The longest shutdown in US history continues to impact travelers. Due to the budget freeze that has been going on for more than a month, around 800,000 federal employees are on forced leave, or they continue to work without pay.
- At airports in the country, passengers have to adjust to longer waiting times. Many TSA workers remain out of work, the agency said. On Sunday, waiting times at the checkpoints of most major airports were still within the normal range of up to 30 minutes. Travelers should nevertheless appear as early as possible at the airport.
- Due to the ongoing budget freeze many national parks and museums in the US are currently closed, the Foreign Office writes in its travel and security information for the United States. This is also the US National Park Service (NPS) on its website, which is no longer updated. In most parks, there are no visitor services offered by the agency - such as public toilets, garbage collection and street maintenance.
At the end of December, Yosemite National Park had already stated on its website that individual accesses to the park would be restricted during peak visiting hours. Among other things, this was justified by persistent problems with waste.
The National Park Service claims to own 418 parks and historic sites in the United States. Among them are many monuments, memorials and other historically important places. In addition, there are many of the most famous natural parks. These are visited very often in summer, currently is not a holiday high season for the US. - As reported by the US Embassy in Berlin, there are still appointments for passport and visa matters still taking place there, as well as in the consulates in Frankfurt and Munich. However, Germans do not need a visa for a holiday trip to the US, but only have to complete an application for an Esta online.