News

Going somewhere? Better get a passport

Compiled from staff, wire reports
Published August 7, 2005

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The federal government is toughening its requirements for entering the United States - and even U.S. citizens will have to provide a valid passport. But the lack of firm dates for implementing a series of passport requirements may be misleading Americans into thinking they will not need a passport.

Passed by Congress in 2004, the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act requires anyone entering the country from the Bahamas, Bermuda and all Caribbean, Central and South America nations to show a valid passport, as of Dec. 31. That includes U.S. citizens, who head by the millions each year to the Bahamas and the Caribbean on cruise ships.

Currently a valid driver's license is usually accepted at U.S. borders as proof of U.S. citizenship. And fewer than 30 percent of Americans have passports.

State Department officials have on various occasions reminded the media of the law's details. The law allows for delaying the implementation date by as much as two years.

It also requires that as of Dec. 31, 2006, Americans must present a passport to re-enter the country from Mexico and Canada. By the last day of 2007, anyone entering the U.S. from any country must have a passport.

In the Bahamas, officials are gearing up for the Dec. 31 deadline. Bahamian airports are setting up new computers to scan passports from American and foreign nationals, says Terrance Parker of the Bahamas Consulate in New York.

And cruise passengers are not exempt from the law. They, too, will be required to carry a passport. Cruise officials say most American passengers on cruise ships do not carry passports in this hemisphere.

But passports, officials say, should make their travel easier.

"Passengers will have one standard document, and the process will be more streamlined," says Christine Fischer, spokeswoman for International Council of Cruise Lines. "And the cruise industry does think that's a good idea as far as security."

Their only passport worry: the Dec. 31 deadline.

It takes about six weeks to get a passport, and it may take much longer as more travelers find out they need them. If you can't wait that long, you can pay extra to receive the passport sooner.

For information on how to get a passport, go to http://travel.state.gov/passport/passport_1738.html

For more information on traveling to and from the United States, call the State Department's public information number at toll-free 1-888-407-4747.

[Last modified August 5, 2005, 10:28:03]