Dear Editor,
On October 26, I was at the Passport Office applying for a new passport. I timed my interaction with officers: 65 seconds to pay the fee and just over four minutes to be photographed and have the form taken in. The rest of the time was waiting time. I arrived there at exactly nine in the morning and left at one minute past three o’clock. So I waited six hours there to spend less than six minutes with my transaction. At least we were able to sit for about five of those hours, but the eternal creeping from chair to chair left me and my new friends I made there, all with nagging headaches.
The Passport Office has made many improvements over the years, notably in courtesy and return times. Those who attended to me were quite courteous, weren’t slow, and I was promised my passport in one week, but I thought this experience indicated a need for the managers not to ease up but to continue seeking ways to improve. The mismatch of those timings is just too large. Maybe if several more officers were added, we would not have that mental cringe most of us feel at the thought of doing passport business.
Yours faithfully,
(Name and address provided)
