You are right in one sense, but not in another. What that means is that people like me who were getting nervous about not receiving passports for summer vacations in Canada/Mexico/Caribbean will now *NOT* be jamming the tollfree number, their congressmen, or lining up infront of the Passport office trying to get their passports. So it frees up some bandwidth for other people going to countries who require passports. A small consolation, but hopefully that will be a big number of people gone since presumably these people are the ones causing the glut of applications above normal.
I am *SO* happy they did this, I'm just wondering why they didn't do it sooner. What doesn't help processing speed for those who need passports still is that the passport agency doesn't know where people want to travel, just their travel date. If they knew where people wanted to travel, they could focus on those not in the Caribbean/Canada/Mexico first. if I can travel to my destination w/o a passport, I don't mind if my passport comes late another month or two to help people who need passports to travel soon.
Originally Posted by
soitgoes
The suspension of rules will benefit only those people waiting for a passport for travel by air to Mexico or Canada. It doesn't help those who are traveling anywhere else whose passports are being delayed because of the processing issues. Passport Services will continue to be overwhelmed and travelers will continue to have their travel plans put in jeopardy or disrupted due to the excessive processing time.