Pushing Against the Passport Backlog

When Congress decided in 2004 to strengthen border security, Harty and her staff began preparing to implement the first phase of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, which essentially said Americans flying to neighboring countries could no longer use driver's licenses or birth certificates as proof of citizenship.

An estimate of how many Americans would be applying for passports was worked up, based on talks with the Department of Homeland Security and an analysis by a consulting firm. The estimate proved low by about a million applications, Harty said.

In fiscal 2006, the State Department issued 12 million passports and is on track to produce about 17 million for this fiscal year. Applications jumped in the first three months of this year, with more than 5.4 million sent in, Harty said.

To meet demand, Harty hired an additional 925 employees and contract workers in 2006 and added more than 1,200 for fiscal 2007. But the extra staff was not able to hold down turnaround times, resulting in complaints to House and Senate members' offices.

Harty has moved to put passport processing on a faster track, expanding operations at plants in Houston, New Orleans, Miami and Portsmouth, N.H. On Thursday, the department celebrated the opening of the Arkansas Passport Center in Hot Springs, which is expected to crank out 10 million passports annually once it is running at full capacity.

The 2004 law has an additional passport requirement -- that U.S. citizens traveling by land or sea in the Western Hemisphere have a passport or "passport card." This rule could kick in as early as January 1. Congress is concerned that the deadline is too soon. The House passed a bill Friday delaying the land-sea deadline 17 months, and a similar measure is pending in the Senate.

To address travelers' concerns, Harty's office this month announced that U.S. citizens flying to Canada, Mexico, Bermuda and countries in the Caribbean who have not received their passports can reenter the United States by showing a government-issued photo identification and a State Department "proof of application" paper that carries a passport tracking number.

Travelers can go to http://www.travel.state.gov and print out proof of their application. Entry rules to countries vary, however, and travelers may also look up those requirements on the Web site.

If the department's Web site does not provide a satisfactory answer, Harty said, passport applicants should send e-mail requests for assistance. "We are getting to it and answering people," she said.

Stephen Barr's e-mail address isbarrs@washpost.com.