Travel Across U.S. Borders Requires A Passport
Starting June 1, 2009, anyone who plans to travel across the U.S. border needs a passport or something we call a “passport-equivalent”. Better have a passport or your plan to enjoy the summer to Canada or Mexico may not push through.
It has been four years since the government has announced that they will implementing stricter rules and will be requiring proper documents to cross the border. To be exact, it was in April 2005 that the government introduced the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative or the WHTI. This project plans to make travel between the U.S., Mexico, Canada, Bermuda and the Caribbean more efficient and secured.
A birth certificate or an ID with a photo is not enough to allow your travel across the U.S. border. You should have a passport or a WHTI-approved document.
The original plan was to implement this new rule last January 1 2006, but they realized that it will be impossible. So they started its soft implementation to air travel only. Sea and land travel implementation was moved to January 2008.
This left many confused whether they need a passport or not.
Many were proactive enough to run to the Passport Office and apply for a passport. This caused a lot of trouble for the said Office. Tons of citizens stormed into applying for a passport. The processing that used to be just 3-4 weeks then took 3- 4 months. A lot of these applicants called almost everyday, went to the office as frequent as they can to follow-up their passports with the fear that their planned travel might be put on hold if the documents will not be available in time.
So with all the implementation adjustments, preparations done, are we ready for WHTI?
The government claims that they are. They are now prepared with the technology to screen the travelers. Plus, there are these new passport cards— a cheaper and wallet sized version of the old passport book; and latest enhanced driver’s license or EDL. EDLs are RFID enabled and are readable wirelessly, but are only valid for land and sea travel.
Air travelers might be used to this rule already since passports have been required since January 2007. Those who have chosen to travel through a cruise should have been forewarned during their bookings. And since the reminder has been made for four years now, land travelers must have been prepared already. No more excuses.
But many think this new rule is unnecessary. Some U.S. citizens are even insulted that many illegal aliens can get in and out of their country without proper documents. Many think that the national ID system is far too hard to implement.
No one is forcing anyone to get a passport. Not everyone is required to travel across the border. You can go around the domestic. But if you really want to travel across the border, prepare a passport.
