State Department warns of passport delays

? Overwhelmed by unprecedented demand, the State Department is warning would-be travelers to brace for lengthy delays in getting U.S. passports, even when they pay a hefty fee to speed their applications.

The department has hired hundreds of employees to process passport requests during the past two years as tougher immigration rules have taken effect. Even so, the department says a crush of new applicants – more than 1 million a month – has inundated its staff and caused delays of up to a month-and-a-half at the peak January-to-April season when many people are preparing to travel in the spring and summer.

In addition, a regulation that took effect this year requiring Americans to have passports when traveling by air to any country “has increased passport demand and production to record levels,” the department said in a statement this week.