As of Monday, returning to the United States at land and sea ports will require a passport or other approved identification — such as an enhanced identification card.
But, if you’re in Victoria next week and lose your approved identification, officials will let you back in.
“If you’re not compliant, you’re still going to get let into the United States,” Daniel Horsman, port director for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, told the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce at a luncheon Monday.
How long officials will remain flexible in the face of the new rule is unknown.
The new requirements are for all citizens of the United States, Canada, Mexico and Bermuda — who previously were allowed to travel between their countries without stringent proof of identity.
The new rule was created under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security/Department of State anti-terrorism policy known as the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, which is part of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004.
Similar rules for air travelers went into effect in January 2007, but the regulations for land crossings and sea entries were delayed because of a massive backlog of passport requests in the months leading up to the air travel changes.
Valid documents will be:
•SEnSA passport book.
•SEnSA passport card, newly created for crossing only from Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean under the new rules.
•SEnSAn enhanced Washington state driver’s license.
•SEnSA “trusted traveler” document such as a Nexus card.
• An “enhanced” Washington state driver’s license, embedded with citizenship identification.
• Military identification with official travel orders.
• A U.S. merchant mariner document.
Children younger than 16 can present a birth certificate to move through the line with their passport-carrying parents.
Of the nearly 1 million people who enter the U.S. by land or sea every day, more than 80 percent of U.S. and Canadian travelers are already compliant with the new requirements, Horsman said.
Applications for passports, which take several weeks to process, can be filed at the Clallam County Auditor’s Office in the courthouse at 223 E. 4th St.; the Sequim City Hall, 152 W. Cedar St., and the U.S. Post Office at 424 E. First St. in Port Angeles.
The Jefferson County District Court clerk’s office, once the only location in the county to file passport applications, stopped receiving applications on May 1.
The closest location to apply for a passport for East Jefferson County residents is Sequim City Hall, while the closest locations for West Jefferson County are either the Clallam County Auditor’s Office or the post office in Port Angeles or the Grays Harbor County Clerk at 102 W. Broadway in Montesano.
Applications for enhanced identification cards such as an enhanced driver’s license can be filed at the state Department of Licensing office at 228 W. First St. in Port Angeles.
The DOL office in Forks does not handle those applications.
A passport card — which can only be used to re-enter the United States through land and sea ports — can be received by filling out the same application for a passport.
A passport costs $100 for adults and $85 for children under the age of 16.
A passport card costs $45 for adults and $35 for children under the age of 16.
Getting a passport within two to three weeks after filing an application will cost an extra $60. Overnight delivery costs an additional $14.85.
Updating a valid Washington state driver’s license or other identification card to the enhanced version costs $15. For those people without identification cards or with out-of-state identification cards, getting an enhanced card will cost $60.
The deadline is the same for Canadian travellers to the United States, but the United States will be flexible, Joanne Ferreira, spokesperson for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, told Canwest News Service.
Several Canadian provinces are working toward creation of enhanced driver’s licences as a passport alternative, the news service said.
