Some 100 people lined up in front of the offices of the Washington Passport Agency Friday morning, waiting to pickup their little blue books.
Most of the people standing in the queue had filled out the forms in the spring, then been told to come down and pick up their passport after the wait for it to be delivered by mail became too much.
“I applied for this in April,” said A. Burke, who was picking the passport up for her son, who is traveling abroad in July. “I called them, and they told me to pick it up. I thought they would have it at some kind of will-call.”
Burke had been in line for about 10 minutes and expected an hour wait, she said.
“They told me there wasn’t even a guarantee I’d get it today,” she said.
Others in line had the same story.
“I wasn’t expecting a wait justto pick it up,” said Darlene Mungin of Maryland, who had applied for her passport in March.
Delays are occurring all over the country because of changes in passport requirements for travelers returning from Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. The process, which used to take about 10 weeks, now takes up to 12 according to the State Department’s travel website.
