Beat the Surge of Passport Applications

 

Record numbers of people are applying for US passports this year. In some cities, crowds of people are lining up at Passport Acceptance Agents, trying to get first-time passports for themselves or their children. Meanwhile, an unprecedented number of passports will expire this year. That means the State Department will be getting more passport renewal applications than they've ever seen before!

If you need to get a new passport this year, read on for our tips on how to beat the crowds to get your passport

A Perfect Storm of Passport Applications

There's no doubt about it - 2017 is going to be a banner year for passports! We're already seeing huge numbers of passport applications. It's very likely that there will be far more US passports issued this year than in any year in history.

Ever since records have been kept, there's been a steady upward trend in the number of US passports issued each year. But this year is special. Several factors have come together to increase the number of passport applications beyond anything ever seen before:

• 10th Anniversary of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. WHTI, the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, went into effect in 2007. This law requires everyone traveling in or out of the US by air to have a valid passport. More than 18 million people applied for US passports in 2007, and all of those passports are now expiring.
• REAL ID Deadline Approaching. Starting in January 2018 - just eight months from now! - you'll need to have a Federally-approved form of identification in order to board any flight, domestic or international. Some driver's licenses are not accepted as REAL ID, so many travelers are applying for passport books or passport cards to use for domestic travel.
• The Trump Passport Surge. We called it back in November, and we were right. There has been an increase in passport applications as a result of President Trump's policies, particularly the immigration raids that were launched as part of the crackdown on illegal immigration.

 

Skip the Lines at the Passport Acceptance Facility

If you're applying for your first passport, a child's passport, or for a replacement for a lost, stolen, or damaged passport, your first stop will be a Passport Acceptance Facility. From Florida to California, from sea to shining sea, Passport Acceptance Facilities are reporting long lines of applicants. At some locations, people are lining up hours before the facility even opens! We know you don't have time for that.

To cope with the high number of passport applications, new facilities are opening up all the time, and many existing facilities are extending their operating hours. 

If you need to visit a Passport Acceptance Facility, use our locator to find all the locations near your home, school, or business. Make sure to consider all of your options, including:

• Walk-In Facilities. These locations don't require appointments, but take passport applications on a first-come, first-served basis.
• Appointment-Only Facilities. Although appointments may be harder to come by these days, the good news is that you won't need to wait in line for hours to be seen! It's a good idea to plan ahead and schedule your appointment well in advance of your trip.
• Facilities with Evening or Weekend Hours. Some locations offer service outside of normal business hours -- very convenient for people who work full time!
• Passport Fairs. Some Passport Acceptance Facilities will host special "Passport Fairs" or "Passport Days." These events, typically held on Saturdays, allow travelers to bring in passport applications for service on a day that the facility is normally closed. Sometimes they are held at locations outside the Passport Acceptance Facility. Passport Fairs are usually first-come, first-serve, so plan to get there early! For example, this coming Saturday, April 8, Passport Fairs will be held at:
  
  
  • Mountain Home Post Office, Mountain Home, Arkansas
  • Yankton Post Office, Yankton, South Dakota

Immigration Raids: What Identification Should You Show?

This past weekend, people across the US were alarmed by reports of immigration raids in many cities. US Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) has confirmed that they arrested more than 600 undocumented immigrants last week. ICE officials stated that raids occurred in Atlanta, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and North and South Carolina. However, reports of additional raids in cities across the country have been rampant on social media. Immigration activists and individual witnesses have reported immigration checkpoints and raids in locations including suburban Washington, DC, Plant City, FL, and Austin, TX. Some of these unconfirmed reports state that ICE has been stopping large numbers of people in public places such as shopping center parking lots or public transportation, demanding to see identification, and detaining anyone who can’t show appropriate identification.

If you get caught up in an immigration raid, would you know what type of identification to show to prove your US citizenship or legal residency?

Are the Recent Immigration Raids “Business as Usual”?

According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, last week’s arrests were just routine enforcement. Indeed, 600 arrests in one week is far from a record. During just one week in 2015, 2,000 illegal immigrants were arrested by ICE. Typical enforcement activities conducted by ICE target specific undocumented immigrants who have criminal records, with the goal of arresting and deporting them. ICE officials state that they’re not in the habit of going into public places and attempting to round up any illegal immigrants who may be there.

However, many people believe that the raids last week were not just the type of enforcement activity that was common under the Obama administration. They may be connected to an executive order signed by President Trump on January 25. This executive order focused on public safety, expanded the categories of immigrants considered a high priority for deportation. Instead of focusing on what we might think of as “criminals” — thieves, rapists, drug dealers, and the like — the executive order defined “criminal” undocumented immigrants as anyone who had broken any sort of law. This includes both felonies and misdemeanors, as well as the types of laws that just about every illegal immigrant has broken, such as crossing the US border unlawfully or providing a false Social Security Number to get a job.

President Trump added to this plausible connection with a Sunday morning post on Twitter. “The crackdown on illegal criminals is merely the keeping of my campaign promise. Gang members, drug dealers & others are being removed!”

Coming on the heels of the recent travel ban executive order, many people are nervous that these immigration raids are only the beginning. What if the unconfirmed reports are true, and ICE really is doing things like boarding buses and demanding to see everyone’s papers? If you are a US citizen or legal US resident, what kind of identification should you carry to prevent you being arrested by mistake?

Prove Your US Status With the Right Identification

What’s in your wallet? Whether you are a US citizen or not, some forms of identification will prove your residency status and others will not.

Non-US Citizens

The American Civil Liberties Union recommends that all non-US citizens should carry proof of their legal status in the US at all times. According to the ACLU, non-US citizens are required to show their immigration papers to immigration officers upon request. If you are stopped in an immigration checkpoint, and you don’t proof of your legal status in the US, you could find yourself detained by ICE!

The best documents for non-US citizens to carry are:

• Alien Resident Card (“green card”)
• Foreign passport with valid US visa.

US Citizens

Yes, you’re a US citizen. But can you prove it? Most of us just carry around our driver’s licenses as proof of identification. However, your driver’s license doesn’t necessarily prove that you are a US citizen!

Documents that will prove your US citizenship beyond a shadow of a doubt include:

• US Passport Book
• US Passport Card
• Enhanced Driver’s License

What About Driver’s Licenses?

We’ve talked a lot about REAL ID here on PassportInfo.com.
Unless you’re a resident of Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, or Washington state, you may already have a REAL ID driver’s license. You can check by looking at the top of your driver’s license. Do you see a star? If you have a star, great! Your license is REAL ID. If your license was issued a few years ago, and you don’t see a star, your license is still a valid driver’s license… but it isn’t REAL ID.

The reason REAL ID matters now is that states can only issue REAL ID driver’s licenses or non-driver IDs to people who are either US citizens or legal US residents. Most states will still issue driver’s licenses to people who can’t prove their residence status, but those licenses will be the non-REAL ID version. They won’t have the star!

If you show your driver’s license to an ICE officer, they will be looking to see if your license is REAL ID. A REAL ID license will indicate that you are either a US citizen or a legal resident (green card or visa holder). But what if you’ve got an old license without a star? It doesn’t prove your residency status. If you are a US citizen concerned about the possibility of immigration raids, you might want to either update your driver’s license to REAL ID or start carrying your passport book or passport card.

We’ll be watching this story closely and will bring you updates on any political actions that impact citizenship, immigration, or travel.

Source: https://passportinfo.com/immigration-raids-protect-yourself/

Will Trump’s Election Cause a Passport Rush?

In the wake of Donald Trump’s election, we’ve been asked if we expect to see a surge in passport applications from people who want to leave the country. It’s true that many peoplealways talk about moving to Canada or other international destinations if the election doesn’t go their way. Very, very few people actually follow through on it, though!

Although we don’t expect to see a passport rush from people fleeing the US, some political analysts are urgingcertain groups of Americans to acquire passports now.

 

Transgender Americans

Trump’s election has alarmed many people in the LGBT community, who are concerned that they may lose many of the rights that have been gained over the last decade. Trans people feel particularly vulnerable. The rights of trans people have already been the subject of fierce battles across the United States, even during the Obama administration. Transgender activists have been making suggestions of concrete actions that trans people can take now to protect themselves from the possible consequences of the coming Trump/Pence administration. Chief among those suggestions – get a passport now!

It’s important for transgender people to have identification that correctly lists their legal name, gender, and shows their current appearance. Every state maintains different rules about the issuance of driver’s licenses, so it may be difficult for some trans people to update their driver’s license to reflect their gender transition. The rules for passport issuance for trans people are the same from coast to coast. Under the current rules, trans people can have a passport issued with an appropriate gender marker if they submit documentation from their doctor showing that they are in, or have completed, gender transition. The name can be updated by submitting the original court order for name change. This original document is returned when the passport is issued, but the letters from the doctor or medical records will be retained by the State Department.

With a valid US passport, trans people will be able to continue to travel freely both inside and outside the United States. This will be particularly important as of 2018, when the REAL ID act will be enforced at all US airports for domestic flights.

Transgender passport applicants may also want to consider getting a passport card in addition to a passport book. Having a card-sized federal ID showing the current name and gender will be essential for anyone who has trouble updating their driver’s license.