US Post offices host passport fairs

It wasn’t long ago that all an American needed to skip over the border to Mexico or Canada was a driver’s license.

But with the passage of new laws governing travel in North America, venturing to those countries has become more complicated.

Congress crafted the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative in late 2005 to tighten security on the Canadian and Mexican borders.

To help remedy the situation and make the process easier, the Mountain View and Millbrae post offices are hosting fairs Saturday that offer one-stop shopping for passport seekers.

There will be photographers on hand and post office employees will walk applicants through the process, U.S. Postal Service spokesman James Wigdel said.

Currently, those traveling by air must hold passports, while those going by sea or land won’t need the documents until January, said Roxanne Hercules of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency.

Since the new rules took effect, the number of people seeking the navy blue books that allow Americans to travel abroad has doubled to roughly 17 million annually – extending the time it takes to obtain a passport to three months in some cases.

“It used to take four to six weeks” for a passport to be issued, Wigdel said. “Now it’s 10 to 12 weeks.”

Nationally, the U.S. Postal Service is expected to help process 14 million of about 17.7 million passport requests this year.

In the San Francisco region, which includes Silicon Valley, 3,500 passports are processed every week, officials said.

The Mountain View post office, located at 211 Hope Street, will hold its fair from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., while the Millbrae post office, located at 501 Broadway, will hold its fair from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.