ASAE (American Society of Association Executives) is holding its annual conference in Toronto this year (August 15 – 18) . The conference draws several thousand attendees and vendors. NAPVS executive director Rob Smith is a member of ASAE and approached ASAE to include on their website information about expedited passports and the services of NAPVS members in obtaining such passports .
ASAE is the membership organization and voice of the association profession. Founded in 1920, ASAE now has more than 22,000 association CEOs, staff professionals, industry partners, and consultant members. ASAE & its Learning Center serve approximately 10,000 associations that represent more than 287 million people and organizations worldwide.
The following paragraph is posted on the ASAE Annual Conference site at http://www.asaeannualmeeting.org/passport.cfm.
“Expedited Passport: Need a passport in a hurry or want to make sure you can travel to Toronto as the convention date gets closer? Then the members of the National Association of Passport and Visa Services can help. Only NAPVS members abide by a Code of Conduct, and any member can service anyone in the U.S. within a few days. Click on NAPVS for details on the services provided and links to member firms.”
Effective June 1, 2009, all U.S. citizens entering the U.S. by land or sea must present a passport book or card. This requirement is part of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) that was developed after Congress passed legislation that required all travelers to present a passport or other document that denotes identity and citizenship when entering the United States.
Thus starting June 1, 2009 American citizens traveling by car into and from Canada or Mexico to the U.S. must present a passport book or car. Some border states are providing an enhanced driver’s license that will verify U.S. citizenship as well when crossing the border by land.
However, any American citizen traveling overseas by air must present a passport book to show proof of identity and citizenship.
U.S. citizen children under the age of 16 are able to present the original or copy of their birth certificate, or other proof of U.S. citizenship such as a naturalization certificate or citizenship card.
Groups of U.S. citizen children ages 16 through 18, when traveling with a school or religious group, social organization, or sports team, will be able to enter under adult supervision with originals or copies of their birth certificates or other proof of citizenship.
NAPVS members can assist citizens in obtaining a passport card at the same time they are renewing or obtaining a new passport book. Citizens are finding the passport card a convenient and authoritative identity document to have with them at all times.
For more details on travel documents required for traveling abroad, go to the State Department web site at http://travel.state.gov/travel/cbpmc/cbpmc_2223.html.
To get an expedited passport book and card from an NAPVS member, go to Get A U.S. Passport and Visa.
By Thomas Frank, USA TODAY (March 31, 2009)
WASHINGTON — Federal officials hope a new education campaign will eliminate confusion at U.S. borders this summer when Americans will be required for the first time to show a passport or a special ID card to drive home from Canada or Mexico.
Travelers will no longer be able to use ordinary driver’s licenses or birth certificates to get back into the U.S.
Go to the following address for full story:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-03-30-passports_N.htm
Beginning February 1, 2008, the Department of State will institute a new fee schedule for passport services. At this time applicants will also have the option of pre-ordering a new Passport Card, a low cost, limited use (land and sea only) alternative to the Passport Book designed for those living along the border. In addition, the age for which both parents must appear and sign a passport application on behalf of a child will increase from 14 to 16 years old.
Fees are being adjusted to cover the cost of providing efficient and secure passport services including infrastructure, technology and staff. The Passport Execution fee collected by passport acceptance centers and U.S. consular sections abroad is being reduced from $30 to $25. Go to the State Department web site for more details.
Over the weekend before Congress left for its election recess, it extended the WHTI passport and pass card deadlines for traveling across the U.S. border by sea and land until no later than June 1, 2009. The extension was part of the 2007 fiscal year Homeland Security Appropriations Bill approved by the House and Senate. The January 8, 2007 deadline requiring passports for traveling by air were left unchanged. The State Department could shorten the June 1, 2009 sea and land deadline if Passport Services can meet specific technology, administrative and personnel training requirements specified in the legislation before that date.
In a colloquy on the Senate floor, Senator Gregg, Chairman of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, states, “I wish to emphasize that the Departments of Homeland Security and State can move forward with the full implementation of WHTI before June I, 2009–but to do so they must comply with all legislated criteria. These legislated criteria are designed to ensure that the PASS Card protects the privacy of our citizens, that readers have been installed at all ports of entry, that all employees have been properly trained–in short, that the system works, before it is used by millions of citizens. And I emphasize that implementation, meaning putting the system into operation can occur at any time but no later than June 1, 2009.”
Published a week later than originally expected, the Practical Traveler column in the Sunday New York Times Travel Section (10/1/06) had the headline, “New Passport Rules May Mean Delays.” The column discusses how obtaining a passport through normal Passport Services procedures may take longer than usual.
NAPVS firms are listed as an option for obtaining passport services in an expedited fashion. Specifically, the article states,
“There are also private rush services that specialize in speeding customers through the bureaucracy. For varying fees, these companies can often get passports approved in as little as 24 hours. (A list of expediting services is at www.napvs.org.) But in recent years, some passport agencies have been reducing the number of daily submissions such rush companies are allowed. The New York regional passport agency used to allow them to submit applications in unlimited numbers; in February it limited each company to 20 or fewer a day.”
For the complete article go to
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/01/travel/01prac.html?_r=1&ref=travel&oref=slogin You may need to register with nytimes.com before you can access the article.