Passports Should Start Processing Faster Now. Here’s Why

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We wrote last month that fourteen passport processing centers reopened on June 15.

The Dep’t of State said that processing will begin this summer, and they plan to gradually reopen in three phases:

• Phase 1 will begin processing the backlog of passports and will include a limited number of employees who will focus on life-or-death emergencies
• Phase 2 will have the majority of employees coming back to work to process applications on a “first come, first served” basis
• Phase 3 will have all remaining employees returning to work, and then the agency will begin to once again offer expedited processing.

Each passport agency and center will open on a different date based on local conditions, and they will follow guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for safe reopening.

By June 19th, 15 passport agencies were in Phase 1. By June 26th, 16 of them were on board, still all in Phase 1.

Here’s how many they’ve processed each week:

But here’s some really good news!

As of Monday, July 6, they still have 16 of their 26 agencies open, but a total of 12 passport agencies and centers are in Phase 1 and four agencies and centers are now in Phase 2!

Remember, Phase 2 means that the majority of employees at that agency or center are back to work to process applications. Granted, it doesn’t mean the agency is back up to full speed as a whole. But it’s a definite another step forward and the more people working, the faster those 1.51 million backlogged passports will finally get done.

The Dep’t of State updates how many passports it’s processed on a weekly basis, on Thursdays. I guess it’ll be interesting to see how much of a jump there are in how many they’ve issued, come this Thursday.

Here’s the status of each application center and agency:

• Arkansas Passport Center
  Status: Phase One on June 11

• Atlanta Passport Agency

• Boston Passport Agency
  Status: Phase Two on July 6

• Buffalo Passport Agency
  Status: Phase Two on July 6

• Chicago Passport Agency
  Status: Phase One on June 11

• Colorado Passport Agency
  Status: Phase One on June 11

• Connecticut Passport Agency
  Status: Phase Two on July 6

• Dallas Passport Agency
  
• Detroit Passport Agency
  Status: Phase One on June 11

• El Paso Passport Agency
  
• Honolulu Passport Agency
  Status: Phase One on June 15

• Houston Passport Agency
  
• Los Angeles Passport Agency
• Miami Passport Agency
  
• Minneapolis Passport Agency
  Status: Phase One on June 11

• National Passport Center
  Status: Phase One on June 11

• New Orleans Passport Center
  Status: Phase One on June 11

• New York Passport Agency
  Status: Phase Two on July 6

• Philadelphia Passport Agency
  Status: Phase One on June 11

• San Diego Passport Agency
  
• San Francisco Passport Agency
  
• San Juan Passport Agency
  Status: Phase One on July 1

• Seattle Passport Agency

• Vermont Passport Agency
  Status: Phase One on June 19

• Washington Passport Agency
  Status: Phase One on June 15

• Western Passport Center

As you can see, the ones that are still closed are in “hot spot” states….Arizona, California, Florida and Texas. Makes sense. If everyone wears masks and social distances, so numbers of coronavirus went down, I’d think those centers could open, too. Just sayin’. 😉

#stayhealthy #staysafe #washyourhands #wearamask

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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary