processing times as short as 24 hours, and we have walk-in service available at our West Palm Beach office.

To replace a damaged passport, you’ll need to use passport application form DS-11 and Form D-64, an affidavit that describes how the damage occurred. Basically, a damaged passport is handled just like a lost or stolen passport. If you’re applying to replace a damaged passport through RushMyPassport.com, you should select the option for replacing a lost or stolen passport.

Need a passport quickly? Apply for an emergency passport today!

At the beginning of this month,  new passport rules went into effect for travel between the US and Canada,  Mexico and the Caribbean.  Before June 1st, you could have traveled to these countries with a birth certificate and a driver’s license. Now, you need a US passport or another approved document.

Why were these new passport rules necessary? Why isn’t it enough to be able to produce a valid driver’s license or state ID card to prove your identity, and a valid birth certificate to prove that you are a US citizen? Over on the Dual Citizenship blog, there’s a great post by Fred Burton, formerly the Deputy Chief of the Counter-Terrorism Division of the US State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service, that explains the rationale behind the new rules.

According to Burton, the main problem with the old system was that driver’s licenses and birth certificates are relatively easy to fake and to obtain on the black market: (more…)

A new change in the rules for getting a passport will make things easier for same-sex couples married in Massachusetts and other states that allow  same-sex  marriage. Under the new rules, same sex couples who change their names after marriage will be allowed to apply for a passport using their spouse’s last name if they choose to change their names after marriage.

Before this ruling, in order to have the same last name as their spouse, one spouse would have to legally apply for  a legal  name change in court instead of simply being given the option to apply for a passport under their married names. To make things even more confusing, these couples were able to get state driver’s licenses and other identification documents in their married names without having to go through an additional name change process in court. Now, getting a passport name change is possible for these couples with a copy of the marriage certificate, just like it is for other marriages.

In a statement quoted in the Boston Globe, Keith Toney, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit that prompted the rule change, described what a hassle it was having a driver’s license in his married name and a passport in his old name when he traveled with his family:

“We’re thrilled that we will no longer have to worry about being interrogated when we go through airport security, or anywhere else outside of the US simply because of a discrepancy in my legal identification documents.”

Do you need to get your name changed on your passport? To find out how to get your new passport as fast as possible, read How to Rush a Passport Name Change.

Do you need to get a passport name change in a hurry? RushMyPassport.com makes getting a passport name change fast and easy.  Our passport specialists will provide you with instructions for filling out the paperwork. Then, we’ll hand-deliver your application to the Department of State for processing. With RushMyPassport.com, your application could be processed in as little as 24 hours!

Get your passport application in today!

US Representative Gary Peters of Michigan has managed to get an amendment through the House of Representatives requiring the government to review the economic impact of the final phase of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. The new rules, which became law on June 1st, 2009, require Americans to use passports or another special government-approved document to travel to Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean by land and sea.

Prior to June 1st, Michigan and Canadian citizens who wanted to cross the US/Canadian border by land or water could do so with a state-issued photo ID and proof of citizenship, usually a birth certificate. Under these rules, it was still relatively easy for people to patronize businesses on the other side of the border.

The amendment sponsored by Rep. Peters made in through the House on June 10th, according to the Detroit Free Press. If it passes the Senate, it will compel the Obama administration to review the economic impact of the new rules, especially on small businesses. The state is already suffering due to the economic crisis and the financial woes of American car companies, who were major sources of employment in and around Detroit.

In the Detroit Free Press article, Peters told the paper that he sponsored the amendment because “We need to know exactly how new passport requirements are affecting Michigan’s economy.” Michigan does $67 million worth of business each year with the Canada, the largest of any US state.

Of course, chances are that the requirements will stay in place, no matter what happens to Rep. Peters’ bill. In previous interviews about the passport requirements, Janet Napolitano, head of the Department of Homeland Security, has dismissed people who worried about the economic impact of the rules.

If you need a passport to travel to Canada, remember to allow enough time when you apply. Currently, applications for passports are taking at least 6 weeks to process. Even with the government’s expedited service, expect to wait 3 weeks or longer.

The easiest way to get passports quickly is to use a private passport expediting service. These services hand-deliver your application to the US Department of State. They can get passports processed remarkably quickly, often within 24 hours.

Don’t let the rules mess with your travel plans this summer. Order your passports today!

The Department of State put a lot of effort into publicizing the changes to US travel requirements that became law on June 1st. They added a clock to US Passport Agency’s web site, counting down to the second when the new rules would go into effect. They made announcement after announcement, starting months ahead of time.

However, for all their outreach, there were at least 2 people that the State Department failed to reach with their warnings: Former US Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.  The two ex-presidents were asked about the new requirements during a joint appearance in Toronto on Saturday, May 29th.

As reported in the Winnepeg Free Press, here’s how they responded:

“I’ll be frank with you Frank, I don’t know about the passport issue,” Bush told the crowd of 6,000.

“I thought we were making good progress on using a driver’s licence to cross the border. What happened to the easy-pass card?”

Clinton too said he’d only heard about the passport requirement a day earlier, adding that in all likelihood most Americans were completely unaware of it as well.

Apparently, our two former presidents would have benefited from reading our blog! The new requirements were put into place as part of the final phase of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI). To sum them up:

• All adult American citizens traveling to Mexico, Canada or the Caribbean must have a US passport or another document approved by Homeland Security to get back into the country. Previously, you could use your driver’s license and a birth certificate if you were crossing by land or by sea, but that is no longer the case.
• Children under the age of 16 can use a birth certificate when traveling by land or sea.
• Children ages 16-18 can use a birth certificate when traveling by land or sea as part of an organized, chaperoned group, like a sports group or school group.
• Passengers of any age can use a driver’s license and birth certificate (or naturalization certificate) if they are on a closed-loop cruise that begins and ends in the same US port.
• Air passengers of any age need a US Passport Book.

If you need a passport to travel to Mexico, Canada or the Caribbean, you should be prepared to wait. It’s currently taking at least 4 to 6 weeks to process a passport application submitted with standard processing. New passport applications submitted using the government’s expediting service take at least 2-3 weeks, and that’s if you pony up the cash for overnight shipping to and from the Passport Agency.

Can’t wait that long? A private passport expediting company is a convenient way to get your passport more quickly. An expediting company hand-delivers your application materials and then sends you your new passport. Because your application goes to the top of the stack, it gets processed much more quickly-in as little as 24 hours!

Don’t let the new passport regulations interfere with your summer vacation-order your passport now!

Today, Border Patrol officials began asking Americans for passports at the American and Canadian borders.  The final phase of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative is in effect, and a passport or another government-approved document is now required to re-enter the country.

How has this affected traffic across the borders? Not much, it seems. The Houston Chronicle is reporting that wait times at both the northern border with Canada and the southern border with Mexico are normal today, and that the new rules haven’t caused an increase in travel time for most American citizens.

However, not everyone who regularly crosses the border has the correct documents.  FoxTV in El Paso reported that a flood of people applying for a last-minute passport has led some residents to camp out at the local county courthouse to make sure that their passport application gets in.

The new regulations require that American citizens returning from Mexico, Canada or the Caribbean show a US passport, US passport card, or other approved ID to reenter the country. There are some exceptions for children and certain cruise passengers.  For more on the new regulations, see Do I Need a Passport For Travel To Mexico, Canada or the Caribbean?

For now, the government is letting people through without passports with a written warning, often after delaying them for a background check. However, they aren’t saying how long that policy will continue, so if you’re planning on visiting our neighbors to the north and south anytime soon, you need to apply for a passport.

Passport applications usually about two months to process, so you should apply well in advance. Even if you ask for the government’s expedited processing service, expect to wait at least a month. For faster service, you can submit your application through a private passport expediting company instead. These companies will carry your application to the Department of State by hand for processing times that can be as quick as 24 hours. Unlike the process of applying for an emergency passport directly through the government, there are no appointments necessary and you don’t have to travel out of your way to a Passport Agency office. The expediting company handles all of that for you!

Don’t get caught unprepared at the border-order your passport today!

In just 6 days, on June 1st, US travel document requirements will change for Americans traveling to Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean by land or sea.  US passports were previously only required for air travel to these countries-people traveling by land or sea could simply use their driver’s licenses and birth certificates (or other proof of citizenship). Now, all adults are required to show a US passport or another approved type of ID to return to the US, no matter what method of travel they are using.

To help residents comply with these travel regulations, some states are offering Enhanced Drivers Licenses, or EDLs.  EDLs contain a radio frequency identification chip that contains information about the person the EDL was issued to, so they are harder to fake than a regular driver’s license.

Currently, only 4 states offer EDLs: Michigan, New York, Vermont and Washington. If you live in one of those states, should you get an EDL or a passport?

An EDL will allow you to make quick trips across the border to Canada or Mexico by car or by boat. However, you should be aware that an EDL cannot be used for travel to countries other than Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean nations included in the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. To visit those countries, you would still need a US Passport.

The EDL is also not valid for international air travel. Even if you are only flying in to Mexico or Canada, you still need a passport if you’re leaving the country by air.  Which brings us to another good reason to choose a US passport over the EDL-what if there’s an emergency while you’re in another country and you need to fly home unexpectedly? Your re-entry into the US will go much more smoothly if you have the proper form of ID!

What are the advantages of having an EDL?  First of all, they are cheaper than getting a passport. Secondly, they fit more comfortably in your wallet than a passport book does, so they are more convenient. If all you need a WHTI-approved ID for is quick excursions on the other side of the border, an EDL may be fine. However, if you’ll be visiting our neighbor to the north (or south) for any length of time, it’s safest to travel with your passport.

Currently, it takes about 2 months to get a passport if you apply directly to the Department of State with normal processing. If you pay the additional $60 to have it expedited, you’ll still be waiting at least 3 weeks. However, a private passport expediting company can often have your passport processed in as little as 24 hours.

June 1st is almost here: Order your US passports today!