If winter’s got you down and thinking about jetting to Mazatlan to sit on the beach and toss back a few margaritas, make a mental note that beginning Jan. 23, air travelers, including Americans and people from Canada and other Western Hemisphere countries, will have to show passports or other special identification to enter the U.S.
The date for air travelers was set by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. The department expects to extend the requirement to land and sea travelers in January 2008.
Currently, U.S. citizens returning from Western Hemisphere nations needn’t show passports but must have other proof of citizenship, such as driver’s licenses or birth certificates.
Visitors from most countries in the hemisphere had been required to show passports, but Canadians, residents of Bermuda and certain Mexicans who enter the U.S. often and have special border-crossing cards have been permitted to use other forms of ID, including driver’s licenses.
But distinguishing forged documents from the real thing is no easy task, according to Chertoff, who noted in his announcement that that 8,000 different state and local entities in the United States issue driver’s licenses and birth certificates.
Other acceptable documents will include an Air NEXUS card, U.S. Merchant Mariner Document, or Alien Registration Card, Form I-551, if applicable. Members of the U.S. armed forces on active duty will be exempt from the passport requirement.
The passport requirement will not apply to U.S. citizens traveling to or returning directly from a U.S. territory, including Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Swains Island and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
Getting a passport currently takes about six weeks, although the process can be expedited for an additional fee. Information is available from the U.S. National Passport Center at 877-487-2778.
International terrorism necessitates more credible ID. But the question remains: Who checks the passports of the estimated half-million illegal immigrants who sneak into the U.S. every year?
