Originally Posted by
sullim4
If the data points are to be believed - it's online applicants that got the shaft. Paper applications seem to be making the service commitments.
It's unclear why that is - perhaps some passport specialists aren't trained on how to process online applications, maybe there were system outages, or other technical problems. Rumor has it that they are converting online applications to paper applications in order to process them more quickly. But I agree with you - this should be a story. Other western countries seem to have no trouble turning around routine applications in a matter of days or weeks. I don't buy the WHTI excuse - they know how many passports are expiring (all online apps are renewals) and so the office should be adequately staffed to handle that demand.
The periodical backlogs for US passports got much worse following WHTI requiring Americans to have passports for all flights into and out of the US. Staffing up and being equipped for peak demand based on how many passports are anticipated to be expiring would run up my passport costs a lot— no thanks, as I would rather not see my US passport costs jump up because of that too.
There are other “western countries” that have been a mess too with getting passport applications in and passports out. At least with the US passport applications, there are emergency routes to get applications in and turned quickly. A variety of the “orderly” European passport issuing authorities are more hostile toward urgent passport needs by their nationals than the US State Department.
The way the human eye still works, reviewing ink-on-paper vs other material tends to be more accurate and sustainable at stretches than reviewing digital material vs digital material.