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By TED JACKOVICS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 4, 2008

TAMPA - Traveling for business in recent years has been tricky, to say the least. Now, even more far-reaching passport rules are in place, meaning if you do international business by land, sea and air or are making a leisure trip, you're going to need more documentation.

As of Thursday, all travelers entering the United States by land or water transportation from Canada and Mexico were required to carry a passport or other "secure documentation" such as a birth certificate and government photo identification. No longer will a driver's license suffice.
Airline passengers have been required to use passports to return to the United States from Canada and Mexico since Jan. 23, 2007.

On Friday, U.S. citizens could begin to apply for a cheaper, limited-use alternative to a passport, the passport card, which can be used for identification for land and sea travel between the United States and Canada, Mexico, Bermuda and Caribbean countries.

The good news is that it should not take as long for anyone to get a passport these days compared with a year ago. That's when new aviation passport rules took effect to require passports for neighboring travel to Canada and Mexico, the same as it always has been for other international travel.

Unlike a year ago, when long lines were the norm at passport offices well into the summer, the passport application process locally can be fairly quick - sometimes taking less than 10 minutes at occasional passport fairs held in various parts of the Tampa Bay area.

In fact, the next passport fair, scheduled for East Tampa on Sunday, will accept only those applicants who have made a telephone appointment. It will be held at the Falkenburg post office branch, 10121 Adamo Drive. To make an appointment, call (813) 664-1104.

Wait times at the main passport office at the Postal Service's Tampa International Airport location continue to vary, officials said.

"It always slows up around the holidays," said Bridget Robertson, customer relations coordinator for the Tampa Post Office, which oversees the main passport office.

"But right now passport applications are picking up as families are planning for spring break or summer trips."

Obtaining a passport, of course, is the best way to avoid problems and circumvent keeping track of temporary regulations.

By the summer of 2009, a passport will be required for land or sea travel from Canada and Mexico. That's the culmination of a phased escalation of travel security laws that has been marked by confusion, long waits at passport offices and concern among business officials that international commerce has been adversely affected.

Millions Of People Affected

Plenty of cross-border leisure and business travel is involved.

In fiscal year 2007, for example, more than 226 million travelers crossed from Mexico into the United States at the southern border, and an estimated 72 million crossed at the northern border, said Michael Friel, media relations division director at U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

At the Canadian border, there were nearly 160 million two-way crossings between the United States and Canada and $710 billion in two-way trade in goods and services in 2006, Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada reported.

"The implementation of the 2007 laws for air travelers resulted in unprecedented demands on the passport offices of both countries and disrupted the travel plans of many Canadians and Americans," Canada said in its official comment to the United States on the latest regulations.

"Implementation ... at land and sea ports of entry will be considerably more complex since far fewer travelers across the land and sea borders currently carry passports."

Leisure travel accounted for more than 40 million visits from Canada to the United States in 2006 and more than $13.5 billion in expenditures, the Travel Industry Association trade group said.

The Transportation Security Administration last week expressed concern that the new documentation requirements for crossing the U.S.-Canadian border could result in significant economic harm.

"Just a 5 percent decline in Canadian visits to the United States could cost the American economy nearly $700 million," said Roger Dow, the travel association's president and chief executive officer.

Florida's Ties To Canada Are Vast

Nonborder states such as Florida also have a stake in understanding the new regulations.

Canada, for example, is Florida's busiest trade partner, Canadian officials point out. As for leisure travel, Pinellas County alone reported 308,474 overnight visitors from Canada for the first 11 months of 2007.

"In the state of Florida, there are between 125,000 and 130,000 Canadian citizens with the rights to live and work in the United States," said Andrew L. McIntosh, a Tampa lawyer with DLA Piper and honorary consul for Canada.

Many of those people are involved in business transactions with Canadian interests. While they generally might be expected to have passports, the rise of the Canadian dollar vs. the U.S. dollar is expected to create new trade opportunities and new travel between the countries, McIntosh said.

Reporter Ted Jackovics can be reached at (813) 259-7817 and tjackovics@tampatrib.com.

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