Her454
03-24-2006, 11:59 AM
Looks like we better get our passports in order................. :rollside:
Passport convenience
BY BLAKE SCHMIDT, SUN STAFF WRITER
Mar 23, 2006, 8:01 pm
SAN LUIS, Ariz. — A new law that will soon require Americans traveling in Canada, Mexico and other places in the Western Hemisphere to show passports or similar identification when re-entering the country has caused a boom in demand for passports at local post offices.
To cater to that growing demand, the San Luis post office will hold a passport fair from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. this Saturday.
Postmaster Diane Merrill said the fair will give working parents an opportunity to come to the post office with their kids, and also give winter visitors an opportunity to take care of the matter before they head out of town again.
"If we do it on Saturday, its to convenience people who can't come during the week," she said.
The Yuma post office will also be holding a fair on April 8, according to Yuma Postmaster Greg Baker.
Baker and Merrill said both post offices have experienced a spike in passport applications since the new passport plan
was proposed last April.
"We're doing at least 10 passports a day. A year ago, just one or two a week," Merrill said. Baker reported similar increases at the Yuma office.
By the end of this year, Americans re-entering the United States from Canada, Mexico and other Western Hemisphere countries by air and sea will have to present a passport.
By the end of 2007, that passport requirement will apply to Americans re-entering the U.S. from those countries at land-border crossings.
"Right now, for certain destinations in Mexico, you don't need a passport, and that's going to change," said Liza Davis, spokesperson at the U.S. Consulate General in Tijuana.
But after complaints from cities along the Mexican and Canadian borders, the Bush administration has announced plans to introduce a new "passport card" that would be available for land border crossers as early as next year, said Department of Homeland Security spokesman Jarrod Agen.
Agen said plans for the card are still in the making, though it is expected the card would be about half the price of a $97 passport, and would be the size of a credit card so crossers could keep them in their wallets.
Agen said the intent of the new laws are to limit the number of eligible documents that crossers can use at the border, which would make Customs and Border Protection agentsÂ’ lives easier.
"(Right now) there are 8,000 different types of birth certificates and dozens of different driversÂ’ licenses, and CBP agents have to be experts in all of them," he said.
Mayor Larry Nelson said it's "sad" that Americans will soon be required to carry passports to Mexico and Canada, though he said he understands that the new measure gives authorities a better opportunity of "catching the bad guy."
"On the other hand, its an infringement upon some of our rights, which al-Qaeda took from us when they attacked us on 9/11," he said.
Merrill said it takes about a half hour for the post office to process a passport application. Applicants then receive their passport in the mail within six weeks.
The San Luis post office will be setting up tents outside Saturday where residents can come to complete their passport applications.
Applicants should bring an original of a birth certificate, as well as a government-issued photo ID, like a driver's license, Merrill said.
Applicants can bring their own two-by-two color photos, or have their photos taken at the post office for $15.
A passport costs $97 for an adult and $82 for a child.
For more information, call the post office at 627-2868.
Merrill and Baker said there will likely be more passport fairs, depending on the turn out for these initial efforts.
Passport convenience
BY BLAKE SCHMIDT, SUN STAFF WRITER
Mar 23, 2006, 8:01 pm
SAN LUIS, Ariz. — A new law that will soon require Americans traveling in Canada, Mexico and other places in the Western Hemisphere to show passports or similar identification when re-entering the country has caused a boom in demand for passports at local post offices.
To cater to that growing demand, the San Luis post office will hold a passport fair from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. this Saturday.
Postmaster Diane Merrill said the fair will give working parents an opportunity to come to the post office with their kids, and also give winter visitors an opportunity to take care of the matter before they head out of town again.
"If we do it on Saturday, its to convenience people who can't come during the week," she said.
The Yuma post office will also be holding a fair on April 8, according to Yuma Postmaster Greg Baker.
Baker and Merrill said both post offices have experienced a spike in passport applications since the new passport plan
was proposed last April.
"We're doing at least 10 passports a day. A year ago, just one or two a week," Merrill said. Baker reported similar increases at the Yuma office.
By the end of this year, Americans re-entering the United States from Canada, Mexico and other Western Hemisphere countries by air and sea will have to present a passport.
By the end of 2007, that passport requirement will apply to Americans re-entering the U.S. from those countries at land-border crossings.
"Right now, for certain destinations in Mexico, you don't need a passport, and that's going to change," said Liza Davis, spokesperson at the U.S. Consulate General in Tijuana.
But after complaints from cities along the Mexican and Canadian borders, the Bush administration has announced plans to introduce a new "passport card" that would be available for land border crossers as early as next year, said Department of Homeland Security spokesman Jarrod Agen.
Agen said plans for the card are still in the making, though it is expected the card would be about half the price of a $97 passport, and would be the size of a credit card so crossers could keep them in their wallets.
Agen said the intent of the new laws are to limit the number of eligible documents that crossers can use at the border, which would make Customs and Border Protection agentsÂ’ lives easier.
"(Right now) there are 8,000 different types of birth certificates and dozens of different driversÂ’ licenses, and CBP agents have to be experts in all of them," he said.
Mayor Larry Nelson said it's "sad" that Americans will soon be required to carry passports to Mexico and Canada, though he said he understands that the new measure gives authorities a better opportunity of "catching the bad guy."
"On the other hand, its an infringement upon some of our rights, which al-Qaeda took from us when they attacked us on 9/11," he said.
Merrill said it takes about a half hour for the post office to process a passport application. Applicants then receive their passport in the mail within six weeks.
The San Luis post office will be setting up tents outside Saturday where residents can come to complete their passport applications.
Applicants should bring an original of a birth certificate, as well as a government-issued photo ID, like a driver's license, Merrill said.
Applicants can bring their own two-by-two color photos, or have their photos taken at the post office for $15.
A passport costs $97 for an adult and $82 for a child.
For more information, call the post office at 627-2868.
Merrill and Baker said there will likely be more passport fairs, depending on the turn out for these initial efforts.