U.S. Senate Amendment Could Hold Back Passport Plan by 17 Months

The U.S. Senate passed an amendment last week that could delay for 17 more months a plan to require passports or other government-approved documentation for U.S.-Canada and U.S.-Mexico cross-border travel.

The amendment, sponsored by senators Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), would push the deadline to June 1, 2009. As the current requirement now stands, the effective date is Jan. 1, 2008 for U.S.-Canada and U.S.-Mexico cross-border travel.

There are several steps to go before that actually would happen. The Senate must pass the immigration reform bill with the amendment attached, and it must survive a House-Senate conference to resolve differences in their immigration bills. The House and Senate would then have to pass the conference committee bill.

Just the prospect of further delay, however, pleased the travel industry.

“Adoption of the Stevens-Leahy amendment by the Senate is a terrific first step toward extending a deadline that very well may deter travel into the United States and threaten U.S. jobs and economic viability in travel and tourism,” said Roger Dow, president and CEO of the Travel Industry Association.

The documentation requirement, the first phase of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, originally was first scheduled to take effect at the end of 2005. But lobbying by the travel industry convinced the State and Homeland Security departments to push the deadline to Jan. 1, 2008.

Travel and business officials are worried the expense and hassle will deter trade and tourism.

In response, the State and Homeland Security departments in January proposed a less expensive official document called the People Access Security Service, or PASS card. It would be priced at about $60 and is designed for people who regularly cross back and forth to Canada or Mexico via land crossings, but that card is still a work in progress.