Canada, Mexico travel rule dropped

[Tracer]

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/01/18/canada_mexico_travel_rule_dropped/

Passport bumped for less costly card
By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff  |  January 18, 2006

WASHINGTON -- Bowing to opposition from border communities and from the travel industry, the Bush administration said yesterday that it will not require US citizens who frequently cross between the United States and Canada or Mexico to carry a passport, and will instead issue a more simple ''passport card."

----- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced the compromise as part of a package of revised travel rules. Most of the measures will use new technology to clear some of the travel bottlenecks caused by increased security after the 2001 terror attacks.

----- But in a reversal, they said US citizens who travel over land to and from the United States' northern and southern neighbors will not have to carry a passport, a requirement that was set to go into effect by next year.
Instead, a less expensive, less complex version of the new high-tech passports will be required, officials said.

[Kagemusha]

1. That was fast.

But it's not going to help to keep the restrictions on Canadians. That'll still attack the border economy quite a bit on its own.

[baldguy]

2. This is a fucking stupid, anti-American idea.

I live in Buffalo. I know people who cross the border every day; they live in one country & work or go to school in the other country. Others own property & even businesses in the other country. It goes both ways. I'm sure this is common all along the Canadian & Mexican border areas.

Yet only AMERICANS will need a passport to LEAVE & RETURN TO THEIR OWN COUNTRY!

[PeterPuck]

5. Canadians as well

The proposed changes were going to require Canadians to carry a passport to cross the CAN/US border.

[Wilber_Stool]

3. Here's the thing.

Any time you need permission to do something, that permission can be denied. Look at the no-fly rules.

[zalinda]

4. Okay, I read the article and still am not sure what I would need

to enter Canada. If I only go to through Canada (to go to Detroit) every couple of years, do I need to get a passport? Or some sort of card? I am totally confused.

zalinda

[PeterPuck]

6. The proposal was that by 2007 or 08...

You would require a passport to cross the border. Now they are relaxing it a bit and will accept a new type of border pass. This will be less expensive and easier to obtain.

But you will not be allowed to cross the border with just a driver's liscence or birth certificate.