New passport rules start Tuesday

[rodeodance]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070122/ap_on_re_us/new_passport_rules

New passport rules start Tuesday

By GIOVANNA DELL'ORTO, Associated Press Writer 27 minutes ago

ATLANTA - Americans flying to Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean made sure to bring their passports Monday because of a new rule going into effect Tuesday that requires them to show one to get back into the country.


Only about a quarter of U.S. citizens hold valid passports, and most Americans are accustomed to traveling to neighboring countries with just a driver's license or birth certificate, which have long been sufficient to get through airport customs on the trip home.

The new regulations requiring passports were adopted by Congress in 2004 to secure the borders against terrorists.

Travelers at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and other airports said they had no complaints about the requirement.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. How about if you left w/o a passport, but you return after Tuesday --

free pass w/o a passport?

[KansDem]

23. Maybe "InstaPassPort" will be operational by then...

A new industry created to address such needs. Available for your convenience at all US ports of entry. Only $395.95!



"InstaPassPort"--a subsidiary of Halliburton.

[AnneD]

2. We have been bracing for this for some time

we have a lot of flights to Mexico from Houston. We expect chaos at Intercontinental.

[orpupilofnature57]

3. Shrubs spreading Democracy to everyone but us ,I feel so Secure

[bleedingheart]

4. I sincerely doubt 25% of Americans even have a passport

perhaps I am wrong but most people don't travel globally.

[ak]

6. 3%

I've heard that figure used???

[bdamomma]

19. too bad if they did they would be more educated regarding

other cultures and people. Rude thing to say but true.

[tabasco]

25. True and I don't think it's rude.

I accept as a fact that traveling and experiencing different cultures is a learning experience.

[Esra Star]

5. This will make it difficult for undocumented people to visit their

relatives. Hmmm....this might be the idea.

[saigon68]

8. They can just swim across the border

[all.of.me]

7. What about people who cross the border to go to the dr or dentist?

In places like El Paso, people routinely go to Juarez for medical and dental. From Tucson, they drive a couple hours to do it. I'm sure this happens other places, too, but those two I know of for sure. What about those people? The fear and paranoia in this country over this issue makes me crazy. They just think up stupider and stupider shit to 'combat' it.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

16. They can get a passport

[sakabatou]

9. Well, I have to get mine updated

[LynnTheDem]

10. SHHH!!! Don't mention how the 911 terrorists held VALID LEGIT US passports!

Any way to rip off the average US citizen is a good thing, says the republics in office!

[seriousstan]

30. NONE of the 911 terrorists has VALID LEGIT US passports.

They had legit visas, which were exspired, and passports form their homw country, which they had doctored and artificially aged.

[sleipnir]

11. Having to show legal documentation to cross an international border? Insanity!

What will they think up next, a license to operate a motor-carriage?

[Dean Martin]

12. So, if I travel to the Caribbean....

I have to stay?

What's the downside? :)

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

13. this will be quite the freak show...

The only place I have seen this getting ANY attention is in Canada, the only place in the US I have seen this getting any mention is on the US Airways inflight programming.

I am just waiting for the endless stream of local news stories about Americans stranded in Canada and elsewhere,

[annabanana]

14. Question about new passports. . .

If one applies for a passport NOW. . will it have a chip in it? (Mine is good for 10 years, but my boys don't have one, and I'd rather they had one without a chip)

[shanti]

17. yes

if you apply now it will have a chip in it.

[cosmicdot]

31. I received my renewed passport in early November 06

a few months before actual expiration (would have been February 07) ... not that I'm going anyway any time soon ... just didn't want an RFID chip with who knows what personal data on it. Don't we have a right to know?

I mailed the application October 20th.

I was afraid I had missed the pre-chip deadline, but my renewed passport isn't chipped as far as I can tell: it doesn't have the new symbol designating an e-passport; and, I can't 'feel' anything indicating a chip. Plus, it has a 'regular' cover. No 'new' type cover which is 'suppose' to help prevent criminal reading of your private data (making us sitting ducks).

btw, mine cost $67 for a renewal + photos + 2-way priority mail (ca-ching)

The post office said that returned postage is now required; so, I bought priority mail going and for mailing the new passport to me.

Here's an article from September 06
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/15/AR2006091500923.html

The article said that they hoped to have all 50 states issuing them by the end of 2006.
I previously thought the roll out was to be by the end of last summer. Yet, only one state had been issuing them (Colorado) according to the Post article.

[trof]

15. Ah, back in the olden days...2 funny passport stories:

I was a young flight engineer with TWA.
On our return flight from Paris to JFK we developed a complicated mechanical problem.
Not life threatening, but it would have to be fixed before the aircraft could fly again.
I was still in the cockpit, writing up in the aircraft logbook exactly what had happened, how we had dealt with it, and possible fixes, while the rest of the crew and passengers deplaned to go through customs.

Just as I finished, two of our mechanics came in the cockpit. We talked about the problem for about another 15 minutes. Then I got my stuff together, exited the aircraft to the jetway, and went out the door and down the exterior stairs to the ramp. Walked over to the crew bus stop and waited till the next bus came along about 10 minutes later.

About half way to the hangar I thought "Oh, shit! I didn't go through customs. Big trouble."
I stayed on the bus for the round trip and got off where I had boarded. Back up the jetway stairs and this time through the jetway to the terminal and customs.

When I got to the agent he looked at my passport and papers and said "Jeez, where YOU been? The rest of the crew was through here an hour ago."
"We had a really weird mechanical problem and I had to stay and help the mechanics troubleshoot it."
"Oh. OK, have a god day."
whew

Another time we were flying a freighter from Anchorage to Amsterdam.
Two day layover in AMS and return to Anchorage.
In AMS if you went through the 'Nothing to Declare' line at customs and immigration you rarely were asked for a passport. Especially if you were airline crew.
That's how it was this time.

That evening my copilot and I were having a beer and suddenly he got the deer-in-the-headlights look.
"Damn. I just remembered. I left my passport in New York."
It was a really dumb move and I needled him about it on the way back to ANC.
"Man, ANC ain't AMS. They're gonna put you UNDER the jail."

When we arrived at customs and immigration in ANC he told the agent what he'd done.
The guy looked over his shoulder at a colleague.
"Hey Ed. That cell that's UNDER the jail available?"
The copilot blanched.
"Lemme see your driver's license."
He looked at it and then at me.
"You vouch for this guy?"
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure he is who he says he is."
He laughed.
"You guys get out of here. I've got everything anybody would ever want to know about you right here in my computer. Including your passport number. Don't forget it next time."

I'm guessing it wouldn't be so easy now.
:-(

[SAXMAR]

18. Wife's Passport/Birthplace Damascus Syria

I can't wait to see, the next time we travel out of the country, how much the security folks at the airport over react when they see my wife's birthplace is Damascus, Syria.

Her father was in the army and was stationed at the US Embassy when she was born.

If any Home Land Security folks are checking this website make sure you have a list of the employees of the US Embassy in Syria in 1953 before you get excited.

[peaches2003]

20. Everyone should have a passport

You only need one now if you are FLYING in to the US.

Why shouldn't we have a passport to travel out and then back into the country? It is not full proof ID, but a whole lot better than phony DLs which anyone can get. We are the easiest country to enter and the most at risk.

[Taverner]

27. Yes - right now we are entering the period when anything can happen

Be prepared

[sarcasmo]

29. Including the Draft. My tinfoil hat tells me the draft is near. No leaving through Canada

or Mexico with out a passport.

[onenote]

21. newborns and infants

The new rules require that even newborns and infants have passports. Apart from the practical problems this entails, just think about it: you need to submit a "current" photo with your passport. Exactly how helpful is that with a newborn, whose appearance will change dramatically in a matter of weeks, let alone over the life of the passport.

[peaches2003]

22. Renewal pictures

I think children's passports cost less and last less time than adults just for that reason. There is a new photo on every renewal passport, adult or child's.

[Marie26]

24. Or secure the border against draft-dodgers? nt

[Taverner]

26. Everyone on DU should have a passport now

Be prepared to leave the US at any time - the RW is losing power and they are scared and dangerous.

[PassingFair]

28. Just for FLYERS, peeps....

Drivers and the "water-borne" won't need them until Jan. 08.

snip>"For now, the rules affect only air travelers. Land and sea travelers will not have to show passports until at least January 2008."

I'm going to Ontario at the end of the month (by car) and won't need a passport.