The fact that these two years i.e. the fiscal 2017 and fiscal 2018 is going to be the record breaking year for US passport applications is known to one and all by now. With nearly 50 percent of the US citizens still not possessing passports and most of the existing ones up for renewal, the US government is looking to find several ways to look after the rush with ideas like the passport fair and other stuff. The online agency has relieved both the burden and the queue to a great extent but still in the current scenario, people are having to wait for longer than normal in order to get their passports in hand. Keeping all these aspects in mind, we would have to keep quite a few important things in mind before going for either a new passport application or for that matter the renewal of an old one.
The root of the recent passport surge might be traced back to 2007 with the implementation of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) which suggested that all US citizens from then on were required to possess either a passport or a valid ID proof to travel to countries like Canada, Mexico and Bermuda. Then the people traveling by air would definitely require a passport. This had created a surge for US passports back then. In this regard we need to remember that the US passport for people 16 years old and above is valid for 10 years and for the ones who are below 16 they are valid for 5 years. Thus, with the completion of the 10 th year of the implementation of WHTI, the hike was not something which was sudden. This was easily expected. Thus, the US citizens are already concerned regarding their passports and the unusually longer time which would be required for the passports reaching their owners.
The online passport agencies have stepped in like a breath of fresh air and their city specific services like the US passport renewal Atlanta have managed to decentralize the crowd. Then, with the passports taking longer than normal to get processed expedited services like same day passport and emergency passport Atlanta has been gaining in importance especially for people whose passports are nearing completion and the business tours are coming closer with every passing day.
There are a few other things you need to keep in mind which will definitely impact your plans of going for a passport earlier than the date of expiry and not waiting for it to get expired. Remember many a country nowadays require your passports to be valid for at least 6 months on arrival. So if it is found even at the time of your boarding the flight that your passport is too close to its expiry to let you board the flight, you might be barred from boarding it and your journey might come to an unwanted halt at the beginning itself. This provides you with another reason to go for a renewal of your passport earlier than the speculated time which is always safer and help you avoid last minute rushes.
