Toursource Travel 

The Confusion over passport’s and (hopefully) the answers...

    Prior to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 if you were an American citizen and traveling  virtually anywhere in the Western Hemisphere which included Mexico, Canada, The Caribbean, or Central America  the only thing that you needed to reenter the USA (and for that matter to ENTER those countries) was a valid government issued identification card and US birth certificate.

    The outcome of the terrorist attacks, caused stricter controls of our port’s of entry (although apparently if you crawl under the fence, swim across the river, or stow away in a train car or other conveyance this does not apply to you)  In 2004 the department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the US Congress mandated passport’s for those person’s traveling to the regions outlined above and reentering the USA.

    The process of requiring passports was to be phased in over the next few years, with the initial requirement to be those individuals arriving by air or sea to have a passport by January of 2007 and those arriving by land border crossing to have passport’s by December 2008.

   Therein lies the problem! Neither Congress, DHS or the US State Department took into consideration (or gave much forethought) to the sheer number of people this  new rule affected. 

   Just as an example, there are 2.2 MILLION commercial truck drivers in the United States, a large proportion of them cross the US/Canadian border on a daily basis. With the new ruling, all of them would be required to have a passport.  Additionally, there are millions more that reenter the USA from vacation destinations anually. 

   With the new rules, the lack of planning on the part of DHS, Congress and The Department of  State soon became appearent when Senate hearings revealed that there was no way that passports could be issued in time to meet the deadline’s that had been established. 

   An alernative plan was drawn up to allow citizens to re-enter the USA if they have: 1) applied for a passport 2) have printed a copy of the passport application status (from State) and 3) have valid government issued indentification in your possession at the port of entry. 

In other words, at the moment, with the exception of the proof of application WE ARE BACK TO THE WAY THINGS WERE.

This is confusing and just an example of how jumping through hoops and attempting to make us feel safe from terrosirst’s has created more problems. In my personal opinion, until we can get a handle on the THOUSANDS of people that cross our borders anually and ILLEGALLY we cannot possibly “feel safe”

Imagine if you were a terrorist... why worry about entering the USA at a border crossing when you can just sneak in?

In summation... as of today 3 July, 2007 this is the official word from the US State Department website (http://travel.state.gov)

“The U.S. Departments of State and Homeland Security announced today that U.S. citizens traveling to Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Bermuda who have applied for but not yet received passports can nevertheless temporarily enter and depart from the United States by air with a government issued photo identification and Department of State official proof of application for a passport through September 30, 2007. 

   The federal government is making this accommodation for air travel due to longer than expected processing times for passport applications in the face of record-breaking demand.

   The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) was mandated by Congress in the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 to strengthen border security and facilitate entry into the United States for citizens and legitimate international visitors. WHTI requirements for air travel took effect on January 23, 2007.

   Adults who have applied for but not yet received a passport should present government-issued photo identification and an official proof of application from the U.S. Department of State. Children under the age of 16 traveling with their parents or legal guardian will be permitted to travel with the child's proof of application. Travelers who have not applied for a passport should not expect to be accommodated. U.S. citizens with pending passport applications can obtain proof of application at: http://travel.state.gov.

   This accommodation does not affect entry requirements to other countries.  Americans traveling to a country that requires passports must still present those documents.

   Since implementation, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has and will continue to exercise its current authorities in unique circumstances to allow individuals subject to the WHTI requirements into the United States based on other evidence of identity and citizenship.

    As early as January 2008, the Departments will begin to implement WHTI at land and sea ports of entry. A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking outlining a phased implementation is expected to be published in the Federal Register within the next two weeks.

   Travel document security remains a top priority for the U.S. Government. Both the 9/11 Commission and the U.S. Congress urged strengthening of travel documents to prevent entry of terrorists across our borders, reduce use of fraudulent documents, and speed up entry procedures.”

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