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New Re-Entry Requirements Start in
June, 2009
If you're heading out of the country and expect to return after June
1, it's time now to make sure your documents comply with the
tightened requirements that will apply. Those tightened requirements
focus on re-entry by land or sea from countries participating in the
Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) program (Bermuda,
Canada, the Caribbean, including the Bahamas, and Mexico). To enter
those countries and cross the border back to the United States you
will need either:
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A U.S. passport—the
traditional, all-purpose document for international travel.
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A passport card—the
new credit-card-size ID, valid for travel to/from only countries
in the WHTI program. It is issued by the U.S. State Department;
it's a less expensive alternative for travelers interested
mainly on cross-border travel by car or foot.
-
An enhanced driver's
license (EDL)—the updated, high-tech version of a conventional
driver's license that requires proof of citizenship as a
condition of issue.
-
An ID from one of the
Trusted Traveler Programs.
This rule has two
prominent exceptions:
Children under age 18 without the documents required for adults will
be able to enter or return from WHTI participating countries with
any accepted proof of citizenship, including birth certificate
(original or copy), or citizenship card.
Cruise ship passengers on closed loop itineraries (cruises that
begin and end at the same U.S. port) can enter or leave with a birth
certificate or government-issued photo ID. (You may, however, need a
U.S. passport to debark at some ports.)
This column was prompted, in part, by a news release from the U.S.
Customs and Border Protection Agency touting its new high-tech
facilities at the Tijuana/San Ysidro border crossing, the nation's
busiest. By scanning the radio frequency ID (RFID) chips in the
latest high-tech travel documents, U.S. agents can speed the flow of
traffic through the checkpoint and (they hope) reduce the long lines
of vehicles that currently clog the border crossing. All passports,
passport cards, and EDLs contain chips, which provide instant access
by agents to the government's passport database, and all future
passports will contain them.
EDLs are new: For now, only New York and Washington issue them, with
Arizona, Michigan, and Vermont listed as "coming soon." Currently,
they're issued as an optional extra-cost ($15 to $30) enhancement to
a conventional license.
But EDLs are the likely wave of the future for drivers' licenses
throughout the United States. Already, several states—including my
home state of Oregon—are starting to require proof of citizenship or
legal resident status as a condition of issuing any sort of driver's
license. I expect that states will find the ability to scan licenses
to be as enticing as it is to the border agents. The current
nationwide budget crunch may slow the process a bit, but I fully
expect all drivers' licenses to incorporate EDL features within
three to five years. Parenthetically, I believe RFID chips will also
soon become standard in credit cards, as they already are in parts
of Europe.
As you might expect, some folks are worried that hackers will be
able to extract personal data from EDLs and other chip-enabled
cards. The people who make these systems—and the government—say that
a metal sleeve will prevent unauthorized reading. However, nobody
should underestimate the ingenuity of hackers. Stay tuned for
developments.
To complete the picture, it's worth repeating that air travelers
arriving from any foreign country, including those in the WHTI
program, will see no changes: You need a passport; the passport card
won't do. This requirement applies to travelers of any age,
including children and even infants. The only exceptions are for
active-duty military personnel, merchant mariners, travelers with
NEXUS cards, and permanent residents—groups with their own specific
ID requirements.
For more detail on any border crossing documentation issues, log
onto the U.S. Customs and Border Protection website. And if you
think you'll need a passport, apply now: I'm sure that a
short-staffed State Department will again be slow in filling
applications. |
