A Briggs Passport & Visa Expeditors

The Libyan government denied entry to tourists because they didn’t have an Arabic translation of their passport — even though they had valid visas.
The sudden unannounced change in entry rules was revealed after planeloads of European tourists were forced to return home after touchdown in Libya. The government in Tripoli has still not officially announced the change and government officials could not be reached for comment Monday.

The development is a reflection of a government that lives in terror of its “leader,” who is an impetuous, pathological killer trying to get in good graces with the West, even as he continues to follow his whims and murderous ways

Eighteen French nationals were stranded at Tripoli airport since Sunday night, and France’s ambassador to Libya intervened in their behalf and they were then allowed to leave.

172 French citizens who arrived Sunday were not allowed to get off their charter flight run by Air Mediterranee which returned to Paris. Then 83 French citizens in Libya were not able to leave because of the rule change applies to tourists exiting Libya.

37 passengers were sent back to Zurich Sunday on a Swiss flight, also because they were not carrying Arabic-language translation of their passports.

He said the airline’s office in Libya was caught unaware of the new rules, which came into force just hours before the Swiss plane landed Sunday.

We suggest that persons planning to travel to Libya postpone their trip until this situation is cleared up.

Planning a trip? Is your passport up to date? Click here to order a visa and check the requirements for entry.

Now the news media is ganging up on the State Department saying it overcharged citizens more than $100,000,000. It’s a long story, as they say, but the essence is that the $30 applicants pay to the acceptance agent at a post office or court house at the time they apply is twice as much as the actual cost of the process of accepting an application according to a government study.

Talking about the passport acceptance process Senator Byron Dorgan said, “This is not supposed to be a profit-making venture. They charge 30 bucks just for passing something across the counter.”

Well, we know what is involved in the process of accepting passport applications by the acceptance agent, and it can be very complex depending on the quality of the identifying documents presented by applicants when they apply.

Our passport expediting company belongs to an association, the National Association of Passport and Visa Services, and it made a statement in response to a question about this issue from a reporter. It’s statement sums up our feeling on the matter and is quoted in part in the following:
“Our firms work closely with all but two of the passport agencies that are open to the public. In the past year, our firms have submitted hundreds of thousands of applications in behalf of citizens, so we know Passport Services very well. The people that work there are dedicated, hard working public servants, and we have never seen any evidence of waste on their part.

“Acceptance agents provide a critical role by correctly identifying passport applicants. Sometimes that is relatively easy and other times it can be complex depending on the quality of identifying documents presented by the applicant when they appear before an acceptance agent to apply for a passport.

“We have never seen nor heard anything to suggest anyone in the passport issuance process is in any way intentionally overcharging applicants. We do not have access to any authoritative studies of internal operations of Passaport Services or acceptance agent opertions, so we cannot comment on the studies being quoted.

“However, it is ironic that this year in the face of skyrocketing demand, passport expediting firms turned away tens of thousands of Americans wanting to use their services because Pasport Services reduced the number of applications individual firms can submit. Our firms’ passport expediting services start at $65 and go up depending on how quickly the passport is needed. Our firms serve almost all of the major corporations in the U.S and all of the major travel companies and online booking agencies; and through their trade associations, they have collectively urged Passport Services to allow our individual companies to submit more applications.

“With the passport card coming on line soon, it is critical that Passport Services utilize the services of private passport service firms to help citizens who needs a passport or a passport card quickly.”

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Planning a trip? Is your passport up to date? Click here to order a visa and check the requirements for entry.

Let’s take a look at the Registered Traveler Program of the Transportation Security Administration.
This is a program whereby you can register in person, get approved, get an id card and at certain participating airports go to a special line and skip waiting in the normal line to go through security. You still have to pass through the security check, but you do not have to wait in line.
Some have criticized the program as nothing more than a way for those willing pay more not to wait in line. Although that is correct, we think this program is of real value to regular travelers. The cost to register is $100.

The program identifies passengers through security checks who pose very little security risk and allows them to go to the front of the line at security check points in participating airports.
Passengers who clear the background check are issued a smartcard credential for use at the security checkpoints of participating airports.

Registered Travelers have access to a reserved security lane and have a shorter wait at the security checkpoint. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) decreed that screening of Registered Travelers must be at least as thorough as the screening of other passengers, in order to prevent a terrorist with a clean background from compromising the system. Registered Travelers are not exempt from random secondary screening. Any U.S. citizen, legal resident of the U.S., or minors over the age of 12 with parental or guardian sponsorship can apply to participate.

These Registered Traveler programs are currently in operation at the following airports:
Albany International Airport (ALB)
Cincinnati Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG), Terminal 3
Denver International Airport (DEN)
Indianapolis International Airport (IND)
LaGuardia International Airport (LGA)
Little Rock National Airport (LIT)
John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK), Terminals 1, 4, and 7
Newark Liberty International Airport, Terminal B (EWR)
Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC), Terminal A and C
Orlando International Airport (MCO)
Reno/Tahoe International Airport (RNO)
San Francisco International Airport (SFO), Terminals 1 and 3
Westchester County Airport (HPN)
Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ)

The two Washington airports have stated their intent to implement RT programs in the near future:
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)
Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD)

Other airports that have expressed interest or have requested TSA approval to participate include:
Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI)
Birmingham International Airport (BHM)
Chicago Midway International Airport (MDW)
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL)
Huntsville International Airport (HSV)
Jacksonville International Airport (JAX)
Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)
Miami International Airport (MIA)
O’Hare International Airport (ORD)
Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT)
Springfield/Branson National Airport (SGF)
Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC)

There are three vendors working with the TSA in offering the service:
1. The FLO Corporation.
2. Clear is operated by Verified Identity Pass. Clear passengers pay $99.95 per year for use of the service.
3. RtGo is operated by Unisys Corporation. Membership is $100 per year, with option to prepay for up to 5 years. Enrollment is currently conducted at Reno/Tahoe International Airport in Reno, Nevada.

Passengers who want to sign up to participate in the program must provide biographical information including name, address, phone number, citizenship status, and previous addresses and other information. This data is collected on a secure web site.

Next, the applicant will proceed to the biometric enrollment that requires applicants to present personally identification documents and fingerprints. Applicants can also have an iris scan performed if they want to use an iris scan instead of a fingerprint scan at the airport security checkpoint.
Once the biometric enrollment is complete, the service provider submits the data to the TSA which performs a Security Threat Assessment (STA) of the applicant. If the assessment indicates the applicant is not a risk to aviation security, TSA returns an approved STA to the service provider, who then provides the passenger with a Registered Traveler card.

The card is a smartcard that contains biometric information to prevent the card from being used by unauthorized persons. At the airport, the card is inserted in a verification kiosk which verifies the passenger’s biometrics (fingerprint or iris scan), verifies membership, and clears the member to proceed to security screening.

Here is what Clear, the most aggressive of the three vendors, says about its service:

“Whether you’re a business traveler, frequent flier or leisure traveler, as a Clear member you won’t wait in airport security lines.

“Apply

“Clear’s simple, two step enrollment process begins online. Applicants create an account and fill-in basic biographic information. Then, applicants must go to a Clear enrollment location, where our attendants will verify two forms of government-issued identification, and capture a photograph, your fingerprint images and your iris images. This information is used to allow you access to the designated Clear lane at the checkpoint.

“Welcome to the Clear Lane

“The Clear lane is a designated lane at the security checkpoint. Clear Members must verify a fingerprint or iris image (collected during enrollment) in order to enter the lane.At the Clear lane, a Clear attendant will greet you and check your boarding pass, Clear card and government-issued photo ID. You will be asked to insert your Clear card into the kiosk, which also verify the fingerprint or iris image that you selected during enrollment. When everything is verified (which takes just a few seconds), you will receive a receipt indicating that you are a Clear member.

“Clear members still proceed through metal detectors and x-ray machines operated and regulated by the Department of Homeland Security but other parts of the process are expedited. When you approach the lane, our attendants will help you with the bins and to get ready to go through the checkpoint. This alone helps our lane speed by as much as 30%!

“Ongoing Security Clear memberships are continuously reviewed by the Department of Homeland Security. If an individual’s security status changes, his or her membership in Clear may be deactivated by the government and you will receive a notification email of your status change as well as a refund of the unused portion of your Clear membership fee. The TSA vetting fee is not refundable. At the airport, you will still be able to use the standard security line but not the registered traveler fast lane.”

The media has followed this development and here is a sampling of their coverage on this new service:

The San Francisco ChronicleThursday, September 20, 2007

“Program allows some to bypass long SFO security lines”

by Michael Cabanatuan, Chronicle Staff Writer

A long line snaked through the security checkpoint in Terminal 3 at San Francisco International Airport Wednesday afternoon, but Jim Sims didn’t have to wait.

Instead, Sims, who works in the computer industry, strolled to a special line marked by a blue light reading “Clear.” He showed his boarding pass, Florida driver’s license and a plastic card to an attendant. He inserted the card in an ATM-like machine and plunked his thumb down on a fingerprint reader.

The screen flashed “You are clear,” and Sims headed to the front of the security checkpoint line. Elapsed time: about 20 seconds. By contrast, those waiting in line took about 7 minutes to reach the checkpoint. Sims is enrolled in Clear, the program that began operating at SFO this week.

The New York Post - NEWS AND NOTES

August 28, 2007

“LaGuardia has opened up its first Clear enrollment station in its central terminal, next to the B Gates checkpoint.”

Members of Clear - of which there are some 59,000 - are able to blaze through a separate airport security line using an EZ Pass-like ID card embedded with their prescreened (and TSA approved) fingerprints and/or iris images.

Journal News
August 17, 2007

“New program to let some fliers breeze through Westchester airport security lines” by Diane Costello

A new program at Westchester County Airport will soon allow certain travelers to breeze past the lines. It’s…run by a private company called Clear and operates at no cost to the county. “It fits perfectly into our needs at this airport,” Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano said

TimesUnion.com

August 1, 2007

“Registered Traveler Lane Opens Tomorrow at Airport.”

By Eric Anderson

A kiosk has been operating for several days, according to Steven Brill, CEO of Clear Registered Traveler, a unit of Verified Identity Pass Inc., which is administering the program at Albany International Airport…On weekday mornings, when lines can stretch across the pedestrian bridge to the airport parking garage, the registered traveler lane could save program participants considerable time, airport and company officials say.

The Cincinnati Enquirer

January 26, 2007

“Hurried flyers buying speed pass”

By Alexander Coolidge

Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport Thursday became the fifth U.S. airport to offer a speedy security screening process for subscribing customers. Airport officials hope the program will benefit even non-subscribers by helping whittle away CVG’s peak average wait time of 14 minutes in the morning and evening rushes.

The Transportation Security Administration and private industry developed the Registered Traveler (RT) program to provide expedited security screening for passengers who volunteer to undergo a TSA-conducted security threat assessment (STA) in order to confirm that they do not pose or are not suspected of posing a threat to transportation or national security.
The RT program is market-driven and offered by the private sector with TSA largely playing a facilitating role. TSA is responsible for setting program standards, conducting the STA, physical screening at TSA checkpoints, and certain forms of oversight. The private sector is responsible for enrollment, verification, and related services.

To enroll, applicants voluntarily provide RT Sponsoring Entities (participating airports/air carriers) and Service Providers (a TSA-approved vendor chosen by a Sponsoring Entity to implement RT as its agent) with biographic and biometric data needed for TSA to conduct the STA and determine eligibility. The STA includes checking each applicant’s identity against terrorist-related, law enforcement, and immigration databases that TSA maintains or uses. RT applicants who receive an approved STA result may become program participants.

Here are excerpts from Wired Magazine’s blog entry critical of the program:

Westchester County Airport (HPN).

The Registered Traveler program, which was just cleared for deployment the nation’s airports, has nothing to do with security and is simply a way to pay $100 to cut to the front of the line.

While $28 out of the approximately $100 fee goes to a security check performed by the Department of Homeland Security, there’s actually no rational reason to do the check other than to make the program look like it’s security-related.

The program is set to work like this — a traveler submits 10 fingerprints, a couple of optional iris scans, a digital photo, and personal information including their Social Security Number to the government through one of the private groups running a Registered Traveler program. After the government runs a $28 background check and clears the person, the private company (so far only Verified Identity Pass is certified) issues them a smart card.

Then after a traveler gets her boarding pass the normal way and heads toward the security checkpoint, she goes to a special line that has a kiosk. There she has her fingerprints scanned and checked against the card and if they match, she goes immediately to the front of the screening line. Then she goes through screening as normal — with their liquids in a bag, laptop out of its case, shoes off, etc. So, what’s the point of a background check if all you get is a better place in the same line you would have been without the card? …

Yes, in short, Registered Traveler is a program that lets people pay an annual fee of $100 to cut to the front of the line. As for the background check? It’s purely theater to make the public think the program is something other than a way for the well-off to avoid the hassles of post 9/11 airline travel. The TSA promises that the program won’t slow down regular travelers, but that’s plainly absurd. If it speeds up those willing to pay $100, it’s going to slow down those unwilling or unable to do so, since there are currently no plans to add special screening lanes for

Registered Travelers.

Yup, we’re all in this together, except that some of us are more all in this together than others.

UPDATE:

Cindy Rosenthal, the vice president of communication for Verified Identity Pass, contacted me to correct and contest some of my points (I had left a message for her yesterday).
VIP does make lines faster for everyone for several reasons (based on a trial in Orlando and new equipment):

· The designated lanes include longer tables for separating a traveler’s things into plastic containers and there is a conceierge to help with that process

· The Registered Traveler kiosks, specially made by GE (now an investor in VIP), also scan shoes so that travellers don’t have to take their shoes off when they go through the metal detector (unless they have a significant amount of metal, such as with steel-toed boots or spike heels)

· The company is working on finding and paying for new scanning equipment that may let travellers keep their coats on when going through the magnetometer and/or not have to remove laptops from their bags

Rosenthal contends that the background check is useful because the government knows more about who is travelling through the airport, even though the security check has nothing to do with what happens at the screening line.

The other bigger premise to Registered Traveler is obviously knowing more in a security sense about who is going through the airport. And registering and having a background check is certainly providing that kind of security, a little more security, than it is to just have a driver’s license or a student ID to get on a plane. You know more about who is going through and the government has given the approval to those people to be on that side of the line in that lane. I’m not going to debate it. It is just a fact.

Actually, nothing is actually done with the background check and without the faster lanes, the exact same set of people would be going through identical checks without the progam. The background check is a thus net-zero in security terms. One could just as well substitute a requirement that registered travelers submit signed statements that they are not terrorists or make them all wear Remember 9-11 t-shirts and the effect would be the same.

Rosenthal agrees that Registered Traveler will have no effect on the watchlist mismatching, but says her organization wants that to change. Unfortunately, that’s highly unlikely given the massive technical requirements of not issuing a boarding pass and not performing a watchlist check until the moment that a registered traveler uses a kiosk.

While Rosenthal makes some good points about how their lines are faster, there’s no reason those same techniques couldn’t be used for all travelers and the program still amounts to a way to pay your way to the front of the line. That may be fine (some airports already have designated lanes for first- and business-class travelers) with some, but it strikes me that the burdens of the terrorism age should be shared by all. And there’s no still no security benefit to Registered Traveler.

Correction note: After talking with Cindy Rosenthal, I learned that the fingerprints, photos, iris scans and personal information are all submitted prior to the background check. The post was changed to reflect that flow. The previous version indicated that the fingerprints, iris scan and photos were submitted after the background check was completed…
[end of Wired blog]

We’ll keep you posted on development with the Registered Traveler Program. We are registering and will let you know how it goes.

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Planning a trip? Is your passport up to date? Click here to order a visa and check the requirements for entry.

The Passing of the Passport Crisis

The Department of State announced on September 7th that it had “restored passport service to the standard six to eight week processing time.” We know now that they have, indeed, restored service back to normal, so we give you the following commentary from an “insider” in the passport and visa world.

The “passport crisis” now exits the stage of the media and Congress, but before we turn away, it is worthwhile to look back at how this “crisis” unfolded and then ended.

After the tragedy of September 11, 2001, Congress was understandably concerned about keeping dangerous people who do not belong here from entering the United States. One serious problem in border enforcement was that U.S. Customs officials at the border were required to re-admit U.S. citizens returning from Mexico, Canada and most countries in the Caribbean with only a driver’s license and a birth certificate.

That meant that customs agents at the border had to be able to recognize 6,000 different birth certificates, from various counties, cities and states that have been issued over the last 80 years. Not only were they difficult to authenticate as valid, they were sometimes frayed and hard to read, and unlike the new e passport, they could be created fraudulently with relative ease.

In December 2004, Congress passed the Intelligence Reform and Terrorist Prevention Act. Among other things the law required that to re-enter the U.S., all citizens must have a passport or a passcard, a new, yet-to-be-issued credit card size version of the passport. Under this new law, instead of authenticating birth certificates, customs agents at the border need only scan a passport or passport card — not only more secure but much quicker.

The State and Homeland Security Departments decided to implement the law in phases with the first phase, implemented on January 23, 2007, requiring a passport for all air travel re-entry into the U.S. To forecast the increased passport demand expected as a result of the new law, the Department of State had earlier hired BearingPoint, a McLean, Virginia consulting firm with 17,000 employees, to study U. S. border crossing and international travel trends. BearingPoint made a forecast of expected passport demand under the new law and Passport Services planned accordingly.

The BearingPoint forecast was presciently accurate on the number of applications that would be received in the first year, but erred in not foreseeing the freight train of applications headed our way in the first few months after the new law’s implementation. Within a month of the January 23rd implementation, Passport Services, the agency of the State Department charged with issuing passports, had a huge national problem on its hands.

Thousand of citizens missed trips. Others had to wait in long, slow lines at passport offices and hundreds of thousands of applicants waited stressfully for months wondering if their passports would arrive in time for their trip abroad. They were understandably angry that it was taking as long as four months to get a passport. At one point, the backlog of unprocessed applications approached three million.

Applicants were calling members of Congress and complaining bitterly about the delays in issuing passports, and they made their unhappiness unknown to the State Department.
“It is unacceptable that American citizens were missing trips because the State Department did not fully anticipate the increase in passport applications and take appropriate action to increase processing resources,” said a letter signed by 56 senators. Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Tom Lantos, said, “None of [the late passport issuances] should have been necessary; for lack of simple foresight, the Administration has placed tremendous strain on …the public…”

The media joined the chorus. “Market Watch,” an online newsletter published by Dow Jones, said, “Thanks, Maura Harty [Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs]. You’ve made my vacation and millions of other Americans’ the source of anxiety, frustration and disgust. The passport agency under your control regularly lies and provides misinformation.”

All this noise from Congress and the media notwithstanding, Passport Services got the job done well under the worst of circumstances and dug out of a hole that, in retrospect, realistically no one could have foreseen – there was just no way of knowing for sure how the demand for passports was going to be effected by the new law. And Passport Services did not lie or deliberately provide misinformation. Nothing like this level of passport demand had ever been encountered by the State Department in the history of our country. By the end of this year, the annual passport demand will have increased from 12 million to perhaps as many as 18 million.

When the problem slammed into Passport Services, the State Department management pulled out all the stops to meet the demand surge. They brought diplomats and passport adjudicators out of retirement. They redirected new Presidential Management Fellows from taking management positions in the government to processing passports. They vetted and hired hundreds of new passport processors and started the months-long training to qualify them as passport adjudicators.

Carefully adjudicating and issuing 18 million passports in one year is, by any measure, an extraordinary achievement. Every single applicant has to be checked to ensure they are, indeed, a citizen; that they are entitled to have a passport – for example, persons with arrears of $2,500 or more in child support payments are not entitled; and that persons applying are properly identified as the person they say they are.

The employees of our firm deal every business day with seven of Passport Services’ 14 regional offices. We watch Passport Services’ employees deal with the public, and I can testify that they gave – and give — their very best to accommodate every applicant. Watching the passport office at work reminds me of a hospital emergency room: every applicant expects immediate attention and resents having to wait.

Every day, we see citizens appear at regional passport agencies all over the country that need an emergency passport for a funeral, sick relative, sudden vacations or myriad other reasons. The employees at the passport agency do everything they can to help them, yet do so without ever compromising passport security by carelessly issuing a passport to someone who should not receive one.

One day, I walked on the street by the Washington Passport Agency and ran into an acquaintance who works at the Agency. He was taking a break from the long, intense days. We chatted and he spontaneously invited me to take a quick tour of the agency. I walked through and saw every person working as hard as any of the people in my own business. Over in one corner, I recognized the director of the Washington Passport Agency operating a machine that prints passports. I asked her why she was doing that, and she explained that the operator of the equipment was out that day and the job had to be done. She did not know I would be touring the agency and was surprised to see me, but there sat the top person filling in for an absentee. That’s the spirit that we taxpayers are getting at Passport Services.

And that is the spirit we encounter every day at Passport Services. I do not agree with the criticism of the agency personnel or its management.

They did an excellent job in the most difficult period of their history and now they are caught up and back to normal. The crisis is over. While we all regret the delays, I am proud of the job done by the Department of State and Passport Services, and I feel safer about our control over who is allowed into the United States of America.

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Planning a trip? Is your passport up to date? Click here to order a visa and check the requirements for entry.

Under new plans travelers will have to have a passport for travel between the Britain and the Irish Republic, so that the governments will be able to monitor the travel of individuals.

The new system will allow governments to monitor it in advance, so authorities in the governments will know be alerted if a person on their watchlist of terrorist suspects, illegal immigrant and criminals books a reservation to travel.

UK citizens in the U.S. needing help with their UK passport can contact A Briggs. Rush UK passports can be obtainted in days with proof of immediate travel.

The news was reported on the BBC

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Planning a trip? Is your passport up to date? Click here to order a visa and check the requirements for entry.

Under new plans travelers will have to have a passport for travel between the Britain and the Irish Republic, so that the governments will be able to monitor the travel of individuals.

The new system will allow governments to monitor it in advance, so authorities in the governments will know be alerted if a person on their watchlist of terrorist suspects, illegal immigrant and criminals books a reservation to travel.

UK citizens in the U.S. needing help with their UK passport can contact A Briggs. Rush UK passports can be obtainted in days with proof of immediate travel.

The news was reported on the BBC

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Planning a trip? Is your passport up to date? Click here to order a visa and check the requirements for entry.

It’s a small achievement, but it is just the first of thousands of automatic passport readers at borders around the world.

The idea is to replace immigration officers at the border. You would simply scan your own passport and it checks your facial features and your iris to ascertain if the passport holder is the same person appearing at the border. Sort of like checking yourself out at Walmart.

It’ll be faster and safer. Another benefit of technology. Also, it may take a few hours longer to issue an expedited passports when these passports are issued by all countries.

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Planning a trip? Is your passport up to date? Click here to order a visa and check the requirements for entry.

It’s a small achievement, but it is just the first of thousands of automatic passport readers at borders around the world.

The idea is to replace immigration officers at the border. You would simply scan your own passport and it checks your facial features and your iris to ascertain if the passport holder is the same person appearing at the border. Sort of like checking yourself out at Walmart.

It’ll be faster and safer. Another benefit of technology. Also, it may take a few hours longer to issue an expedited passports when these passports are issued by all countries.

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Planning a trip? Is your passport up to date? Click here to order a visa and check the requirements for entry.

Well, this is not good news! TSA security screeners failed at two busy U.S. airports to find fake bombs hidden in the gear or clothes of undercover agents in 60% of tests. Los Angeles did even worse — they didn’t find the bombs in 75% of the cases.

TSA is determined to improve and we think they will. After all, the tests were conducted by the same agency that regulates TSA. Good for them for testing this and finding the weak link. Now go to work and protect us and make the taxpayers investment in TSA a good one.

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Planning a trip? Is your passport up to date? Click here to order a visa and check the requirements for entry.

Well, this is not good news! TSA security screeners failed at two busy U.S. airports to find fake bombs hidden in the gear or clothes of undercover agents in 60% of tests. Los Angeles did even worse — they didn’t find the bombs in 75% of the cases.

TSA is determined to improve and we think they will. After all, the tests were conducted by the same agency that regulates TSA. Good for them for testing this and finding the weak link. Now go to work and protect us and make the taxpayers investment in TSA a good one.

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Planning a trip? Is your passport up to date? Click here to order a visa and check the requirements for entry.