Government planning to ease passport rules: report
17 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government is expected to announce on Friday that it will ease rules for summer travel in the Western Hemisphere amid complaints of a huge backlog of passport applications, The New York Times reported.
Under the revised procedures, travelers will only have to prove they have applied for a passport to re-enter the United States from Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean and Bermuda through September, the Times said, citing a Bush administration official who insisted on anonymity.
"But they should expect the likelihood of additional security," the official said in a story in Friday's edition.
Passport offices around the country have been struggling with a backlog of millions of applications since the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative started in January.
The program requires air travelers for the first time to show passports on returning from Canada, Mexico and elsewhere in the hemisphere, not including U.S. territories.
The agreement, resolving differences between a beleaguered State Department and the
Homeland Security Department, follows prodding by many members of Congress whose offices have been deluged with protests from their districts, the paper said.
Constituents who applied for passports as long ago as February -- sometimes paying $60 extra for expedited service over the regular $97 -- and with air tickets in hand had not received their documents, the Times said.