New Re-Entry Requirements Start in June

If you're heading out of the country and expect to return after June 1, it's time now to make sure your documents comply with the tightened requirements that will apply. Those tightened requirements focus on re-entry by land or sea from countries participating in the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) program (Bermuda, Canada, the Caribbean, including the Bahamas, and Mexico). To enter those countries and cross the border back to the United States you will need either:

• A U.S. passport—the traditional, all-purpose document for international travel.
• A passport card—the new credit-card-size ID, valid for travel to/from only countries in the WHTI program. It is issued by the U.S. State Department; it's a less expensive alternative for travelers interested mainly on cross-border travel by car or foot.
• An enhanced driver's license (EDL)—the updated, high-tech version of a conventional driver's license that requires proof of citizenship as a condition of issue.
• An ID from one of the Trusted Traveler Programs.

• Children under age 18 without the documents required for adults will be able to enter or return from WHTI participating countries with any accepted proof of citizenship, including birth certificate (original or copy), or citizenship card.
• Cruise ship passengers on closed loop itineraries (cruises that begin and end at the same U.S. port) can enter or leave with a birth certificate or government-issued photo ID. (You may, however, need a U.S. passport to debark at some ports.)

This column was prompted, in part, by a news release from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency touting its new high-tech facilities at the Tijuana/San Ysidro border crossing, the nation's busiest. By scanning the radio frequency ID (RFID) chips in the latest high-tech travel documents, U.S. agents can speed the flow of traffic through the checkpoint and (they hope) reduce the long lines of vehicles that currently clog the border crossing. All passports, passport cards, and EDLs contain chips, which provide instant access by agents to the government's passport database, and all future passports will contain them.

EDLs are new: For now, only New York and Washington issue them, with Arizona, Michigan, and Vermont listed as "coming soon." Currently, they're issued as an optional extra-cost ($15 to $30) enhancement to a conventional license.

But EDLs are the likely wave of the future for drivers' licenses throughout the United States. Already, several states—including my home state of Oregon—are starting to require proof of citizenship or legal resident status as a condition of issuing any sort of driver's license. I expect that states will find the ability to scan licenses to be as enticing as it is to the border agents. The current nationwide budget crunch may slow the process a bit, but I fully expect all drivers' licenses to incorporate EDL features within three to five years. Parenthetically, I believe RFID chips will also soon become standard in credit cards, as they already are in parts of Europe.

As you might expect, some folks are worried that hackers will be able to extract personal data from EDLs and other chip-enabled cards. The people who make these systems—and the government—say that a metal sleeve will prevent unauthorized reading. However, nobody should underestimate the ingenuity of hackers. Stay tuned for developments.

To complete the picture, it's worth repeating that air travelers arriving from any foreign country, including those in the WHTI program, will see no changes: You need a passport; the passport card won't do. This requirement applies to travelers of any age, including children and even infants. The only exceptions are for active-duty military personnel, merchant mariners, travelers with NEXUS cards, and permanent residents—groups with their own specific ID requirements.

For more detail on any border crossing documentation issues, log onto the U.S. Customs and Border Protection website. And if you think you'll need a passport, apply now: I'm sure that a short-staffed State Department will again be slow in filling applications.