Get your US passport!

[Miulang]

Anybody who doesn't already have a valid US passport and who's thinking of getting one should wikiwiki apply for it while there's still a chance that you will be issued an RFID-free one (I got mine in Feb. and it doesn't have the chip embedded in it)

If you wait until after July, here's what you'll get (and there's even a Hawai'i connection in it!). The new "American Icon" passport will be like the ones you get a World's Fair...each page has a different image on it and you race around trying to get as many stamps as possible. The last page has an image of Diamond Head printed on it.

Miulang

[joshuatree]

Re: Get your US passport!

Actually, I think the new passport looks pretty cool. If the concern is RFID and perhaps the ability for someone to scan your passport while you are walking around, etc, with the passport in pocket; here's a very simple solution. Have your RFID passport slipped in a sheet of foil. That should pretty much interfere with someone trying to scan your RFID chip.

[Miulang]

Re: Get your US passport!

Another reason to get a passport: within the next few years (unless Congress repeals the law), your drivers' licenses can't be used to board a plane even when travelling within the US unless each state agrees to comply with standardized rules for the licenses under the Real ID Act of 2005. They can't be used as an acceptable form of ID. You can't open a bank account or apply for credit with a non-compliant driver's license or apply for a job, either. And the states are all complaining that they don't have the funding (and the feds didn't think about providing any either) to replace all the current drivers' licenses so they meet the new standard (shades of No Child Left Behind!)

The Real ID Act of 2005:

After December 31, 2009, "a Federal agency may not accept, for any official purpose, a driver's license or identification card issued by a state to any person unless the state is meeting the requirements" specified in the Real ID Act. States remain free to also issue non-complying licenses and ID's, so long as these have a unique design and a clear statement that they cannot be accepted for any Federal identification purpose. The federal Transportation Security Administration is responsible for security check-in at airports, so bearers of non-compliant documents would no longer be able to travel on common carrier aircraft.

In addition, the federal Social Security Administration, (42 USC section 666 (28)), requires the States to maintain a new hire directory. Employers would no longer be able to accept, or ultimately hire, bearers of non-compliant documents for employment.

Also, financial institutions are required to assist the Federal Parent Locator Service, (42 USC 666 (17)). Financial institutions would require compliant documents from all customers. Bearers of non-compliant documents would be denied financial or banking services.

Additional federal and state agencies who will require compliant documents are listed, in part, in 42 USC 666 (United States Code Title 42 Section 666).

This is going to be quite the moneymaker for the US State Dept. because each new passport costs the applicant close to $100 (plus the cost of 2 photos) and a renewal costs $67.

Miulang

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Get your US passport!

Foil impairs only a range of frequencies. The higher the frequency, the easier to block. Low frequencies simply pass thru most metallic material.

[Da Rolling Eye]

Re: Get your US passport!

Can't travel within the US or board a plane, open a bank account or get a job with Non-compliant documents??? Now that sounds spooky, as in Nazi Germany or old communist Russia....or did I read that wrong?

[Miulang]

Re: Get your US passport!

Can't travel within the US or board a plane, open a bank account or get a job with Non-compliant documents??? Now that sounds spooky, as in Nazi Germany or old communist Russia....or did I read that wrong?

Nope, you read it right! And for you guys in Hawai'i, it's extra bad. At least people on CONUS can travel by car to get between states. You guys---with water all around you---will have loads of problems travelling anywhere off your home island. Even HSF will require a passport! You could always swim the channels or buy your own boat or surfboard, I guess. The only other thing you guys can do is lobby your State Legislature to find some money to convert all your driver's licenses to comply with the Act. It might only cost you $25-30 each to do that, compared to the $100 to get a passport. The Washington State legislature already has told the State Dept. "no way Jose" unless the feds come up with some funding.

Miulang

[joshuatree]

Re: Get your US passport!

Foil impairs only a range of frequencies. The higher the frequency, the easier to block. Low frequencies simply pass thru most metallic material.

Then the next question would be, what frequency does the passport RFID operate at? If in the upper band, then foil would do the trick. This is of course, also factoring in that supposedly the info on the chip is encrypted and the RFID chip works only at super close proximity. With all these separate measures combined, the chip should be relatively safe.

Also, I doubt different brands of foil will be of different material. But if you can find foils of different material and use them together, that further interferes with someone trying to scan your chip.

[joshuatree]

Re: Get your US passport!

This is going to be quite the moneymaker for the US State Dept. because each new passport costs the applicant close to $100 (plus the cost of 2 photos) and a renewal costs $67.

Miulang

Don't get me started on those jerks. It's all about ripping you off. Try giving them a call these days. You'll be lucky if your hold time is only an hour. Then just when you get someone, they hang up on you when you question some of their practices. Wish I could sue them.

[Miulang]

Re: Get your US passport!

Don't get me started on those jerks. It's all about ripping you off. Try giving them a call these days. You'll be lucky if your hold time is only an hour. Then just when you get someone, they hang up on you when you question some of their practices. Wish I could sue them.

I applied for my passport renewal in January and it took 6 weeks to get the new one (they cashed my check for $67 right away, though! ). And people who applied after Feb. are having to wait more than 8 weeks to get their passports, unless they want to pay extra to expedite (that's because people waited to apply for passports until they realized that they couldn't fly to Canada or Mexico without one and for now you don't need passports to fly to Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands or Guam). If people drag their feet about applying for their passports now, can you imagine how long it's going to take during the last 6 months of 2009??? Only about 25% of all Americans carry valid US passports right now.

Miulang

[Kaukura]

Re: Get your US passport!

There's been talks of recent about having some sort of national identity card. maybe this is moving towards that direction. As of right now, the only single document I can think of that is accepted in each state as well as abroad is the US passport. Some states have drivers licenses that do not even have a photo.

Most countries in Europe and other countries have national identity cards and have had them for eons. Many of those countries require you to carry them at all times.

[Miulang]

Re: Get your US passport!

There's been talks of recent about having some sort of national identity card. maybe this is moving towards that direction. As of right now, the only single document I can think of that is accepted in each state as well as abroad is the US passport. Some states have drivers licenses that do not even have a photo.

Most countries in Europe and other countries have national identity cards and have had them for eons. Many of those countries require you to carry them at all times.

But for us freedom-loving Americans, having anything that resembles a national ANYTHING is anathema, hence the ruckus. So when is a "national ID card" not called a national ID card? When the State Dept calls it a US passport.

Miulang

[joshuatree]

Re: Get your US passport!

But for us freedom-loving Americans, having anything that resembles a national ANYTHING is anathema, hence the ruckus. So when is a "national ID card" not called a national ID card? When the State Dept calls it a US passport.

Miulang

I actually don't mind a national ID card. There's nothing anti-freedom so long as it's used properly. If we are gunning for a national ID, just make it mandatory that everyone has a US passport. Two birds with one stone. The only thing that I would be fighting for then is cheaper prices on passports. They are a ripoff at the moment. And pics should be included, shesh. If I have to provide the pics, then I shouldn't be restricted to dang mugshots.

[Miulang]

Re: Get your US passport!

I actually don't mind a national ID card. There's nothing anti-freedom so long as it's used properly. If we are gunning for a national ID, just make it mandatory that everyone has a US passport. Two birds with one stone. The only thing that I would be fighting for then is cheaper prices on passports. They are a ripoff at the moment. And pics should be included, shesh. If I have to provide the pics, then I shouldn't be restricted to dang mugshots.

I'm sure the State Dept. would retort that the price of a passport today is CHEAP if you amortize it over the 10-year life of the passport. ("What?! It's really only costing you $10 a year to be able to move freely about your own country!")

Miulang

[joshuatree]

Re: Get your US passport!

I'm sure the State Dept. would retort that the price of a passport today is CHEAP if you amortize it over the 10-year life of the passport. ("What?! It's really only costing you $10 a year to be able to move freely about your own country!")

Miulang

It's $18 for a six year license in HI so that's $3 a year. $27 for five years in Cali. What is it in WA? $25 for how many years? The State Dept ain't gonna win with their pathetic justification. Especially with their "expedite" fee. Can you say money whore? Maybe if they let me throw ones in their faces to degrade them, then I be content.

I wouldn't be so ticked off if they at least offered better customer service.

[Miulang]

Re: Get your US passport!

It's $18 for a six year license in HI so that's $3 a year. $27 for five years in Cali. What is it in WA? $25 for how many years? The State Dept ain't gonna win with their pathetic justification. Especially with their "expedite" fee. Can you say money whore? Maybe if they let me throw ones in their faces to degrade them, then I be content.

I wouldn't be so ticked off if they at least offered better customer service.

We pay $25 for a 5-year license. And we can renew our licenses once online, which means not having to go to a DOL office for eye exams for 10 years! Fortunately for me, my local DOL office is about a block away from where I live.

I know what you mean about lousy service from the State Dept. Used to be that you could get a passport by showing up at the local Immigration Office (now part of Homeland Security). Now everything is done via the mails.

And what does that US passport do for you when you travel abroad? Well, it certainly can't guarantee your safety. The US Embassies' main goal is to encourage US business interests abroad, not to protect us poor American citizens who sometimes get caught in precarious situations. Remember the FUBAR evacuation of Americans out of Beirut last year?????

Miulang