Canada, Mexico passport travel deadline delay?

Monday June 26, 2006

^{Edited 11/23/06: The passport situation has changed again -- read the latest passport news.}

Travel experts are saying that the current deadline of December 31, 2006 (air and sea travel) and December 31, 2007 (land travel) for passport travel to the US from some countries may not be happening, according to a recent Canadian news piece.

Currently, no passport is needed to return from travel to Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, Panama and the Caribbean -- a driver's license and birth certificate embossed by the issuing state suffice; that will change with new passport rules set to take effect at the ends of 2006 and 2007 which will require US citizens to show passports at the border. However, the US Senate voted May 16 that the deadline be extended until June, 2009; Canada's Globe and Mail reported recently on "growing signs" that enforcing the current 2006 and 2007 deadlines are unrealistic.

One deadline for passport requirement changes and Canada, Caribbean and Mexico travel was already delayed ("Do I Need a Passport for Travel to Mexico and Canada?") earlier this year. The Globe and Mail's excellent wrap-up points out that Homeland Security has not yet published details of the latest 2006/7 and 2007/8 rule, which will then have to go through a public comment period before it can be imposed. These delays may mean it won't happen on time, according to many industry insiders, and the Globe and Mail writes that a Canadian official has said Canadian "bureaucrats have been told by their U.S. counterparts" that the rule's implementation will be delayed.

Even if the rule that you must have a passport to return from Canada and Mexico is not effective until June, 2009, as is beginning to look likely, you should get a passport sooner rather than later, anyway. National Passport Month is approaching in September; make that your own deadline to get this 10-year ticket to ride.

^{Related: Globe and Mail: "Border passport requirement will be delayed, Canada told" | May 2006 article on passports and Canada, Mexico travel | April 2006 article on passports and Canada, Mexico travel | | January 2006 article on PASS cards and Canada, Mexico travel | January 2006 article on passports and Canada, Mexico travel | Passport holder review | Bermuda calls for passport law extension - June, 2006 | Student Travel: "September officially National Passport Month"}