Passport Deadline Nears and the Rush is on!

January 15, 2007 | Tags: News |

As on January 23rd, travellers to the USA arriving by air from Mexico and Canada will need a passport for the first time. This of course means that Americans will also need a passport to travel to Mexico and Canada since otherwise there’s no getting back in! Despite the fact that this was announced a helluva long time ago, expect chaos in the airports the next couple weeks ago travellers who weren’t aware of the rules get turned away for their flights. Maybe some Americans will just take the opportunity to stay in Puerto Vallarta forever. Hell, why leave such a beautiful place?

Meanwhile the lines at passport offices in the USA, Canada and Mexico have been growing round the block with huge numbers of people realizing at the last minute they better get their applications in. The US State department issued a record 320,000 passports in the first week of January alone. In Canada, there’s a double hit because passport expiries are only five years and the last rush for passports was after 9/11 so all those people are now renewing. One friend said a trick was to apply online. He did so even though it seemed pointless since you then have to print the application and print it in anyway but when he got there he was put into a special queue presumably since his data was already ready and saved hours of waiting.

Straight to the sources:

CNN.com: Record numbers seek passports in U.S., Canada

Cambio de Michoacán: Expide la SRE 650 pasaportes al día

CBC.ca: Passport lineups getting longer as U.S. deadline looms