The time it takes to process a passport has returned to the usual six to eight weeks, a welcome change for many Americans whose travel plans were upset this summer as the department's staff worked through a substantial backlog.
But Ms. Lara also entertains a stream of visiting Mexican politicians, and she attends to Mexican-born glitterati like the boxer Oscar De La Hoya and the actress Salma Hayek, whom the ambassador recently whisked into the consulate through a basement entrance, out of the glare of the Hollywood paparazzi, to process a passport.
"You can walk into any immigration office in Nigeria today, forge documents at the nearby business centre, change your name, place of birth, date of birth, pay 7,000-10,000 nainsteadtead of the official price of about 5,500 for an international passport and within hours you have completed the whole process". A new passport, a new person – and if you are a footballer, a younger one.
Correction: May 5 , 2002 Sunday The Cyberscout column on March 17, about online passport services, referred incompletely to the process of getting a passport for the first time.
When Massey began the process of making a passport for the girl, she was told she needed a "no objection certificate" from India's adoption authorities.
Having never gone through the application process and wanting a passport in a hurry, Mr. Neumann started by looking on the Web -- specifically, at Expedia.com, where he books most of his travel.
As well as facilitating the self-help groups, the project also informs people about how to begin the long, expensive and complicated process of getting a passport, and provides them with information and hotline numbers for the Cambodian embassy in Thailand.
He has asked Chinese officials to help him begin the process of getting a passport for him, his wife and two children, but has not heard back from them.
That's why it takes so long for benefits claims to be processed, why getting a passport can take months, why Internal Revenue Service refunds are being delayed until mid-February, because budget cuts were already limiting staff replacement.
It has made online tax returns mandatory for companies and introduced legally binding digital signatures (something that many Western countries are still struggling with).The prime minister has also ordered a complete overhaul of the nightmarish process of applying for a passport.
The process of applying for a passport has been curated by artist Ahmet Öğüt to verge on both the absurd and the infuriating, putting the thousands of visitors who flow easily and legally through Venice briefly into the demeaning, bureaucratic nightmare that faces every refugee seeking asylum in Europe.
