Refunds offered for some passport applicants because of massive delays

WASHINGTON — Frustrated travelers who paid an extra $60 to get their U.S. passports expedited — and still had to wait for them — can now get a refund from the government.

The decision to refund the money, disclosed in a State Department document sent Tuesday to members of Congress, represents the latest effort to come to grips with a massive backlog in passport applications that has ruined or delayed summer vacation plans for thousands in the United States.

The delays were largely due to a new rule that requires U.S. citizens to have passports when flying to Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda. Last week, the government announced it was suspending that rule until September, as long as travelers to those countries carried a printout receipt showing they had applied for a passport.

Information

• For details on passport issues, including refunds; the partial waiver of passport requirements for air travel to Canada, Mexico and more, go to www.travel.state.gov or call the National Passport Center at 877-487-2778. Be prepared to wait if you phone; it's very difficult to get through.

• If you're planning to fly to Mexico and use the passport waiver, be aware that Mexico requires proof of citizenship — a birth certificate if you don't have a passport.

• Travelers who paid the extra $60 for expedited passport issuing, but did not get their passports quickly, should request a refund by writing to: Department of State, Passport Services/PPS/Refunds, 2100 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20037. There is no refund of the standard fees ($97 for a new passport or $67 for a renewal for people 16 and older; less for children).

• Given the massive delays in issuing passports, travelers who will need to get or renew a passport for travel, including in the fall, should apply as soon as possible.

Kristin Jackson / Seattle Times

The passport delays were so bad that many of those who paid for faster service, at a cost of $60 plus the regular processing fees of $97 for a new passport, did not receive their passports within the expected 14 days. Some who paid extra waited for a month or more.

"It's an outrage to pay over $150 for a passport and still have your travel plans ruined," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., who had previously called for the refunds.

Schumer also chided State officials for not doing more to publicize the refunds, saying they should be "shouting this refund policy from the rooftops, not whispering it in the wind."

The State Department document says passport applicants who paid for, but did not get, expedited service should send a written refund application to the agency's refund office in Washington. They should provide their passport number, if available, their name, date and place of birth, the approximate date they applied for the passport, as well as a mailing address and phone number.

Homeland Security officials have warned that the passport delays will not affect their schedule of requiring passports of everyone driving across the border into Canada or Mexico beginning in January 2008 — a rule that some experts believe will lead to a fourfold increase in new demand for passports.