I was listening to this story on the radio in Buffalo and the St.Catherines local radio station. If you are going into/returning into the US (if youre a US citizen or canadian/mexican ) after 2008 from Canada or Mexico youre going to have to have a passport to get in to the country. There's been a mix of welcome and not so welcome responses from either side of the border. Particulary up here in border country with Niagara Falls/Toronto with Buffalo Bills/Sabres Toronto Blue Jays games and etc, a lot of this area to a certain extent relies on tourism from both sides of the border. Do you think its a good idea? Does it make the US a safer place?
http//news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4417473.stm
Hopefully they will either drop the whole change or at least issue some cheap form of electronic identification.
The way it's proposed it's unlikely that people on both sides of the border are going to go through the hassle and cost of getting a passport. In some border towns its difficult to see how it would work. So many people move in both directions each day.
We used to often go across to Alexandria Bay in NY, but since 9/11 the lineups have put us and many people off. The introduction of passports could shut down many small businesses on both sides of the border.
It's going to be a pain down south too for all those (legal) day workers that cross over from TJ to work in San Diego (the same being true up and down the border). And there are loads of non-passported Americans that currently pop over the border that will not be able to do so. Those Mexican border towns are already in a pretty bad state already. Cutting off those tourist bucks is only going to make things worse.
They'll need some kind of (optional, local) electronic ID card to make things quicker on the border cities for sure. I lived in a little village on the border of Germany and Austria (pre-EU) and people who lived in the village, or the county "Landkreis" were able to cross without a passport for shopping and work and whatnot. I couldn't imagine what people in Detroit/Windsor or Buffalo/Niagara are thinking at the moment.
who cares?
why wait until 2008 is my question. if it's a matter of national security why 3 year wait?
maybe we can persuade 'evil-doers' to hang on a while before entering the country.
and non of the 9/11 highjackers were Canadian or came in on Canadian passports. So I just don't get it all round.
who cares?
why wait until 2008 is my question. if it's a matter of national security why 3 year wait?
Why? Just logistics.
Potentially millions of people could flood passport offices.
Thousands pass accross the Canada/Mexico border each day for business and pleasure, legally, without passports. I have never used a passport to cross into the US. Up until 9/11 they only asked if you were Canadian Citizens, when we drove across. And for flying my citizenship Cert was accepted.
I had an unusual experience when returned from San Diego on Mar 2 this year. I had lost the Certificate but Delta and Canada Customs took my word for it and accepted my drivers license.
BTW I'm not replacing the Cert. Instead I am applying for a passport. I do have a UK passport that expires in May. I'm not planning to renew it.
Why? Just logistics.
Potentially millions of people could flood passport offices.
what's worse?
a backlogue at the passport agency or to compromise nat security (whether or not there is a nat security issue is another debate)
Actually the delay is probably part of a deal brokered with the Canadians and the Mexicans rather than a concern about internal logistics (since when did the federal government care about people waiting for anything).
="manc1976
what's worse?
a backlogue at the passport agency or to compromise nat security (whether or not there is a nat security issue is another debate)
Have to amit you may be right.
Some of the people crossing from the US could be undesirables.
Some of the people crossing from the US could be undesirables.
I've always been on my best behaviour in Windsor.