News from GICC - Western Hemisphere travel initiative

If you find yourself perplexed about when passports will be required at the US border, you're not alone.

A scan of media reports over the last few weeks will reveal at least three different deadlines for the implementation of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) at land and sea crossings: January 1, 2008, Summer, 2008, and June 1, 2009.

Announcements from south of the border have been made almost daily as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the U.S. Congress lock horns on the passport issue. The result is confusion and uncertainty, here in Innisfil and throughout Canada and the U.S. And that's bad for business.

The question seems simple: "When will passport or other WHTI-approved document be required by people entering the United States?" The answer is anything but.

As you know, passports are already required for Canadians flying to the U.S. but Americans have received a reprieve from this requirement due to the enormous backlog of passport applications in their country.

In a clear-as-mud rule, U.S. citizens are able to re-enter the U.S. with a receipt to show they've simply applied for a passport.

Land and sea travelers, on the other hand, could be forgiven for feeling a bit like a buoy in the St. Lawrence River.

The original target for land and sea crossings was January 1, 2008 but no later than June 1, 2009.

Three weeks ago the Democratic-dominated U.S. Congress passed legislation to set the implementation date for land and sea crossings at the extreme outside of the original target - June 2009.

That is also when a pilot project between British Columbia and Washington State is scheduled to wrap up.

An enhanced driver's licence is being tested there which may provide a model for an alternate identification to a passport - a model that could be applied across the U.S. Congress has insisted it's essential to review the results of the pilot project before proceeding with full WHTI implementation.

They want to see if the model is both efficient and cost-effective.