As seen in a wire service story:
Nearly all air travelers entering the U.S. will be required to show passports beginning Jan. 23, including returning Americans and people from Canada and other nations in the Western Hemisphere.[...]
The requirement marks a change for Americans, Canadians, Bermudians and some Mexicans.
Currently, U.S. citizens returning from other countries in the hemisphere are not required to present passports but must show other proof of citizenship such as driver’s licenses or birth certificates.[...]
The Homeland Security Department estimates that about one in four Americans has a passport. Some people have balked at the $97 price tag.[...]
Chertoff said his agency’s data revealed that in September 2006, 90 percent of passengers leaving from Canadian airports had passports. The department estimated that 69 percent of U.S. travelers to Canada, 58 percent of U.S. travelers to Mexico, and 75 percent of U.S. travelers to the Caribbean hold passports.
The last quoted paragraph is a useful reality check. It sounds like most folks who would governed by the new regs already have passports. (Only air travel seems to be affected. Popping across the border to, for example, check out the views of Niagara Falls or go clubbing in Tijuana, aren’t governed by this change…yet. That change is scheduled for 2008.
I’m betting that folks who have plans to go skiing in the Canadian Rockies in January who don’t already have passports are muttering about the short notice, however. With the holidays upon us, and a 6-week turnaround time on a passport….