2017 has been predicted as the year by the experts which is going to see the greatest surge in the history of the American passports. This has definitely been the aftermath of the changes in the American passport regulations in 2007 which had ensured that there was a surge for the US passport at that point in time. Keeping all these aspects in mind and the problems which were encountered during the earlier surge the authority has decided to stay prepared for the surge this time around. All the passports of 2007 would be due for renew during the current year along with millions of new application is going to make the queue long and hard to break.
Another important reason behind this surge has been the fact that the time is nearby when the Americans would require a passport in order to visit places within their own country as well keep aside a foreign tour. Thus the surge needs to be looked after in a proper manner in order to ensure the best possible service to the people of the country minimizing their losses for the lag which is inevitable given the number of applications which are expected off late. As per the US State Department, there are chances that the number of applications might count up to 20.5 million which would definitely be an all-time record.
In 2007 when the regulation came into force that Americans would require passports to visit Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean there was an obvious surge in the number of passport applications and the authority faced a lot of problems in delivery of the applied passports. In some cases people had to wait for months in order to get their passports in hand. This time around the condition is far better as has been confirmed by the officials of the State Department. According to the stats this far in 2017, 11 million passports have already been delivered and the matter has been in weeks even in case of extreme delays. These 11 million were a combination of renewals and new applications and the renewals were around 40 percent to be precise.
As such, many more passport applications are expected later in the year with the vacation time coming up and the State Department must be ready for the impending urge ready for action.
