CBP ad blitz will explain new travel document requirements

Customs and Border Protection officials are using the National Football League's opening game between the Washington Redskins and the New York Giants on Thursday night to launch more than just another sports season. The agency will kick off its $12 million campaign to alert travelers to new border-crossing requirements.

A public service ad expected to reach 20 million people will remind viewers that by June 2009, they will have to carry one of six documents approved under the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative to enter the United States by land or sea. The initiative already took effect for air travelers, who are only allowed to present passports.

"We want to give the public ample time to get these documents," said Thomas Winkowski, assistant commissioner for field operations at CBP, an agency within the Homeland Security Department.

"Our challenge is to educate the traveling public," he added. "They want to comply."

U.S. and Canadian citizens now can show any of about 8,000 documents at land and sea crossings, including driver's licenses, birth certificates, baptismal certificates and tribal membership cards. After June 1, 2009, these documents will no longer be acceptable.

The six documents that will be allowed under the travel initiative -- a joint effort of the Homeland Security and State departments -- are by design difficult to counterfeit, Winkowski said. All have embedded radio frequency identification technology and include citizenship and identity information and a photo of the document holder.

A key challenge will be upgrading ports of entry to accommodate the required technology. "On the land borders, seconds mean a lot," Winkowski said. "We understand the importance the borders play in the movement of people and goods." The agency estimates it will cost $352 million during the next two years to install license plate readers and machines capable of reading the RFID data embedded in travel documents. Thus far, only $252 million has been appropriated for the program, but Winkowski said he was "very confident" the remaining $100 million would be granted in the fiscal 2009 budget.

During the next month, CBP will test the new RFID readers at the ports of Nogales, Ariz., and Blaine, Wash., he said.

CBP is urging travelers to go to www.GetYouHome.gov for more information about how to determine the best documents and obtain them.

The permissible IDs are:

• Passports (cost: $100 for those 16 years and older, $85 for those under 16).
• Passport cards, which the State Department recently began to issue (cost: $45 for those 16 and older, $35 for those under 16, $20 if requested with a new or renewed passport). Unlike regular passports, these are not valid for international air travel.
• Enhanced driver's licenses (cost: $15-$20, depending on state or province). To date, only Washington state and Canada's British Columbia issue these. New York and Arizona, along with the Canadian provinces of Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba, will begin issuing them in the fall and winter, and CBP officials expect other states to follow suit.
• NEXUS cards (cost: $50). These are for preapproved, low-risk travelers crossing the U.S.-Canadian border. They give bearers access to dedicated commuter lanes on the northern border and certain kiosks at designated Canadian airports, and allow expedited marine reporting.
• SENTRI cards (cost: $122.25). These are for preapproved, low-risk travelers crossing the U.S.-Mexican border and give bearers access to dedicated commuter lanes.
• FAST cards (cost: $50). These are for preapproved, low-risk truck drivers crossing either the northern or southern border in dedicated lanes.