It’s Jan. 23. Do You Know Where Your Passport Is?
Travel Blog • Jim Benning • 01.23.07 | 8:05 AM ET
If you’re an American flying from the U.S. to Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean and want to return home, we hope so. The new passport rule, otherwise known as the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, goes into effect today, requiring that you carry one. Predictably, many travelers are now rushing to get their own little blue book, prompting newspaper headline writers to break out their favorite egg-related verb. Meanwhile, U.S. territory Puerto Rico stands to gain from the new rule: Passports are still not required of U.S. citizens, a fact that Puerto Rico is spending $36 million to promote. So how many new passports do officials expect to issue this year?
The New York Times reports:
According to the State Department, an estimated 27 percent of Americans currently carry a valid passport; it expects to issue 16 million to 18 million passports in its fiscal year 2007, ending Sept. 30, compared with 12.1 million in fiscal year 2006. In addition, department officials say, demand for passport processing was up 52 percent in the last quarter of 2006 from the period in 2005.
Related on World Hum:
* Need a New Passport? Bill the Caribbean.
Photo by Michael Yessis.
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Jim Benning is the editor and co-founder of World Hum.
Rachel 01.23.07 | 7:20 PM ET
Glad to see others spreading the word about the new passport rules. I’ll bet that demand for new passports keeps going up, now that the new rules are in effect. We blogged on the passport rules and how the impending BA strike will affect travel today at The Window Seat.