Concerned by growing passport application processing times, local representatives have written a letter to President Joe Biden imploring his administration to direct more support to the state, and Bay Area in particular, to alleviate strain on processing agencies. 

“While this issue has afflicted Americans across the country, its impact has been particularly severe in California. With the largest foreign-born population in the country, many Californians rely on international travel to maintain ties with family and friends living abroad,” read the letter signed by U.S. Reps. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto; and Ami Bera, D-Sacramento. 

The representatives implore the Biden administration to provide California with additional support with processing passport applications in their letter, published Friday, Aug. 18, and signed by 37 other Congressional representatives including U.S. Reps. Kevin Mullin, D-South San Francisco; and Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco. 

They assert the processing period has gone from eight weeks to 13 weeks, causing constituents to miss out on attending funerals and weddings, time with family abroad, work and study plans, and other highly anticipated summer travel plans. According to the U.S. Postal Service website, applicants can pay an additional $60 to expedite their passport processing time to no more than 10 weeks.  

Eshoo and Bera note the state, with nearly 40 million residents, only has three passport processing agencies compared to the six passport agencies in the Northeast Corridor with a population between 50 million to 56 million. 

To remedy the issue, which the officials said particularly impacts California and the Bay Area given the high number of international residents living in the state and region, they’ve asked that the administration direct the State Department to establish temporary passport offices in the state, increase staffing levels in San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego, and to provide their offices with updates on processing times for each California passport agency and, if possible, applications submitted by California residents. 

“As members of the California Congressional Delegation, we’re proud to represent a state that maintains such close ties with people around the world,” read the letter. “However, California’s strong international ties make it particularly vulnerable to the harmful consequences of recent passport processing delays.”