'Pro-Business' US State Dept's Absurd New Hours

The US State Department's Office of Authentications recently changed their operating hours. Or dare I say their operating hour. Until recently, the office of Authentications at the US State Department was open until 11AM. As long as you made it in the door by 11AM they would service you as you waited. Now they have reduced their hours to one hour a day, from 8 until 9AM. And only to accept documents, not to actually process them. For that, you'll have to come back.

Starting September 17, 2012, Authentications staff will meet customers by appointment 10:00 a.m to 2:30 p.m. Monday - Friday (except Federal Holidays). Beginning Monday, September 17, the Office of Authentications will perform document review by accepting document drop-offs 8-9 AM, Monday - Friday (except Federal Holidays). - Link

Now you can forget about making an appointment, appointments are reserved for Government business and for 'life and dead' emergencies. The joke is, to get an appointment, you still have to show up between 8 and 9. 

This might not matter to most people, but the service this office provides, the legalization of documents for presentation in other countries is important when conducting business overseas, including import and export. Often times, in order to conduct business overseas, business documents are required to be legalized, including a stop at the US State Department. 

I can tell you from first-hand experience that the legalization process it expensive and time consuming. Having a courier call you to tell you that the hours have been cut back to one a day is just one more anti-business decision made by our Government. Thankfully, our operations are local. I was told that there were many pissed off people from Phili and even New York who made the trip to DC just to get documents legalized only to be confronted with an office that was already closed for the day. 

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