Potential Government Shutdown Looms: Should You Apply for an Expedited Passport?

Potential Government Shutdown Looms: Should You Apply for an Expedited Passport

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Planning to travel internationally? Need a passport? You might want to go ahead and get that application in, and expedite it. In a replay of what happened in 1995, there is a possibility that the Federal government could shut down if the Republicans, who have the majority in the House of Representatives, do not pass a federal budget that the Democratic-controlled Senate and President Obama will agree to ratify.

The current federal budget measure expires on March 4. If the government can't agree on a budget by that time and refuses to pass an emergency spending measure, all "non-essential" services will be shut down and government employees will be furloughed without pay.

Unfortunately for travelers, some passport processing capability is considered expendable. Last time this happened, according to AOL News, "The U.S. tourism and airline industries reportedly lost millions of dollars after the 1995-96 shutdowns halted visa and passport processing. Approximately 200,000 U.S. passport applications went unprocessed during the shutdowns and 20,000 to 30,000 foreign visa applications were unprocessed."

What can you do? If you have a trip coming up in the next few months and you need a passport, it might not be a bad idea to go ahead and submit an application for an expedited passport now. You'll have to pay an additional $60 fee, but the processing time will be cut to about 2-3 weeks instead of 6. If you're lucky, this means you'll get your passport back before the potential shutdown.

Keep in mind that if there is a shutdown, you should expect longer processing times even after it's over, as the State Department gets caught up with a backlog of applications. Hopefully, this won't come to pass, but it's certainly better to be safe and order an order an expedited passport now than to be sorry later.

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