Passport Requirement Delayed for Land and Sea Travel

January 9, 2008
Mexico City

As of January 31, U.S. citizens will need to present a government-issued photo ID and proof of citizenship to travel to Mexico, Canada, and the Caribbean by land or sea. But the proof of citizenship can be a birth certificate—it does not need to be a passport.

Passports are already required for air travel to these areas, and passports were scheduled to be required for land or sea travel beginning this year. But over the Christmas holidays the Bush Administration decided to delay implementing the passport requirement for land and sea travel. It will likely be put into effect sometime this summer.

In the meantime, if you’re driving or taking a cruise to one of these countries, you don’t need a passport. But you must take an original birth certificate (or naturalization certificate) and a government-issued photo ID such as a driver’s license. Children under the age of 18 must present an original birth certificate.

If you’re applying for a passport, please note that the routine processing time is currently four to six weeks. Expedited service, which includes overnight delivery service, is about three weeks.

In addition, all passports issued since August 2007 have a new design and one major new feature—a computer chip imbedded in the back cover that includes all the personal information written in the passport, as well as a digitized photo.

Passports without computer chips will continue to be valid. But when your non-chip passport expires, you’ll be issued one of the new, electronic passports.

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