Oakland County, Michigan, Friday, June 8, 2007 -   Unable to keep up with millions of passport applications, the federal government has suspended new rules that required passports for air travel to and from certain countries, said Ruth Johnson, Oakland County Clerk/Register of Deeds.

Under the new rules, which went into effect in January, Americans had been required to have valid U.S. passports for travel to countries that previously didn't require them -Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean and Bermuda.

The State Department was deluged with passport applications. Delays in processing passports - at times longer than three months - were frustrating travelers.

"You can't mandate that citizens get passports and then not be prepared to issue them," Johnson said.  "It's irresponsible. This is a human-made crisis that could have been avoided with proper planning."

Beginning today, travelers only have to provide proof that they had already applied for a passport, as well as government-issued ID/driver's license. Travelers who have applied, but not yet received their passports can go to www.travel.state.gov to print off a form proving they had already applied.

With more than 120 employees, serving a population of 1.2 million residents, the Oakland County Clerk/Register of Deeds Office is one of the busiest in Michigan. Ruth Johnson is the official "keeper of the record," overseeing the receipt, storage, retrieval and safeguarding of millions of court, birth, death and property records. In addition, the Clerk's Office compiles election results.