New U.S. Travel Restrictions

The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative will require all travelers to and from the Americas, the Caribbean and Bermuda to have a passport or other accepted document to enter or re-enter the United States. The implementation schedule is as follows:

• Dec. 31, 2005 - All travel to or from the Caribbean, Bermuda, Central and South America.
• Dec. 31, 2006 - All air and sea travel to or from Mexico and Canada.
• Dec. 31, 2007 - All air, sea and land border crossings.

Businesses most affected will most likely be those in border towns and cruise lines. In places such as Windsor, businesses depend heavily on short term travelers, for a day, a night or even a weekend. It's casinos and restaurants rely heavily on Americans but border security, lines and delays will most likely keep those travelers at home or choose another fun spot.

Previously, you didn't need a passport to go on a cruise. You could book one last minute on a great deal and take off with a birth certificate. That will change.

New electronic passports (see next article here) present a whole other issue of problems and privacy. What happens when the electronic machine readers fail while you are in a border line? Do they wait for the system to reboot? New batteries? Will they go back to a human scan of the document? What procedure will they everyone properly trained to follow?

What happens when enterprising individuals scan persons going on a cruise, take your identity and go clean out your house while they know you are gone for 7 days? Far fetched? If you are nervous about being an American in a hostile country (or one we are hostile to), the enemy has a way of finding out who you are for sure. Anyone with a internet connection or a private detective license can find out information on you once they have your name and birth date. And you lose control of that information when it is broadcast to the world.

Encryption? Data security? We've heard the news about hackers and bank information leaks and viruses. Your passport won't be any safer. If a human can code it, someone else can break it.

This doesn't stop anyone from walking through the desert or over a mountain. If you were sneaking into a country with ten relatives and a dirty bomb, would you really go through a security checkpoint? A sort of band-aid, this change only treats a scratch, not the object that caused the scratch in the first place. Changing the way we monitor a boder stop only restricts those that follow the laws from the beginning.

Getting a passport

• For passport information, United States citizens can visit the State Department's travel website www.travel.state.gov, or call the U.S. National Passport Information Center: 1-877-4USA-PPT; TDD/TTY: 1-888-874-7793.

• Allow 6-8 weeks for processing of your passport application. If you need to travel urgently and require a passport sooner, visit http://www.travel.state.gov for additional information.

• Peak passport processing is between January and July. For faster service, apply between August and December.

• To obtain a passport for the first time, you must go in person to one of 6,000 passport acceptance facilities located throughout the United States with two photographs of yourself, proof of U.S. citizenship, and a valid form of photo identification such as a driver's license.

• Acceptance facilities include many federal, state and probate courts, post offices, some public libraries and a number of county and municipal offices. There are also 13 regional passport agencies, which serve customers who are traveling within two weeks, or who need foreign visas for travel. Appointments are required in such cases.

• You also must apply in person if your expired U.S. passport is not in your possession; if your previous U.S. passport has expired and was issued more than 15 years ago; or if your previous U.S. passport was issued when you are under 16 your currently valid U.S. passport has been lost of stolen.

• You can obtain the application form on-line, at http://travel.state.gov/passport/forms.

• You may prove U.S. citizenship with a previous U.S. passport or a certified birth certificate issued by the city, county or state. If; a consular report of birth abroad or certification of birth; a naturalization certificate; a certificate of citizenship

• You can renew by mail if your most recent passport is available and undamaged; you received the passport within the past 15 years; you were over age 16 when it was issued; and you still have the same name, or can legally document your name change. If your passport has been, altered or damaged, you cannot apply by mail: You must apply in person.

• First passport fees: age 16 and older, $97; under 16, $82. Renewals: $67. Expedited service: an additional $60.

Source: U.S. Department of State