Does your winter vacation call for you to head south of the border this year? Do you have your passport? If not you could face further delays as today starts new rules for air passengers traveling from Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean to the United States. Even United States citizens will be required to show a valid passport to enter the country if they are flying from the above destinations.
No longer will US citizens be able to use birth certificates or driver’s licenses as a valid form of identification. The new regulations requiring passports were adopted by Congress in 2004 to secure the borders against terrorists. This could be a problem for many people who are just use to using ID other than a passport. Only about a quarter of U.S. citizens hold valid passports.
The only valid substitutes for a passport will be a NEXUS Air card, used by some American and Canadian frequent fliers; identification as a U.S. Coast Guard merchant mariner; and the green card carried by legal permanent residents. Active members of the U.S. military are exempt.
Citizens traveling by land or sea will have to start using their passports starting in 2008. Many of the travel sites and airlines have been posting new updated passport travel requirements for many months now
Chicago Tribune
Passport Information
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