How To Apply For a U.S. Passport
Passports are now required for U.S. citizens and foreign travelers entering the U.S. from Canada, the Caribbean and Mexico through airports or seaports.
To find out how to get a passport, see the U.S. State Department's Web site at www.travel.state.gov or call the U.S. National Passport Information Center at 877-487-2778. If you're renewing, you can do it by mail, but if you're getting a passport for the first time, you have to apply in person. For a list of post offices and other facilities in your area where passports are processed, type in your ZIP code at www.iafdb.travel.state.gov.
First-time passports for those 16 and older cost $97, not including photos. For those younger than 16, the cost is $82. Renewals are $67.
Count on about six weeks' processing time, although it may be less. Expedited service is available for an extra fee.
If you're planning to cross the border by car or ferry (to Victoria as an example), you won't need a passport until 2008. Tourism officials lobbied for the delay, and they hope to persuade the government to come up with an alternative.
Travel-industry officials are pushing to have the passport rules for air and sea travel delayed beyond next January, but they're not holding their breath.
As Lonely Planet's advertising campaign states "Do something good for your country - leave".
For more infomration visit:
www.lonelyplanet.com/passport
Reprinted from the Seattle Times.
