PORT ANGELES – The Bush administration has agreed to delay for at least six months a January 2008 date to require that Americans present passports when crossing a U.S. border by land or sea from other nations in the Western Hemisphere.
“We are not going to drop the ax on Jan. 1, 2008,” said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff on Wednesday.
“We’ve come to understand that it’s important to build flexibility in our systems,” Chertoff said.
The announcement was good news for the North Olympic Peninsula tourism industry.
It would keep it easy to ferry between Port Angeles and Canada for a little longer.
But the delay might also add to the confusion surrounding the various deadlines by which land, sea and air travelers need to have passports, according to people involved in tourism.
“The operative word is confusion,” said Terry Roth, general manager of Northwest Duty Free Stores in Port Angeles.
“Since this issue has come back up, more confusion has come up.
“Six months isn’t as good as a year, but at least it’s six months,” he said.
The delay gives people more time to obtain passports.
The demand is such that the State Department has warned applicants to allow as long as 12 weeks for their passports to be issued and up to three weeks for expedited processing at an extra fee.
Previously, the maximum wait was six weeks and two weeks, respectively.
“People still will put it off, though,” said Roth, “and at $90 a passport, it’s still going to be discouraging for families.”
Port Angeles Mayor Karen Rogers was lukewarm about the passport deadline extension.
“I’m pleased that it is extended but the problem is getting exacerbated,” she said.
“It is not going away.
“Does it give us more time to plan? Sure,” she said.
“The problem is the public is frustrated and tourism suffers because of the frustration.”
Russ Veenema, executive director of the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce, said, “The worst part is many will throw up hands and say, ‘I’ll just do something else [besides cross the border].'”
Many people phone the chamber’s visitor center to ask about the latest passport requirements, Veenema said.
But it’s impossible to know how many people simply give up and decide not to cross the border at all because of the confusion, he said.
“So it falls on our shoulders to help get the word out.”
The announcement marks the second time in a month that officials have scaled back plans in response to complaints.
Since Jan. 23, passports had been required for air travelers returning to the U.S. from other nations in the Western Hemisphere.
But earlier this month, the Bush administration lifted the requirement until September because of the backlog in processing passports.
The new passport deadline, expected to be in the summer of 2008, will be determined by the Secretary of Homeland Security in consultation with the Secretary of State.
Those two departments will implement the passport requirements included in the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative approved by Congress in 2004.
The new deadline will be formally announced with at least 60 days notice, Chertoff said.
As it stands now, beginning in January, land and sea travelers returning from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda will be allowed to present a birth certificate and driver’s license in lieu of a passport.
Starting next year, travelers will no longer be able to make a verbal declaration of U.S. citizenship to re-enter the country.
