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I just saw this posted on Yahoo:
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is expected to announce on Thursday that it will exempt children from new rules that will require people to show passports when entering the U.S. at land or sea borders.
The new passport requirements are expected to take effect as soon as January 2008. But under the expected announcement, children aged 15 or younger with parental consent will be allowed to cross the borders at land and sea entry points with a certified copy of their birth certificates rather than passports.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070222/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_passports_children
New Englander
Thanks for the update. We are going in June, and I was going to go ahead and get passports for the kids (we have ours). I guess I will wait a bit to see how this shakes out. I hope the above is announced since I would have to arrange a time (9-4 Mon- Fri only) to take the kids out of school and retrieve my ex-husband (their dad) to the passport office to apply. What a pain!
Please check the following article, the announcement was made:
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2007-02-22-passport-kids-borders_x.htm?POE=click-refer
"There will be no change to the new rules for those who fly. Everyone coming into the USA by plane, no matter the age, must show a passport under a portion of the passport rules that took effect Jan. 23.
The passport rules affecting those entering the USA from Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, the Caribbean, and Central and South America have been controversial since they were announced in 2005 as part of a post-9/11 effort to tighten security along the nation's borders."
So I take it from this announcement that if we fly in and out of STT before Jan 2008, we all don't need passports anyway. If we take a day trip by boat to the BVI, then adults need passports and children (under 15) do not. Correct?
I hesitate to ask the question with the risk of being "An ignorant person is one who doesn't know what you have just found out." 🙂
LandLocked,
FYI, if it is easier for you, have your husband fill out form DS-3053. This is a consent form that can be used in lieu of his presence. You will probably need to fill out one for each child. The link is below.
http://travel.state.gov/passport/forms/ds3053/ds3053_846.html
Thanks Richmond. I did finally see that. But finding a notary public to do that form is about the same difficulty as dragging him to the post office. But thanks for thinking of it!
Dear LLBL!
LOL!!! Glad you have a sense of humor... this thing is like a sleeping dragon, I tellya...
Yes, the kids should be OK with their birth certificates (originals):
"The decision means that U.S. or Canadian citizens 15 or younger who have parental consent will be able to enter the USA with just a birth certificate.
Children ages 16 to 18 also will be allowed to cross with birth certificates if they are part of an adult-supervised school, religious, cultural or athletic group, according to Homeland Security."
