Info for U.S. Citizens

[sesamosinsal]

I just don't see it... It's 20 of the new style pages just taped into the middle. Basically looks like packaging tape. And it's not even square, kinda close, but come on, I could have done a better job.

Precisely. They put my pages in quite well. It still looks weird, however. Anyway, I could understand them asking us to pay for the new book of pages. But how much could that even be? And the security measures? How difficult is it to look up my passport number in some database? If I had a bogus passport, why would I have the U.S. government add pages to it if I knew it were bogus? I'm sure that if I could get a bogus passport, I could get bogus passport pages too.

It seems to me that this fee (and others) is a result of shortfalls in State's budget, not the labor intensiveness of the putting pages in the passport. Puhlease. Are the folks at Blackwater/Xe doing the billing for the State Department too?

 

[ElQueso]

You also have to wonder at what our tax money, as expats, is going toward if we have to pay for that service. Seems like at least people living permanently outside of the States should get a little something extra for the taxes they pay but aren't using personally, not being in the States and using the infrastructure, etc.

 

[argsteve]

I just had to have fun with this.. this is how passport pages can be $82 dollars!!!!!





Hammer time

Two decades later, perhaps the most enduring example of government waste is the $436 Pentagon hammer. The ignominious piece of hardware, though hardly the most egregious purchase of the time, struck a chord with the American public and became an emblem of the Department of Defense's procurement scandals of the 1980s. Critics fear that such wasteful spending will continue and worsen under the Homeland Security Act because, they say, the federal government is applying even less scrutiny to antiterrorism budgets than it did to defense programs at the height of its contract controversies. At that time, the price of a $7 claw hammer--officially termed a "uni-directional impact generator"--ballooned by $429 (not accounting for inflation), thanks to the government's byzantine accounting processes.

Al Gore created the Hammer Award while vice president to recognize government efficiency. Made up of a $6 hammer, a striped ribbon and an aluminum frame, the award parodies the Pentagon's infamous hardware.

Conspicuous consumption

The proverbial hammer was just one of many embarrassing Pentagon purchases revealed in the early 1980s. Here are some other examples of note: • Coffee brewer: $7,622 (Air Force)
• Pair of pliers: $748 (Air Force)
• Vinyl armrest pad: $670 (Air Force)
• Toilet seat: $640 (Navy)
• Drill set: $599 (Navy)
• Rechargeable flashlight: $181 (Air Force)
Sources: "The Pentagon Underground" (Dina Rasor, Times Books, 1985); congressional records; federal court documents.

 

[cassiem13]

I need to get more pages added this week. Sounds like it takes less than an hour, yeah? This may be a silly question, but do I go to the US Embassy or Consulate? I always get them mixed up. And does anyone know if the fee went through? According to the State Dept website it's still free...

Thanks!

 

[dennisr]

http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/home.html#documentDetail?R=0900006480a8ffe8

 

[sesamosinsal]

I need to get more pages added this week. Sounds like it takes less than an hour, yeah? This may be a silly question, but do I go to the US Embassy or Consulate? I always get them mixed up. And does anyone know if the fee went through? According to the State Dept website it's still free...

Thanks!

http://argentina.usembassy.gov/add_pages_to_a_u.s._passport

It's still free. Bring the form on that website filled out. You would go to the U.S. Embassy consular section at Avenida Colombia 4300.

Once you arrive, you'll be asked to show your passport and your reason for wanting to enter at the window outside. You'll go through the metal detectors once you step in. Cell phones, iPods, etc. are not allowed inside the building. I'd recommend that you just don't bring anything with you but your passport and a book to read while you wait.

From then on, the process is pretty straightforward. You'll get a ticket to queue for the citizen services window.