US Proposes Complicated & Intrusive Passport Application

Is the US Department of State trying to make the country a prison without walls?

Or is more about building walls than bridges? Sometimes it seems that way.  First, American citizens were being required to carry a passport for travel to (or perhaps technically re-entry from) Canada and Mexico. Then, passport fees were raised for initial applications, renewals and even extra pages — and might be raised again.

And now, the Department is proposing a snoopy, intrusive new “Biographical Questionnaire“  (officially Form DOS-5513) for “some” passport applicants without stating just which applicants will be required to do this. Have the Birthers invaded the State Department, or has that agency simply lost its collective mind? Among the questions: all addresses since birth; lifetime employment history including employers’ and supervisors names, addresses, and telephone numbers; personal details of all siblings; mother’s address one year prior to and one year after your birth; any “religious ceremony” around the time of your birth and such. Also “failure to provide the information requested may result in … the denial of your U.S. passport application,” say the bureaucrats.

State guesstimates that the “average” respondent could compile this information and fill out the 5-page form in 45 minutes, which seems impossible except for a very young person with minimal employment history, no siblings and parents who have lived in the same place since his/her birth. The “religious ceremony” question is plain creepy. And the question about “the circumstances of your birth including the names (as well as address and phone number, if available) of persons present or in attendance at your birth” is disturbing — and also impossible for many people. The only person I know to have been present at my birth was my mother, and she passed away some years ago.

I’m not immediately seeing anything about this proposed form on the American Civil Liberties Union website, but I can’t imagine that they aren’t taking a stand. Meanwhile, citizens can take their own individual stands by clicking here or E-mailing GarciaAA@state.gov to submit a comment. Problem is, you have only until 11:59 p.m. EDT Monday, April 25 to do this. I don’t know how long the comment period has been open, but it’s ironic that the deadline is right at the end of Passover and Holy Week, so some people who would normally comment might have been distracted recently.

How Others Are “Un-Welcomed” Into the US

Intrusiveness into American citizens’ lives aside, the US government has been aggressive at making it difficult or unpleasant for foreigners to enter the United State, sometimes with miles of red tape but more often just by  hassling them. Among the hasslees I know personally (and I’ve apologized to them all for my country’s behavior):

• A middle-aged Austrian couple, he a civil engineer whose company specializes in water projects and has traveled throughout the Middle East, and she a school teacher who once accompanied her octogenarian mother to Iran to see the glorious Persian architecture of Ishfahan. They used to vacation in the US every two years, renting a car and traveling around. They were detained in Cincinnati for hours once, and they now visit Canada instead or don’t bother crossing the Atlantic at all.
• A female Ph.D. anatomy professor who had been working in Canada until her retirement and then returned to to live in England, where medical care will not bankrupt her. She was detained in Charlotte for hours and her passport held until she left the US because some Department of Homeland Security functionary decided that she had been entering the US too often. She is in a relationship with an American in his mid-70s, and sometimes he goes to England, sometimes she comes to the US (or used to) and sometimes they travel elsewhere altogether. But now, when it comes to day-in, day-out living, they are a couple separated by both an ocean and a sea of red tape.
• And just last week, in Fiji, I was chatting with a couple who live in Australia and go to England every year or two. They used to like to stop over in California or New York to shop and sightsee, but they had two consecutive unpleasant experiences and no longer do.
• For a number of years, my husband I acted as a host family for a series of exchange students at the University of Colorado. Most were scientists from Germany, and we are still in touch with a number of them. Back in the ’90s, they used to finish the academic year here in May and traveled around the US before returning to Europe in September for the start of classes in October. Post-9/11, their visas expired shortly after the school year ends here. Without the opportunity to experience more of the US, fewer have been studying here. Their  loss — and ours too.

Comment Submission Followup

Using the comment like above, I submitted mine in opposition to this ill-conceived application form. Here’s the auto-generated reply:

“When will my comment appear online?

“Your comment has been sent to the appropriate agency and will be available on Regulations.gov once it has been processed. Given certain regulations may have thousands of comments, processing may take several weeks before it can be viewed online. We value your comment, and encourage you to contact the agency directly for additional questions related to your specific comment.

“How do I find my comment in the future?

“The best way to find your comment in the future is to enter your Comment Tracking Number in the search field on the homepage. You can also search by keyword or submitter name.”

Our tax dollars at work, but I hope enough people go through the process in order to make this questionnaire go away.