Passport wait increases to 10 weeks

America's war on terror has lengthened the time it takes to get a passport.

With passports now required to visit Mexico and Canada, Americans have to wait about 10 weeks to get them, said Charles Hutson, Cape Girardeau County circuit clerk.

The application process used to take about six weeks, he said.

For those in a rush, an expedited passport can be obtained in three to four weeks but at a higher cost, Hutson said Wednesday.

According to the U.S. State Department, about 1.5 million passport applications nationwide are pending.

Locally, the circuit clerk's offices in Cape Girardeau and Jackson and the U.S. Postal Service handle passport applications.

The two circuit clerk's offices combined handle some 100 applications a month, Hutson said.

The Cape Girardeau post office processes about 380 passport applications each month, said Dan Strauss, manager of customer services.

"I moved to Cape about three years ago," Strauss said. "I am amazed at how many folks travel to Mexico."

In January, the United States began requiring U.S. citizens and anyone else flying into the country from Canada, Mexico, Bermuda and the Caribbean to show passports. The new requirement is part of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, which was passed by Congress in 2004. As early as January 2008, the passport requirement also could apply to people entering the United States by land, federal officials say.

Hutson said a routine passport costs $97. An expedited passport costs an additional $60, which includes added postage costs, he said.

Those costs don't include photos. The post office charges the same fees as the circuit clerk's office plus $15 to take the two required photos of each applicant. Those who go to the circuit clerk's offices must bring passport photos with them.

Passport applications are mailed to a routing center in Philadelphia and from there to a processing center in New Orleans, Hutson said. The completed passports are mailed to applicants' homes, Hutson said.

To speed up the process, applicants can deal directly with a U.S. passport regional office, Hutson said. The closest offices are in Chicago and New Orleans.

"We did a family of five the other day. They had a courier drive their applications to Chicago to the passport office for a $150-a-person fee," Hutson said.

Strauss said some people show up at the post office thinking that they can get a passport right away. People used to be able to get an expedited passport in 10 days to two weeks.

"We have folks saying, 'I am leaving in two weeks, and I have got to have it,'" Strauss said.

At that point, he said, getting a passport in time is impossible.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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