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Tightened US passport requirements coming soon
Travel to US neighbors will soon require passports in renewed efforts to tighten boarder security, and officials warn visitors should act quickly to renew or acquire new passports.
At the end of the year, a passport will be required for travel by sea or air to Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean, Bermuda, and Central and South America.
By the end of next year, a passport will be needed for all international travel, including land crossings such as the Tijuana border.
?US State Department officials say consumers appear savvy about the new requirements, which are part of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative to strengthen border security,? said MercuryNews.com.
Passport applications this year have increased 30% over the first six months of 2005. Projections are about 13 million Americans will obtain passports this year, according to the Bureau of Consular Affairs. Meanwhile, Caribbean tourism officials are pushing for another extension.
?The reason for a further postponement must be that the pick up of new passports by US citizens has been nowhere near the numbers that we would like to see,? said Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace, secretary general of the Caribbean Tourism Organization.
The Caribbean is pushing ahead of an educational campaign to suggest American visitors become aware about the passport requirements.
Report by David Wilkening
David
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