Passport alternatives when traveling to Canada and Mexico

Passport alternatives when traveling to Canada and Mexico

The State Department said it will start accepting applications on February 1 for passport cards as a substitute passport for Americans traveling to Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean. These wallet sized cards will become available this spring to U.S. citizens.

Costing $45 for adults and $35 for children, such cards are a nice alternative for people in need of a passport fast. They’re a lot cheaper than a regular passport, and for adults who already have one will only have to pay $20. The wallet sized cards will be accepted for land and sea journeys between the U.S. and Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean, but not for flights unfortunately.

Part of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative was to offer these new passports to U.S. citizens. The first phase of the initiative launched last year, requiring U.S. travelers returning by plane from Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean to bring a passport. This led to a brief rise in demand for passports, with a waiting time that increased from four to six weeks to twelve weeks. They’ve since gone back to normal.

The Bush administration wants to start requiring passport cards or passports for land and see border crossings in mid 2008 but Congress is striving to delay the requirement until summer 2009.