U.S. and the new border reality

On January 23rd, the U.S. implemented its stringent new passport requirements for travellers to their country. Meanwhile, many Canadians are getting ready to head down south. Passport offices were unprepared for the long queues of applicants and called back retirees to help. It seems that applications and documents are scrutinized more thoroughly: what was accepted previously may now be rejected. Consequently, Passport Canada has cautioned travellers to allow ample time when making reservations. To be on the safe side and avoid having to cancel your trip, allow several months instead of the few weeks that it took previously.

I’ve seen a story on the evening news the other night, of a rural Ontario family whose photograph of the husband (too dark) and their little girl’s birth certificate (paper frayed on one corner) were rejected, so the family was faced with the lengthy and costly process of re-applying, being told the documents were still not up to par, going through the whole process again – and making several long trips back and forth to the nearest Passport Office – only to run out of time and miss their trip to Disneyworld. And this was a Caucasian family. I shudder to think how long it takes a ‘visible minority’ family or person…

Even if you already have your passport in hand, this immigration column by Guidy Mamann sheds some light and poses a few likely scenarios.

Mamman is an acquaintance of mine who is a specialist in immigration law.

New border reality is here

Canadian passport offices have been doing a booming business in recent weeks as the United States gets set to implement a major phase of its Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative.

My office is on the same floor as the downtown Toronto passport office. So for weeks now, my staff and I have witnessed, and had to maneuver around, many hapless Canadians sitting on the floor outside the passport office as they complete their passport applications while waiting their turn in line.

This is because starting on January 23rd, citizens of Canada, the United States, Mexico and Bermuda will need a passport when arriving in the U.S. by air.

U.S. Coast Guard Merchant Mariner’s Documents, NEXUS Air Cards, and U.S. Permanent Resident Cards will continue to be acceptable documentation for this purpose.

This proposal was the result of the recommendations made by the 9/11 Commission.

A further proposal to extend this requirement to land and sea travel may be implemented as early as January 1, 2008.

It is expected that American citizens who might otherwise fly to Canada using birth certificates and drivers licenses, etc. may pass up on some of these trips in the future should they be unable or unwilling to apply for or renew their American passport in time for their trip to Canada. How much these lost trips will cost Canada’s tourism industry is unknown.

What is clear is that, this week will mark the beginning of the end of our cozy, or perhaps quaint, border relations with our American neighbours. As far as the U.S. is concerned, Canadians will finally have to answer to the call of “passport please” just like everybody else.

It will be interesting to see if our Minister of Citizenship and Immigration will maintain or repeal regulation 52 (2) (a) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations which specifically exempts visiting American citizens from Canada’s passport requirements and regulation (b) which exempts American green card holders from these requirements when entering Canada from the United States.

If these regulations remain in place we will be left with the curious result that American citizens will require a passport to enter their own country by air but won’t require one when flying to ours.

On the other hand, if these regulations are repealed, the move may be viewed as cheap tit-for-tat politics. However, if the Americans view their recent initiative as truly necessary to the security of the western hemisphere, then they will welcome such a move as one needed to further that objective.

We shall see.

Guidy Mamann is the senior lawyer at Mamann & Associates and is certified by the
Law Society of Upper Canada as a Specialist in immigration law.

Hear Guidy live each Sunday morning at 11:00am on Toronto’s AM640.

His weekly column appears in four languages and is published in various newspapers and publications in the Greater Toronto area and in Vancouver as well as in major internet portals.