New Passport Laws Don’t Impede Border Crossing - Expedited Passports

In 2009, new passport laws went into effect that changed the documents required for travel between the US, Mexico and Canada. Called the Western Travel Initiative (WHTI), the regulations required most US citizens to have either a passport or a passport card for land and sea travel to either country, with a passport book being required for air travel.

Local businesses on both sides of the border have been ruing that day ever since, blaming the requirements for slowing down the number of consumers able to casually hop from country to country.

Now, a new report suggests that at least on the US/Canadian border, the problem may be an issue of perception rather than an actual increase in wait times.  According to the Spectator, an in-depth study commissioned by the Binational Economic and Tourism Alliance found that 90 percent of the time, cars and trucks had to wait just 5-10 minutes to get across the border.

Executive director Arlene White told the Spectator that the study was prompted by continued angst from businesses over the new passport requirements:

“We just kept hearing that it’s tough to cross and it’s a hassle. We wanted to know the realities of how much had changed and the economic impacts of the changes since 9/11 … We said let’s gather the facts instead of the myths.”

Slightly less encouraging was the study’s finding that only 53 percent of residents living near border areas had a document that would enable them to cross if they wanted to.  The most flexible travel document is a US passport book, which allows for travel by land, air and sea. If the cost of a new passport is prohibitive and you don’t plan on flying, a passport card will allow you to cross over by land or by sea for only $55 per person. Another alternative is a NEXUS card, though the application process is a little more involved and requires a personal interview and a retinal scan.

If you need a new passport, it’s important that you don’t wait until the last minute. Passport applications take about six weeks to process. For a $60 expedite fee, the Department of State’s expedited service will save you some time, but you still must allow three weeks. For faster processing, you must either drive to the nearest Regional Passport Agency office or use a private expediting company like RushMyPassport. By hand-delivering your paperwork to the Department of State, we can cut processing time down to as little as 24 hours with no need to wait in line or make an appointment.

Let us help you get your new passport quickly and easily- get started today!

Fall is harvest season, so it’s traditionally a time of gluttony. If you can’t wait for the requisite Thanksgiving feast at the end of the month, why not renew your passport and fly in to the Cornucopia Festival in Whistler, Canada?  As the name implies, Cornucopia is a celebration of gourmet food and wine. It runs from November 10th to November 13th, and if you like food, wine and fun, it’s definitely working checking out. (Via Gadling).

If you like to eat but don’t consider yourself a foodie, don’t worry about being out of your depth here. Per the Cornucopia website, “The annual event features a sumptuous variety of hands-on seminars, fascinating winemaker dinners, gala tasting events and sizzling after-parties. Cornucopia offers something for both the experience (sic)  gourmet and those seeking to better appreciate the epicurean delights of wine and food.”

With plenty of food events and wine tastings, you won’t go hungry or thirsty. However, the wine tastings don’t include food, so as you plan your time at Cornucopia, you should make sure to get something on your stomach beforehand. You’ll have to buy tickets individually for each event you want to go to, though you can combine tickets to the CRUSH Gala, the big Kahuna of wine tastings, with your hotel room to save a little bit of money.

Oh, did I mention that the after parties feature music live and burlesque dancers? Well, they do.

You’ll also probably need to renew your passport if it’s expired.  Passports are required for all flights into Canada. If you’re driving, you can bring either a passport or an alternative document like a passport card, a NEXUS card or an enhanced driver’s license (assuming you live in a state that offers them.) (more…)

The Associated Press has an excellent article up that looks at how the new passport regulations associated with the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) have changed the way people live in border communities like St. Albans, Vermont.

More than two years after the final phase of the WHTI went into effect, residents still miss the “good old days.” It’s easy to see why- in the article, Paul Martin, the fire chief in Richford, Vermont, reminisces about how easy it used to be to go from America to Canada and back again:

“It used to be real simple. We just went across the border. Sometimes I wouldn’t even take my wallet.” Now, he says, whether it’s “simple” or not depends on who is posted at the crossing: “If I get somebody I went to school with, I don’t have a problem. If you get somebody new, they have to inspect everything. It all depends on what kind of a day the inspector is having.”

The truth is, most borders are arbitrary, man-made things. Along the US/Canadian border, close-knit communities straddled the dividing line between the two countries. Now, the ties that bind have inevitably become a little bit looser. Paul Martin’s fire department still crosses into Quebec to help fight fires across the line, but they can no longer count on the Quebec fire department for backup unless there is a serious emergency; it’s easier to get into Canada than it is to for the Canadian fire trucks to cross over into the United States. One restaurant owner on the American side even held a contest to help some of his Canadian regulars get new passports so they could continue to pop in for a bite. Still, he gets much less business from Canada now, and his establishment is suffering.

While the tone of the people interviewed for the AP piece seemed to range from anger to grim resignation for the most part, not everyone has a problem with the new regulations. Stanstead College Headmaster Michael Wolfe (from Quebec) told the AP that he doesn’t mind the new rules:

“I wouldn’t say it’s hard. It just takes longer. As long as the paper work is in place, I think it’s OK.”

For more information on passport requirements for Canadian travel, see Do You Need a Passport to Go to Canada?

If your trip does require a passport and you need it quickly, RushMyPassport can help. We deliver your application right to the Department of State for processing in as little as 24 hours, with no need to make an appointment or wait in line at a passport agency office.

Need a new passport? Contact us today!

NASCAR driver Carl Edwards is used to going places in a hurry, but an upcoming trip from Michigan to Montreal is cutting it a little bit close, even for him. A lost passport, eventually located at his home in Missouri, is not helping matters, either.

According to NASCAR.com, Edwards planned to fly from Michigan to Montreal in time to drive in the Nationwide race at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Saturday. For that, of course, he’ll need a passport. Since he left his documents at home, he actually had to have a friend drive them up from Missouri to racetrack in Michigan. Fortunately, Edwards has some generous friends!

Once he has his passport, his next step involves a race to the Montreal airport:

“We are going to go to the airport and fly to Montreal, land at the airport. We have the customs folks and have talked to them and they say they are going to make it somewhat easy on us. We are going to hopefully get a helicopter there and should make it to the race track literally five minutes before the race starts. It is going to be close.”

However, despite the perilously close timing, Edwards isn’t stressing. I know I wouldn’t be able to sound this sanguine about the prospect of having to be somewhere important with literally only a five-minute window:

“There is no pressure involved, you just go there and race. There isn’t enough time to get any anxiety over anything. It is kind of an adventure. That is it. But my passport has to get here first.”

Just as a reminder, if you’re flying to Canada, you absolutely must have a US passport. If you’re driving, you can get into Canada without a passport as long as you have your birth certificate or naturalization certificate and photo ID. However, you will need either a passport or a passport card to ensure a hassle-free return to the United States.

Whether you’re suffering from a lost passport, an expired passport or you simply didn’t realize that you’d need one for your trip to Canada, RushMyPassport can help. We’ll personally deliver your passport application to the Department of State, for processing in as little as 24 hours.

Need to replace a lost passport in a hurry? Let us help!

 A NEXUS card used to be the best-kept secret of frequent travelers to Canada. The card, which requires a background check and in-depth interviews with authorities from both the US and Canada to obtain, gives you “trusted traveler” status, plus your own special “express lane” at the border. With a NEXUS card, you could get through Customs much faster than with a US passport alone. Pretty sweet, right?

Unfortunately for NEXUS cardholders, the program is not the secret ticket to elite status that it once was. In fact, MarketWatch is reporting that the NEXUS lanes going into Vancouver are now experiencing the equivalent of bumper-to-bumper traffic, often moving more slowly than the regular lanes. In fact, one Canadian traveler told Marketwatch that ““In June, we were crossing at Peace Arch on our way to Seattle and the NEXUS line was much longer then the regular line. People were trying to sneak out of the Nexus line to get back into the normal lineup.”

Even more discouraging is the fact that some members of the program have exploited their “trusted traveler” status to sneak in undeclared stashes of alcohol and other goods, which will no doubt result in an extra dose of time-consuming scrutiny for those in the NEXUS lane.

David Gillen, the director of the University of British Columbia Centre for Transportation Studies, told MarketWatch that the program is basically a victim of its own popularity:

“Initially it was very successful because it speeded through people going over the border on a frequent basis. As more and more people have joined the system, the capacity has not increased to keep up with the number of members or the number of trips that they’re making.”

A NEXUS card is all you need for proof of citizenship when you cross the US/Canadian border by land or by sea. For air travel, you do need a passport, but having a NEXUS card will generally get you through the airport more quickly.

If you need a US passport, be sure to apply early. Applications take about six weeks to process, although you can expedite them by paying an extra $60 expedite fee. This will cut the processing time down to about three weeks. For faster, elite-level service, a private passport expediter like RushMyPassport is the easiest way to go.  We personally deliver your US passport application to the Department of State for super-fast processing, often in as little as 24 hours. Plus, there’s no appointment necessary, and no need to travel to a passport agency office.

Need a US passport? We can help you get the prompt service you deserve: Contact us today!

When you apply for an emergency passport, whether it’s at a Passport Agency office or through an expediting company, the Department of State requires you to prove that you do in fact have an emergency. When you make an appointment at a Passport Agency office, you must bring a hard copy of your itinerary to show that you will be leaving the country within the next 14 days. If you’re using an expediter, you must include proof of travel in the package you send to the company.

For most trips, the State Department will only accept one of the following documents:

• A copy of your airline reservation, or a printed email confirmation if you’ve purchased an electronic ticket.
• A reservation with a travel agency
• If you’re traveling on business, a letter on company letterhead describing the dates you plan to leave the country and what you’ll be doing on your business trip. Someone else at the company needs to sign your business letter, even if you’re the CEO.

But what if you’re visiting our neighbors to the north or south? The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative requires most travelers to carry a passport or a passport card for land travel to and from Canada and Mexico, but if you’re driving, you obviously won’t have a plane ticket to present at the passport office. Increasingly, travelers tend to book their trips independently, without relying on a travel agency. Does that mean you’re out of luck if you need an emergency passport for a road trip to these countries? (more…)

More proof that passport problems can happen to anyone: Zach Braff, the actor and director who starred the in the popular TV series Scrubs and the movie Garden State, almost didn’t make it to Toronto for the premiere of his latest indie flick, The High Cost of Living. The culprit? An expired passport. As reported on Canada’s National Post website, the drama came to light on Twitter, when Braff tweeted from the airport, “My passport expired on my birthday. The nation of Canada won’t let me in. I am a danger. Any ideas? Government offices closed on sunday.”

Oops! For most of us mere mortals, that would have been the end of the story, at least until Monday. And yet, after tweeting a string of jokes about tunneling into Canada, a few hours later Braff’s Twitter account announced the happy news: “Dear Canada, I’m in.”

So, how’d he do it? Does Zach Braff have super powers? No, but he does have a pilot’s license. Via the National Post:

“He decided to, oh, fly himself after getting rejected by the commercial flight. Keeping his fingers crossed that things might just be less tricky with customs on this side of the border — “it’s tougher leaving the States, but easier in Canada,” a source close to him told us — he arranged to arrive on his plane at the same time as his publicist arrived from L.A., and with a driver parked on the tarmac to give real-time updates to said publicist, the high-wire plot unfolded. Long story short: It worked!”

How was this possible? Well, technically, US citizens are not required to have a passport to enter Canada. All the Canada Border Services Agency really needs to see is photo ID and proof of citizenship, like a birth certificate. However, the US government tightened rules for re-entering the United States after 9/11, to require a passport book if you’re traveling by air and either a passport book or a passport card if you’re traveling by land or sea.

Of course, it’s generally a really bad idea to enter a country without the documents you are required to show to get back home. If you do so, the government has to let you back in if you’re a citizen, but they don’t have to be happy about it. Expect delays and other hassles while they confirm you are who you say you are and you don’t pose a security threat.

Also, keep in mind that since you’re supposed to have a passport for air travel to Canada, commercial airlines won’t let you board without one, no matter how famous you are.

If an expired passport catches you by surprise at the last minute, you do have options other than digging a tunnel or commandeering a private plane. You can make an appointment at one of the 24 Regional Passport Agency offices serving the US, or use a private expediting company like RushMyPassport. We hand-deliver your passport renewal application to the Department of State for processing in as little as 24 hours, with no need to go through the hassle of making an appointment or waiting in line.

Need a passport renewal ASAP? Let us help!

Are you over Napa Valley? If you’d like to go on a wine tour somewhere new and different, why not give the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia a try?

As the New York Times reported, this wine-producing valley has grown up in the past couple of decades. Once the home of the type of cheap wine that college students tend to consume in quantity, the Okanagan Valley now produces a variety of wines capable of pleasing more mature palates.

One great thing about the region is its variety-you can taste everything from high-quality fruit wines to syrah to chardonnay and Pinot blanc. Another bonus is the scenery. The New York Times explains:

It’s the kind of environment that affects your taste buds: the best glasses I tasted seemed to have the same brimming clarity as the lake itself. And it’s smart to enjoy the wine in situ: between the bureaucracy of wine imports and the jingoistic fervor with which British Columbian wine is consumed in swank restaurants in Vancouver and Whistler, little of the stuff makes it down south of the border.

You can either fly in to Canada and rent a car or drive your own car up. Some of the vineyards have guesthouses, should you not want to designate a driver. If you are flying in to Canada, you will need a US passport book for sure. IF you are driving in, you can use a passport book or one of the following Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative-compliant documents:

• A US passport card
• An enhanced driver’s license (EDL), only available in certain states
• A NEXUS, SENTRI or FAST card

Of course, you need a passport book to fly and there’s always a chance you might have to fly back home for an emergency, so a passport book is your best bet.

If you haven’t used your passport in some time, check it-it may be time to apply for your US passport renewal. Unlike new applications, US passport renewals can generally be processed by mail. The processing time is the same as it would be for a new passport- at least 6 weeks for regular processing and 3 weeks for the government’s expedited processing.

However, if you need your US passport renewal processed more quickly, you do have a couple of options. You can either make an appointment at a passport office for a same-day passport (assuming you have a passport office nearby, which may not be the case), or you can use a private passport expediting company to process your US passport renewal.

An expediting company is much faster and more convenient. There’s no need to make an appointment at a passport office and no need to drive out of your way.  Once you send your documents in, the expediting company delivers them to the Department of State. RushMyPassport can get your application processed in as little as 24 hours.

Apply for your US passport renewal today!

At 5,525 miles long, the US/Canadian border  is the longest border in the world.  Not all of that border is paved-some is mountain wilderness, some of it empty prairie, and some of the border runs along the Great Lakes.  If you are crossing from Canada into the United States at a border crossing in a populated area, you need a US passport, passport card or another document that’s compliant with the World Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI). For more details, see Do I Need a Passport to Go to Canada?

But what if you are hiking into Canada via the backcountry? In some cases, you don’t just need a US passport, you also need a CANPASS Remote Area Border Crossing permit.  This permit is required by the Canadian government to cross the border in the following areas:

• from Pigeon River through to and including Lake of the Woods
• the Canadian shore of Lake Superior
• Cockburn Island
• Sault Ste. Marie (upper lock system)

To get one, you need to be a US citizen or permanent resident.  You must also meet Canada’s entry requirements, of course, which means you need to be healthy, have enough money to take care of yourself and have no criminal convictions.

You can apply for the permit here, using either a copy of the pages of your US passport that have your photo and your personal information or using other acceptable documentation as described on the web site.

For most people, it’s a good idea to have your US passport book handy if you are traveling to Canada, even if you are traveling by land and able to use alternative documents such as a passport card, enhanced driver’s license (only available in certain states), or a NEXUS, PASS or SENTRI card.  A US passport book is a requirement for air travel to and from Canada, so having one makes it much easier to get home quickly in case of an emergency.

If you need to get a passport quickly, using a private passport expediting service like RushMyPassport.com makes the whole process much faster and more convenient.  With RushMyPassport, you can get your passport application processed in as little as 24 hours, with no need to make an appointment and travel to a US passport agency office.

Apply for your US passport today!

Canada and the US have a long tradition of being good neighbors to each other.  At one time, US citizens could cross the border with nothing more than a driver’s license. However, in recent years the laws have changed, leaving many confused.

Do you need a passport to go to Canada? In all likelihood, yes.  Since June 1, 2009, the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) has required that Americans traveling to Canada by land or by sea carry one of the following documents as proof of citizenship:

• A US passport book
• A US passport card
• A NEXUS, SENTRI or FAST card
• An enhanced driver’s license (only available in certain states)

The only exceptions are for children and people on “closed-loop” cruises. Children under the age of 16 can use their birth certificates, naturalization certificates or certificates of citizenship instead of a passport if they are traveling by land or by sea.

Children under the age of 19 can use birth certificates, too, provided they are traveling with an organized group such as a school group, church group, sports team, volunteer group or cultural organization.  The group must be supervised by an adult and carry a letter on organization letterhead that contains the name of the group, the names of the supervising adult and the children, and a signed statement certifying that parental permission has been obtained for all children on the trip.

Americans traveling to Canada on a closed-loop cruise (one that begins and ends in the same US port) can travel with their driver’s licenses or state -issued ID cards and their birth certificates or naturalization certificates.

Now, if you traveling to Canada by plane, the rules are different. You need a passport book (the passport card won’t cut it), and there are no exceptions, even for children.  Even if you are traveling by land or by sea, it’s a good idea to use a passport book in case you have to fly home unexpectedly.

RushMyPassport can make applying for  a passport much easier and faster. We’ll help you with your application and hand-deliver it to the US Department of State, resulting in processing times as low as 24 hours.

Apply for your passport with us today!