Passports PollFollow

Virtually all air travelers entering the United States beginning January 23 will need to show passports -- even U.S. citizens, the Homeland Security Department announced Wednesday.

Until now, U.S. citizens, travelers from Canada and Bermuda, and some travelers from Mexico who have special border-crossing cards for frequent visitors were allowed to show other proofs of identification, such as drivers' licenses or birth certificates.
[...]
Under a separate program, Homeland Security plans to require all travelers entering the U.S. by land or sea, including Americans, to show passports or an alternative security identification card when entering the U.S. starting as early as January 2008.

The Homeland Security Department estimates that about one in four Americans has a passport. Some people have balked at the $97 price tag.

You'll have to renew your's sooner or later!

Hey, what IS the passport fee used for, anyway? You can't tell me it actually costs that much just to process the damned thing.

Why should the price go down just because it's required?

Application Fee for the Passport Card

Based on the recommendation of the independent third party, an
application fee of $20.00 is proposed for passport cards issued to
adults (age 16 and up), valid for ten years. A fee of $10.00 is
proposed for passport cards issued to minors (under age 16), valid for
five years. The basis of the passport card application fees is the
direct costs of producing passport cards, the card stock, technology,
adjudicating the application, printing the biographic information on
the card, and priority mail return of the card. Applicants will also be
required to pay the execution and expedite fees, if applicable. The
execution fee for persons seeking to apply for a passport card and
passport book will be $25.

Execution Fee

[...]The execution fee was set at $30.00 for each application during the
last cost of service study. Based on an internal review of our cost of
service, and information from the USPS, the Department of State is
proposing to reduce the execution fee to $25.00. All fees will be
subject to periodic review in the course of the Bureau of Consular
Affairs comprehensive cost of service studies to account for
operational changes, technological advances and economies of scale.

U.S. is most unfriendly country to visitors: survey
Mon Nov 20, 2006 2:14pm ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Rude immigration officials and long delays in processing visas have turned the United States into the world's most unfriendly country for international travelers, according to a global survey released on Monday.

The survey showed that the United States was ranked "the worst" in terms of visas and immigration procedures by twice the percentage of travelers as the next destination regarded as unfriendly -- the Middle East and the Asian subcontinent.

The survey, of 2,011 international travelers in 16 countries, was conducted by the polling firm RT Strategies for the Discover America Partnership, a business-backed group launched in September to promote travel to the United States and improve the country's image abroad.

More than half of the travelers surveyed said U.S. immigration officials were rude and two-thirds said they feared they would be detained on arriving in the United States for a simple mistake in their paper work or for saying the wrong thing to an immigration official.

"The entry process has created a climate of fear and frustration that is keeping foreign visitors away," said Geoff Freeman, executive director of the Discover America Partnership. "The survey shows there is more fear of our immigration officials than of terrorism or crime."

"The entry process has created a climate of fear and frustration that is keeping foreign visitors away," said Geoff Freeman, executive director of the Discover America Partnership. "The survey shows there is more fear of our immigration officials than of terrorism or crime."

A climate of fear? In the United States? No way!

Nexa