One thing that many people are now worried about is the documentation that they will need when traveling on a cruise or to places like Canada or Mexico. For years, we never needed a passport to Canada, but obvious happenings over the last decade have changed all of that. Today, anyone that is leaving the country needs some type of passport documentation.

Prior to 2009, the restrictions on travel were not so strict. As long as the border country was the final destination and the travel was going to be solely by land, anyone could pretty much get in and out of the country with nothing more than a drivers license. As long as the identification was government issued and valid, there would be no problems.

The new 2009 law requires passports for any travel outside of the U.S. This law applies to land, sea, and air travel. Although this law was implemented nearly 8 years after the September 11th attacks of 2001, many people point to 9/11 as the motivation behind the law.

According to the U.S State Department and the Department of Homeland Security, the new border laws are part of a widespread attempt to tighten border security and curb illegal immigration. Since it is often times easier to illegally enter border nations like Mexico and Canada, it would be conceivably possibly for a terrorist or otherwise unsavory character to enter a boarder nation and then cross into America with a fraudulent driver’s license. Passports are more difficult than driver’s licenses to counterfeit and are therefore better for security.

Although the law would seem to make perfect sense, many of the citizens on the bordering states are up in arms about the inconvenience that has been posed to them. There are outcries that it is ridiculous to have to carry a passport to Canada when we have traveled so freely in the past. These same people are not taking the time to consider that these border countries are the very means by which terrorists have previously entered our country.

The State Department and the Department of Homeland Security maintain that these new regulations are the best way to curb the flow of dangerous illegal immigrants. Although the new law is certainly inconvenient to some, the benefits of the added security outweigh any personal inconvenience. Still, the Department of State is offering some new innovations to make the transition a bit smoother.

One of the new items available to travelers is the passport card. It conveniently fits right into a regular wallet and does not have the bulk or size of a standard passport. Anyone traveling on a round trip Caribbean cruise or heading into Canada or Mexico by land can now use this instead of carrying their passport around with them all the time.

It is clear that rush new passports will be required to enter border countries from now on. Given the obvious national security advantages, it seems quite unlikely that the U.S. government will have any reason to change these laws in the near future. Luckily, innovations like the USA Passport Card make the mandatory carrying of a passport to Canada and Mexico a bit more convenient.

Tags

Travel Guides and Holiday News

Related posts

• New Passport Card: It’s A Great Idea To Purchase One (0)
• New Passport Card Can Be The Greatest Step To Get Your Pass Port (0)
• If You’re Leaving On A Trip You’ll Need To Get A Pasport Card (0)