Crazy passport ?'s

[colleene24]

My Mom just asked me if I have gotten my passports yet? I said I wasn't going anywhere so why would I? She said that with the new passport laws going to effect in Jan. that everyone traveling had to have a passport. I told her that it was only people traveling out of the country. I am going to WDW in Jan. and she insists I need a passport. I am freaking out now, but I think she is wrong. Any help here? Thanks a bunch.
Colleen

 

[elwise1966]

You are right...you're mother is wrong.

The requirement going into effect in January has to do with travel to/from Mexico and Canada.

Do a search as there are several threads here discussing the new requirements and the dates they go into effect.

 

[colleene24]

Thank you so much.

 

[Sandi]

Don't you just love it when your mom tries to "help"?

Even though you don't need the passport for your January trip, you might want to consider getting one for the future. It's probably more of an issue with people who live in border states (like me in Michigan) where we are accustomed to traveling to Canada or Mexico a lot. We just applied to renew our DD12's passport and they said it will take 4 to 6 weeks for the new one to arrive. The official said that as it gets closer to January 1, they expect a deluge of applications which may cause the processing time to be longer.

 

[tjmw2727]

Yep - your mom is 1/2 right

Starting in January US citizens will need passports for out of the country destinations they could previously travel to without them. Off hand IIRC, Canada, Mexico, the Bahamas and the Carribean. Travel for US citizens within the country isn't affected.

Here is a link in case she needs more "convincing"!
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cbpmc/cbpmc_2223.html

TJ

 

[QT Pooh]

Actually, the passport guidelines for travel to Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean are only for air travel. It's not until 1/1/2008 (as of right now on the webpage mentioned above) that you need a passport for land & sea crossings to those places.

My 12 year old daughter has a class trip (by bus) in May 2007 to Quebec City and only her birth certificate is required. We watch the requirements regularly because of this.