We're hoping it's not like 2007 because that was the year that passport applications were like the rat through the boa constrictor: a huge bulge that took a long time to pass.
We turn to that year for the explanation _ and what it portends for this summer.
The 9/11 commission and the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 called for more secure borders; better documentation for those entering the country was part of that.
Before then, if you were flying to, say, Mexico or Canada, you didn't need a passport. But that changed with the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, phased in with the passport-if-traveling-by-air initiative in January 2007. (A second phase in 2009 required what U.S. Customs and Border Protection calls WHTI-compliant documents _ passports, yes, but also passport cards, Trusted Traveler program cards and more.)
