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 Travel & Outdoors | January 2007 
Mexican Consulate Opens US Passport Hotline
 Garance Burke - Associated Press
| | The hotline, 877-MEX-ITEL (877-639-4835), allows callers to set up appointments in advance to apply for passports and identification cards called "matriculas." |
Mexicans seeking passports necessary to re-enter the United States after flying home can skip the long lines outside their consulates by calling toll-free hotlines in Fresno and five other cities nationwide.
Mexican, Canadian and Bermudan air travelers - as well as American citizens - now have to display their passports to be admitted into the U.S., under a set of new regulations adopted by Congress to secure the borders.
The hotline, 877-MEX-ITEL (877-639-4835), allows callers to set up appointments in advance to apply for passports and identification cards called "matriculas."
In Fresno, Mexican citizens from across the San Joaquin Valley have been camping out in front of their consulate overnight, hoping to be first in line when it opens for business.
"We want to stop that, to eliminate the headache for people," said Consul Martha Elvia Rosas. "Many of the people we help don't have access to a computer to check the requirements. Now with this telephone number, they can avoid making the two-hour trip to get here."
The Fresno consulate is the first in California to link up with the system, which ties into Spanish-language operators in Mexico City.
Consulates in Chicago, Houston, Orlando, Dallas and New York are also hooked up to the toll-free number, where callers can learn about the new rules' exceptions.
The only valid substitutes for a passport are a NEXUS Air card, used by some American and Canadian frequent fliers; identification as a U.S. Coast Guard merchant mariner; and the green card carried by legal permanent residents. |
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