Mobile Passports And Your Travelers
Published on Tuesday, November 10, 2015
Five airports are testing mobile passports. If you or your travelers have gone through Seattle-Tacoma, San Francisco, Chicago O’Hare, Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson, or Miami International, you may have seen them. The idea is to move travelers through customs faster by making the passport process digital. In fact, with a mobile passport, travelers can submit their information to customs as soon as they can use their cell phones upon landing. So how does it work?
At Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport,the mobile app reduced wait times by 20%. What used to be a one to two hour wait can now be as little as 15 minutes.
Travelers download the Mobile Passport App to their mobile device. The app is available on the App Store, Google Play, and Amazon. Travelers can then set up an account and profile with their passport information. When they land in the United States, travelers will need to take a selfie and use the app to send it to customs…before they even get off the plane.
If a traveler already has a passport, the information can just be submitted to the app. Travelers who do not have current passports will need to go through the regular passport application process.
Act Now For Faster Processing
If your travelers need passports, now is the time to get them. We are approaching the ten year anniversary of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI). Before 2007, US citizens could travel to many places without a passport. With the advent of the WHTI, many travelers needed passports, creating a backlog at the US Passport Office.
As passports are good for 10 years, the passport office is expecting an influx of renewals in the coming year. To avoid this rush, travelers should consider renewing their passports sooner rather than later. In fact, the US Passport Office is offering faster processing time for anyone who applies before November 30th, 2015. So encourage your travelers to act now!