British Expats - Many in U.S. to need passport

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Many in U.S. to need passport

The other angle not cover below is that
the insistence of having a biometric
passport to get into the US will cause
the Europeans to reciprocate with
visiting Americans. Not everybody has
such poss ports on both sides of the
Atlantic. The US, in having unilaterally
imposed their law, will require the EU
to do the same.

It will probably end up being a mess for
several years. How much it will improve
stopping terrorism is another question,
nobody knows. But it makes the control
freaks happy.

Earl

****

Many in U.S. to need passport

By Lornet Turnbull

Seattle Times staff reporter

STEVE RINGMAN / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Changes facing travelers: how to get that passport

If you travel to the Caribbean, Mexico or even Canada, the federal
government soon will require that you have a valid passport to get back
home.

And for the first time, our Canadian neighbors also will need a passport to
travel south of the border.

Aimed at further reinforcing the U.S. perimeter against terrorist threats,
the new rules for air, land and sea travel, announced yesterday by the
departments of State and Homeland Security, will be phased in over two years
between December 2005 and December 2007.

The impact of these changes could be especially strong in the Pacific
Northwest, just south of Canada's British Columbia, site of the 2010 Winter
Olympic Games.

U.S. citizens returning now from trips to neighboring countries can use a
birth certificate and photo ID to gain entry.

The new rules will apply to U.S. citizens traveling from Canada, Mexico,
Bermuda, the Caribbean and Panama. Citizens of those countries will also
need a passport to enter the United States, which had Canadian officials
hinting yesterday that they may impose a similar requirement on U.S.
citizens traveling north.

Of the 1.2 million border crossings at Blaine between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31
last year, 61 percent were non-U.S. citizens. Of those, more than 90 percent
were Canadian.

"This is intended to enhance border security," said Mike Millne, a Homeland
Security spokesman in Seattle. "Border officers now are looking at car after
car and all manner of ID â€¹ birth certificates, driver's licenses from every
state, church-denomination cards â€¹ all of which are ripe for creating
fraudulent documents. It's much harder to create a fraudulent passport."

"Huge education challenge"

The new rules raise concern among some in the travel and transportation
industries who point out that up to 80 percent of Americans have never owned
a passport. (Sixty million Americans have U.S. passports, according to the
State Department, and officials expect to issue 10 million more this year.)

Seattle travel agent Dan Smith of Caribbean Adventures said that only half
of his clients traveling to destinations in the Western Hemisphere own a
passport.

He recalled a recent exchange with a client who was traveling to the British
Virgin Islands in the Caribbean to pick up a boat. When he suggested the
customer consider getting a passport, a blank look crossed the man's face
before he responded: "But I'm a dentist."

"It's not so much about getting into the foreign country as getting back to
the U.S.," Smith said.

"Americans are limited in their attitude about how to get in and out of the
country," he said. "This is going to be a huge education challenge."

A U.S. passport eliminates hassles at the border, whether by air, sea or
land, he and others said.

Operators of ferry services and cruise ships between the United States and
Canada said that while they support increased security along the U.S.
border, they worry about whether U.S. citizens will get the message.

"Many of our clients are discretionary travelers who are out on holiday or
for a convention and would like to go out to Canada for the day or
overnight," said Darrell Bryan, executive vice president and general manager
of Clipper Vacations.

His company offers ferry service between British Columbia and Washington. He
worries that visitors will forgo optional trips to Canada because they won't
have passports. "A lot of them are folks from Middle America, for whom
international travel is a trip to Canada or Mexico. How likely are they to
apply for a passport if they're only taking a trip to Canada or Mexico?"

Bryan said customers' travel documents are examined before they board and if
there are concerns, notices are sent to Canadian and U.S. border officials.

"Ninety nine point nine, nine, nine percent of Americans are not a risk," he
said. "Why inconvenience or jeopardize travel between Canada and the U.S.?"

"A heck of a lot easier"?

Rose Abello, vice president of public relations for the Seattle-based
Holland America Line cruise line, worries that with implementation as soon
as December, there won't be enough time to educate the public.

Travel documents are issued to customers close to the cruise date, not
allowing them enough time to get a passport.

She said that even with the documents, "most people won't read the
information requiring a passport."

"When you get an airline ticket, do you read the jacket?"

But Pam Christianson, president of the Chamber of Commerce in the border
community of Blaine, said she thinks that with 2-? years' notice, people
will get used to the idea that they need a passport to travel to or re-enter
the United States.

"I firmly believe it's a heck of a lot easier than taking a birth
certificate and a driver's license. It's just one piece of document."

Lornet Turnbull: 206-464-2420 or [email protected] .

Information from The Washington Post was used in this report.