INFORMATION ON TRAVEL TO MEXICO - UPDATED 5/29/2009
please refer to the US Passport Center website for most up-to-date info, the information given on this page is to the best of our knowledge correct, but please defer to the United States State Department website for the most up-to-date information. The information on this page was copied directly for the US State Department Website.

The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) requires U.S. and Canadian travelers to present a passport or other document that denotes identity and citizenship when entering the U.S. It is a result of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (IRTPA).

The goal of WHTI is to facilitate entry for U.S. citizens and legitimate foreign visitors, while strengthening U.S. border security. Standard documents will enable the Department of Homeland Security to quickly and reliably identify a traveler.

WHTI will go into effect June 1, 2009 for land and sea travel into the U.S. WHTI went into effect for air travelers on January 23, 2007.

U.S. PASSPORT AND OTHER TRAVEL DOCUMENTS

• U.S. Passport: U.S. citizens may present a valid U.S. passport when traveling via air, land or sea between the U.S. and the aforementioned Western Hemisphere countries.
• The Passport Card: U.S. citizens may begin applying in advance for this new, limited-use, wallet-size passport card beginning February 1, 2008. We expect cards will be available and mailed to applicants in spring 2008. When available it will only be valid for land and sea travel between the U.S. and Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean region, and Bermuda.
• Other Accepted Travel Documents: SENTRI, NEXUS, FAST and the U.S. Coast Guard Mariner Document.  Members of the U.S. Armed Forces on active duty traveling on orders are exempt from the passport requirement. DHS has more information on these travel documents.  This information may be seen at www.dhs.gov.

U.S. PASSPORT CARD (from US Dept of State)

U.S. PASSPORT CARD APPLICATIONS ACCEPTED BEGINNING FEBRUARY 1

U.S. citizens may begin applying in advance for the new U.S. Passport Card beginning February 1, 2008, in anticipation of land border travel document requirements.  We expect cards will be available and mailed to applicants in spring 2008. 

The passport card will facilitate entry and expedite document processing at U.S. land and sea ports-of-entry when arriving from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda.  The card may not be used to travel by air.  It will otherwise carry the rights and privileges of the U.S. passport book and will be adjudicated to the exact same standards.

The Department of State is issuing this passport card in response to the needs of border resident communities for a less expensive and more portable alternative to the traditional passport book.  The card will have the same validity period as a passport book: 10 years for an adult, five for children 15 and younger.  For adults who already have a passport book, they may apply for the card as a passport renewal and pay only $20.  First-time applicants will pay $45 for adult cards and $35 for children.   

To facilitate the frequent travel of U.S. citizens living in border communities and to meet DHS’s operational needs at land borders, the passport card will contain a vicinity-read radio frequency identification (RFID) chip.  This chip will link the card  to a stored record in secure government databases. There will be no personal information written to the RFID chip itself.