Papers Please

The newswires offer this helpful reminder to have documentation in order next week if you’re flying to/from Canada, Mexico, or the Caribbean starting next week:

Starting Tuesday, air travelers who are citizens of Canada, Mexico and Bermuda, as well as U.S. citizens returning home, must with few exceptions display passports to enter the United States.[...]

The bigger hurdle is scheduled to begin as soon as January 2008, when passports will be required for travelers by land and sea — a much larger category of people.[...]

There are 70,000 Canadian “snowbirds” in the United States, mostly in Florida, and concern has been expressed that some may have arrived without their passports.

Starting next week, those traveling by air would be required to produce passports when leaving the U.S.

Other than the potential hiccuups on implementation, I have to admit that I’m not too bothered by the idea of presenting a passport when crossing the border in and of itself. Already a certain amount of documentation has been (at least in theory) required, and a passport is easier to tote around than a birth certificate.

Where I do have some concerns would be:

• I’m not entirely sure I like the prospect of extra hassle to leave cross the border. That’s partly because it feels Berlin Wall-ish, and partly because the extra stop at the border would be a headache. Perhaps if it were streamlined…
   
• The process of obtaining and renewing a passport needs to be improved significantly. Waiting weeks to get your new passport…unless you’re willing to pay out the wazoo…seems needlessly inefficient. Even the DMV will let most folks through in a day or two.
   
• And, of course, I’m not entirely comfortable with the (in)security surrounding the move towards RFID-laden “smart” passports. I understand the desire to have passports be read/processed more easily, but thoughtful efforts to protect individuals privacy seem all too rare today, especially when the government is involved.