Passport To Canada

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Try A Passport Card Instead Of Using A Passport To Canada

One common passport question that often arises for people considering international travel is the question of whether or not a passport is required for border nations. In America, this question applies to Mexico and Canada. Currently, the answer is yes, a passport to Canada or Mexico is needed when traveling. Anyone thinking of traveling outside the US borders will need a valid passport card.
Prior to June 1, 2009, passports were not required for land travel to U.S. border countries. Passports were often times not required for air travel, provided that the border country was the only destination. Before June of 2009, state issued documents such as driver's licenses or government identification cards were sufficient to re-enter the United States.

The new laws that went into effect in June 2009 make it mandatory for any traveler, even those going to border countries or cruises will now need passport documentation to get back into the country. The events of September 11th have changed the world forever. It may have taken a while for the actual law to go into place, but make no mistake that those terrorist events were the inspiration for travel laws like this.

According to the government, these rules were put in place to tighten up our security and make the country a safer place. Previously, illegal immigrants would travel into Canada or Mexico and pass through the borders fairly easily. Driver's licenses and birth certificates were fairly easy to forge and the new documentation makes it much more difficult to gain entry to the United States.

Although the law would seem to make perfect sense, many of the citizens on the bordering states are up in arms about the inconvenience that has been posed to them. There are outcries that it is ridiculous to have to carry a passport to Canada when we have traveled so freely in the past. These same people are not taking the time to consider that these border countries are the very means by which terrorists have previously entered our country.

The government continues to maintain that this measure is necessary to beef up our country's security. However, they have also conceded that these new measures are quite different and know that people do not respond to change very well. For that reason, there are now different types of passport documentation that can be used to make things a little more convenient.

One of the new items available to travelers is the passport card. It conveniently fits right into a regular wallet and does not have the bulk or size of a standard passport. Anyone traveling on a round trip Caribbean cruise or heading into Canada or Mexico by land can now use this instead of carrying their passport around with them all the time.

It is perfectly understandable why the government is going through such lengths to protect the US borders. Illegal immigration and terrorism is always a hot topic for politicians to banter over during elections times. However, it is also nice to see a small concession that makes it possible for the casual traveler to have a convenient document to use when they would normally need a standard passport to Canada or Mexico. Learn more about rush USA passports today!
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