January 1 Passport Deadline Unchanged by U.S. Senate Amendment

The Senate approved an amendment that would push back the implementation date of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, a law that requires persons crossing U.S. borders to present a passport or other U.S. government-approved documentation.

However, in the flurry of activity surrounding the passage of the amendment, an impression emerged that the amendment would impact a series of phased in administrative deadlines imposed by the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security, the agencies responsible for enforcing the WHTI.

Those deadlines still stand and remain unchanged, requiring passports for persons traveling between the U.S. and Canada, Mexico and Caribbean islands starting January 1.

The amendment now before the Senate, sponsored by Senators Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) would move the implementation date of the WHTI back to June 1, 2009, and is part of an immigration bill now pending in the Senate.

By law, the WHTI currently must be fully implemented by January 1, 2008.

“The amendment simply changes the [implementation] date but it doesn´t say anything else,” explained Richard Webster, vice president, Government Affairs for the Travel Industry Association, which has lobbied for the deadline extension. “So it does not preclude the federal government from imposing the requirements on all or any portion of the traveling public before that [implementation] date.”

The phased in administrative deadlines were created by State and the DHS in order to handle the tens of millions of travelers impacted by the WHTI law starting January 1.

The passport requirement would then be expanded to other countries leading up to full implementation of the WHTI by 2008.

But under the Stevens/Leahy amendment to the immigration bill now pending in the Senate, the deadline would be moved to June 1, 2009.