New passport rules temporarily waived

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Americans returning to the United States by air from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda without a passport won't be denied re-entry -- at least for another few weeks.

The first phase of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative took effect yesterday. The new law requires airline passengers traveling between the United States and Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean and Bermuda to present a valid passport when entering the United States.

But U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said yesterday the agency will continue to allow Americans to re-enter the country by showing government-issued photo IDs, such as a driver's license, or a birth certificate during a grace period for the next month or so.

"Ongoing, we get people who present themselves with an ID that may not be appropriate, and we're used to dealing with people like that," CBP spokesman Eric Blum said. "We do some checks, ask some questions, and if we're able to, we let them through. And that will continue" for a few weeks.

Canadian "snowbirds" -- Canadians spending the winter in the United States -- are exempt from the new passport requirements for the time being, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said last week.

That's not to say travelers necessarily will be able to breeze through customs without a passport, as they may be required to go through a "secondary screening" process.

"In most cases, the issue is resolved, but it just takes longer," Mr. Blum said. "The policy is, we'll do whatever it takes to verify identification. ... You're not going to get stranded" without a passport.

Until yesterday, American travelers were allowed to make verbal declaration of citizenship or show a driver's license or one of many other documents when crossing the border by air, making authentication of identity both difficult and time-consuming, the customs agency says.

The new rules were recommended by the September 11 commission and were passed into law as part of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004. The rules are aimed at reducing the threat of terrorism and creating a uniform system to identify travelers.

Travel-industry officials had predicted bottlenecks at airport customs stations this week. But wait times at airport customs stations nationwide were no longer than last week, Mr. Blum said.