By Agnes Rivera
Updates to keep travels, far and near, stress-free.
For those who aren't in the know of all the superfluous holidays that keep popping up, September was National Passport Awareness month in the United States. And apparently the U.S. Government figured the best way to end such awareness was by making changes to the little blue books.
On October 1, the U.S. Government began a phasing out process of additional visa pages inside passports. Experienced backpackers and border-hopping businessmen who find pride in their decorated passports are going to have to request a new passport once the pages fill up.
Additionally, it should be kept in mind that visa pages will only be added to passports that had been issued before October 1 of 2014.
There is good news however.
While the standard U.S. passport has been 28-pages for some years, 52-page passport books are available without extra charge.
If carrying a thicker passport with more than twice as many pages as the classic doesn't sound convenient, just stay aware of how many pages are left so a new passport can be acquired in a timely manner. Hoping to make things a little easier for the unobservant, newly issued passports will have numbered pages, just as they had been in the past.
Luckily the modification comes with plenty of time to take prepare, as not until January 1 of 2016 will additional visa pages no longer be available.
As commented by Brenda Sprague, deputy assistant secretary for U.S. passport services, passport issues and concerns “shouldn't be an ordeal” and doesn't have to be as long as everyone is informed and prepares for updates.
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