Featured Article: Passport Update

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Featured Article: Passport Update

Wednesday, 08 August 2007

We've had several articles and postings on the forums regarding passports so I think it's time for an update on what the current plan is for travel outside the U.S. and the need for a passport.

After sending travelers scurrying and creating an enormous backlog at the passport office, Homeland Security and the State department have announced that they’ll delay implementation of the new “land and sea” passport requirements for travel to Canada, Mexico and Bermuda. Now taking what they call a “phased approach,” the government’s Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) will kick off on January 1, 2008, making it somewhat easier – if still confusing – to cross borders without a passport.

Basically, it goes something like this: Starting in January 2008, U.S. and Canadian citizens without a passport can still use their government-issued photo ID (for most of us, that’s our driver’s license) and a copy of a birth certificate at land and sea borders. Sometime in mid-2008, the WHTI passport requirement will be reinstated, hopefully giving travelers enough warning this time that they can get their paperwork in order in time for their trips.

The big change in January, therefore, is that Homeland Security will no longer accept what they call “oral declarations” of citizenship. You’ll need physical proof, and that can take one of the following forms:

For adults: a driver’s license AND copy of a birth certificate

For children 15 and under traveling in groups: A certified copy of their birth certificate, or a Consular Report of Birth Abroad or Certificate of Naturalization

For U.S. Citizens on round-trip cruises that begin and end in the United States: A government-issued photo ID and either a 1) birth certificate, 2) Consular Report of Birth Abroad or 3) Certificate of Naturalization.

If you plan to travel in the second half of 2008, start planning now – you’ll definitely need your passport, and recent events have shown the folly in waiting until the last minute. For more details of the new rules, including a full explanation of WHTI-compliant alternate forms of identification, visit http://www.dhs.gov/xnews/releases/pr_1182350422171.shtm or
http://www.dhs.gov/xnews/releases/pr_1182351923729.shtm.

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