Did you ever think you could binge-watch the entire ‘Game of Thrones’ series, learn a new language, and perhaps even teach your old dog a new trick while waiting for a simple piece of documentation?
Well, welcome to the world of U.S. passport requests.
In a time where your next cheeseburger is just a click away and we can summon a car ride faster than you can say “I left my keys”, the State Department is operating at a pace that makes the DMV seem like it’s on rocket fuel.
The ungodly wait times for processing passport requests have begun to baffle and infuriate even the most patient among us, making us long for the ‘good old days’ when things merely moved at a snail’s pace.
U.S. Passport Requests Taking Up to 13 Weeks – Travelers Demand Answers from State Department
The story is the same: Americans planning on vacations months in advance, get their wishes crushed as the Government cannot keep up with the insane pace of passport applications.
“We booked in 2022, not realizing that our passports were about to expire,” Connie Raynor told CBS News of a European cruise, which included 81 family and friends.
They applied for a renewal 3 months prior, and still did not get their passports in time. They missed their trip.
The State Department, basking in its bureaucratic excellence, is practically drowning in a deluge of passport applications, to the tune of about 430,000 per week.
Panicked travelers, in a display of absolute despair, are practically stampeding to passport offices, turning these hallowed halls into scenes from Black Friday sales. And the cherry on top? They’re now begging members of Congress for help, as if those folks don’t have enough on their plates (well, that’s up for debate…but more on that another time).
It’s like a comedy of errors, except no one’s laughing.
[Image: Kenneth Holland]
