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North American Citizens Dealt Passport Requirement

By Drog (Canada), Section North America
Posted on Wed Apr 06, 2005 at 06:43:38 AM PST

As Wikinews reports, North American travelers will see a phased-in requirement to carry passports in the coming years. In a multi-national initiative to restrict illegal immigration and travel, a passport layer of stricter identification will be introduced for travel thoughout the continent by the year 2008. The US State Department has made an announcement for new American travel rules Monday.

For the most part, North American citizens can now travel to neighboring countries without formal papers. But starting in December 2005, citizens will need a passport to get back into their native nation. Showing a driver's license or a government-issued photo ID card will no longer be sufficient for making the border crossing back.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that passport restrictions will help keep out "people who want to hurt us."

Rice made a brief trip on March 10 to meet with Mexican President Vicente Fox before leaving on her Far East tour. The Mexican meeting was to pave the way for a March 23 summit with Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin and Fox at the President Bush ranch in Texas. Issues concerning immigration, border security and water rights were discussed at the meeting. The intent of the summit was to produce a North American initiative that will strengthen security and economic ties.

The passport rules are a result of that summit.

The next phase of the passport requirements begins Dec 2006, when passports for air and sea travel to, or from Mexico and Canada, the Caribbean, Bermuda and US will be required. The final phase involves any travel: whether air, sea or land crossings, passports will be required at borders by Dec 7, 2008.

Sources:

"U.S. to Require Passports for Canada, Mexico Travel". Washington Post, April 5 , 2005
"Time to get a passport". The Globe and Mail, April 5 , 2005
"New Law Requires Passport When Returning To U.S.". NBC11, April 5, 2005
"New Rules Tighten U.S. Passport Requirements". L.A. Times, April 5, 2005
"Rice visits Fox today to pave way for summit". The Miami Herald, March 15, 2005[requires subscription]

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North American Citizens Dealt Passport Requirement | 3 comments (3 topical, 0 hidden)

Mutual? (none / 0) (#1)
by you look like a nail (Canada) on Thu Apr 07, 2005 at 07:33:56 AM PST

This story suggests that the passport restrictions are going to be mutual (going to or coming from Canada or Mexico) and that this was planned as a result of the recent summit. However, all the news sources I could find suggest that this new restriction is US-only, applied to Canadians or Mexicans coming into the US, and to US citizens trying to re-enter the country. I haven't seen a report suggesting that passports will be required to enter Canada, aside from fairly vague statements from the government that this might be implemented in the future.

It's also worth noting that Canadians will still be exempt from the mandatory fingerprinting which is being done to other foreign nationals trying to enter the US.

Still, given that large numbers of US and Canadian citizens don't have passports, this will probably put a damper on cross-border shopping and tourism. This would be particularily irritating for US citizens who may only find out about the restriction when they try to re-enter their country.

-- Your Reality Check is in the mail.

: Yes, I think US-only too (none / 0) (#2)
by Drog (Canada) on Thu Apr 07, 2005 at 10:43:40 AM PST

I don't think Canada or Mexico are overly worried about terrorists entering from the US. I've been meaning to get my passport updated for quite awhile now -- I'd better do it soon before the backlog becomes nuts.

[ Parent ]

Canada (none / 0) (#3)
by pupail (France) on Thu Mar 29, 2007 at 03:07:11 AM PST

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North American Citizens Dealt Passport Requirement | 3 comments (3 topical, 0 hidden)

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