House bill would refund fees, travel costs for delayed passports
Michael Milligan, Travel Weekly, 6/18/2007
WASHINGTON -- Travelers that experienced "unreasonable delays in passport application processing times" would be entitled to a refund of processing fees and international travel costs under a bill (H.R. 2745) introduced in the House.
The bill, referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and sponsored by Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), follows an announcement last week by the State Dept. that it would, on a case-by-case basis, consider refunding the $60 extra fee some travelers have paid to have their passport applications expedited through processing.
An unprecedented volume of passport applications, however, has resulted in a backlog of more than 500,000 unprocessed passport applications, according to the State Dept. At the same time, processing times for passports are lasting more than 12 weeks in some cases, delaying the delivery of passports, including many that otherwise would have been expedited.
The high volume of passport applications is due in part to the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, a six-month-old law that requires airline passengers traveling to Bermuda, Canada, the Caribbean and Mexico to possess a valid passport. Next year, travelers crossing U.S. land borders and seaports will also have to adhere to the passport requirement.