U.S. to require passports for nearly all air travelers, including Americans, starting Jan. 23

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Nearly all air travelers entering the U.S. will be required to show passports beginning Jan. 23, including returning Americans and people from Canada and other nations in the Western Hemisphere.

The date was disclosed Tuesday by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff in an interview with The Associated Press. The Department of Homeland Security plans to announce the change on Wednesday.

Until now, the department had not set a specific date for instituting the passport requirement for air travelers, though the start had been expected to be around the beginning of the year. Setting the date on Jan. 23 pushes the start past the holiday season.

The requirement marks a change for Americans, Canadians, Bermudans and some Mexicans.

Currently, U.S. citizens returning from other countries in the hemisphere are not required to present passports but must show other proof of citizenship such as driver's licenses or birth certificates.

Visitors from most countries in the hemisphere are required to show passports. However, people from Canada, Bermuda -- and those from Mexico who enter the U.S. frequently and have special border-crossing cards -- have been allowed to use other forms of identification, including driver's licenses.

I've never traveled into the US by air, I didn't even know this was a law, and it surprised me.

people from Canada, Bermuda and Mexico would have worked fine, no?

This is kinda old news. Been in the works for awhile.

I'm starting to see the plan.

Make flying such a miserable experience that no one will want to do it, commercial flight ends due to lack of use, and no terrorists will be able to hijack planes.

Brilliant!

it's good for cutting down on greenhouse gas emissions too though, and we all know your government doesn't want to do that.

Something about what this article is saying tells me that if the government can't push through a "National I.D." then they are going to move to make a U.S. passport the next best thing.

this shit seems like a no-brainer to me.

I don't really see the problem with this. You travel out of the country, you get a passport. What's the big deal?

It kinda takes all the fun out of NAFTA. =(

And it makes it much harder for minors to sneak across the border whilst on school trips.

Personally I think it sucks, but that's me speaking as a person who travels to the US fairly frequently and isn't looking forward to even more hassle. The majority of people who fly already have passports but keep in mind that this is just phase one of the plan. The next, phase which is slated to occur sometime in 2009 will require passports for all land and sea crossings as well.

Only 23% of Americans have a passport, and Canada's tourism industry is heavily dependant on American tourist dollars...so this is kind of a big deal for us. I see this initiative affecting the amount of traffic crossing the border from both sides and having a negative impact (especially in border communities) on both sides of the border.

Then again, this was probably inevitable

show em jens funbags and i bet you get preferential treatment

I've been to the Bahamas, Mexico, Canada, and the Virgin Islands ... all without a passport.

It's $60 and takes an hour. I don't see what the big deal is.

I've rescheduled vacations over a $30 shift in airline prices.

$60 is a lot of money, but it does last for 10 years...

On that note, my passport is expired.

i dont see the big deal. if i have to show a photo ID to buy a beer, then i dont see anything wrong with having a passport to enter a country.

Exactly. If you can afford to fly internationally, you can afford the small charge and time to get a passport. If anything, I think this will speed up the process at customs, which I imagine most are in favor of.

Like i said, that's fine for air travel since there is already considerable expense and planning involved, but i'm also looking ahead to when this is implemented for land crossings. Something as simple as a $60 charge (per person) could be enough to altar a family's vacation plans. Suddenly you have the added expense of $240 and a month or two of red tape for a family of four.

Btw, when i last got a passport in Canada the charge was $87 (children under 16 are $37) and it was only good for 5 years.

Anyways my point is that although this probably isn't going to deter any of my future plans i know plenty of people who will be.