In the wake of tighter passport restrictions, thousands of jittery missionaries-to-be added something new to their prayer lists: passport delays. Passport offices have experienced a deluge of applications since new rules went into effect in January that require passports for re-entry after flights from Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean, and Bermuda.
For churches, delays that can exceed 12 weeks have added more headaches at the height of mission trip season. Jeremy Horneck was among the stressed. A recent graduate of Maranatha Baptist Bible College in Watertown, Wisconsin, Horneck learned in April that he had landed his dream job—teaching English in the steamy tropics of the South Pacific island of Saipan. Only two months from his June departure date, Horneck assumed he would be able to receive his passport within the normal six-week processing time. This year, however, normal time estimates don't apply. Between October 2006 and April 2007, the State Department issued 8.6 million passports—more passports than were issued in any single full year before 2003.
Horneck made a flurry of fruitless calls to the swamped Passport Information Center, followed by urgent calls to his representative. Four days before he left for Saipan, he arrived at a Chicago passport office at 5 a.m. Nearly 10 hours later, a relieved Horneck had the little blue booklet in his hands.
"The worst thing would be delaying my trip, which would have cost hundreds of dollars that I didn't have," Horneck said. "I knew that God had called me to Saipan, and he would get me there in plenty of time for his work."
Mission organizations have fielded many calls from anxious travelers. Lisa Countiss, an administrator for Adventures in Missions (AIM), said the number of calls to her office has spiked. A few mission-trip participants have had to stay home, Countiss said. Some missionaries received their passports just days before their trips. Others, like Horneck, chose to fly to passport offices in New Orleans or Chicago, where they stood in line with hundreds of others.
To alleviate the delays, the U.S. Departments of State and Homeland Security announced June 8 that they would suspend the new passport requirements through September 30. Until then, those who have applied for a passport can temporarily re-enter the United States by air so long as they have government-issued photo identification and Department of State official proof of application. Children younger than 16 who are traveling with a parent or guardian must provide a birth certificate and proof of application.
The Department of Homeland Security plans to require documentation, such as a driver's license, for re-entry by land and sea on January 31. That could harden to a full-fledged passport requirement by summer 2008, creating further stresses on passport processing.
While passport lines continue to stretch for blocks, the nightmare has ended well for many missionaries. Horneck in Saipan is already hard at work teaching English to 20 Korean-speaking students.
"I am so thankful [God] worked everything out so I could get here," Horneck said.
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