Americans and Neighbors
Must Fly with Passport to US
Washington,
DC: As of last Tuesday, all Americans, Mexicans, Canadians
and Bermudians traveling by air to the United States have
been required to carry a passport, according to the Department
of Homeland Security.
The new measure is part of the Department’s Western
Hemisphere Travel Initiative, following the recommendations
of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks on the United
States, better known as the 9/11 Commission. It is aimed
at making it more difficult for terrorists to enter the
country with fake documents.
“The Department expects a smooth transition to the
new passport requirement based on the current numbers of
travelers arriving at US airports with passports,”
the Department said last Tuesday in a statement. It said
that more than 90 percent of Americans, 97 percent of Canadians,
and nearly everybody from Mexico and the Bermudas who traveled
to the United States by airplane over the past week arrived
with passports. Up to now, all travelers from the four countries,
especially from Canada, were allowed to enter the United
States with a simple identification document such as a driver’s
license.
A large majority of Americans and Canadians lack a valid
passport. Travel to the US will fall under “a separate
proposed rule,” the Department said.
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