WASHINGTON: The US State Department added staff to overcome deposits as many as 2 million passport applications with Pandemic Covid-19 which forced Americans to wait 12 to 18 weeks for travel documents, the department said on Wednesday.
Rachel Arndt, Deputy Assistant Secretary for passport services at the Consular Affairs Department Bureau, told reporters who were vaccinated, more Americans than those commonly applied to travel abroad.
Pandemic restrictions that have maintained officials from physically present at the passport office, are often the requirement to issue documents, have created deposits between 1.5 million and 2 million, Arndt said.
It sends the application now won’t get a new passport until “falls into the fall,” he said, adding that even those who pay $ 60 for accelerated processing are waiting for 12 weeks, depending on the delivery time.
“We are a surgering staff, both adjudicators and contractors, returning to offices on agencies throughout the country because covid restrictions relieve it, but it will take time for our waiting time to fall from 12 to 18 weeks now for the pre-pandemic level,” he said , “US citizens who want to travel abroad this summer and now do not have a passport may need to make an alternative travel plan.”