State Dept Issues Final Rule on PASS Cards for Certain Land and Sea Travel by U.S. Citizens

The card is a low cost alternative to the traditional book format passport, and its primary purpose will be to facilitate the travel of U.S. citizens living in border regions as part of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI), which has been postponed until June 1, 2009 (see BP Note).

According to the State Department, this final rule adopts, with limited clarifying changes its proposed rule of October 2006. (See ITT's Online Archives or 11/02/06 news, 06110210, for BP summary of the proposed rule, including the information to appear on the card, the use of radio frequency identification (RFID), etc. which State Department officials confirm remain their intent though are not part of the regulatory text of the final rule.

Only for Land & Certain Sea Travel

The final rule amends 22 CFR 51.3 to state that the passport card is issued to a national of the U.S. on the same basis as a regular passport and is valid only for departure from and entry to the U.S. through land and sea ports of entry between the U.S. and Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Bermuda. It is not a globally interoperable international travel document.

Passport Card Valid Without Bearer's Signature, Valid for 5 or 10 Years

In addition, the final rule amends 22 CFR 51.4 to state that a passport card is valid without the signature of the bearer (as compared to a passport book which is valid only when signed by the bearer). 22 CFR 51.4 also states that a passport card issued to an applicant 16 years of age or older is valid for ten years (five years for applicants under 16 years of age) from the date of issue unless the State Department limits the validity period to a shorter period.

State Department Establishes Fee Schedule for Passport Cards

The final rule amends 22 CFR 22.1 by adding the following consular fee schedule for the passport card:

The final rule also amends 22 CFR 51.52 to indicate that passport cards will not be issued for no charge to individuals exempt from the payment of passport fees.

(See ITT's Online Archives or 01/08/08 news, 08010125, for BP summary of a State/DHS proposed rule on WHTI, which states the PASS Card will be a WHTI-compliant document.)

State Department contact - Consuelo Pachon (202) 663-2431

State Department notice (Public Notice 6044, FR Pub 12/31/07) available at http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20071800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2007/pdf/E7-25422.pdf.)

BP Notes

WHTI was created by Section 7209 of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (Public Law 108-458, IRTPA, as amended by P.L. 5441); which, among other things, requires the development and implementation of a plan to require virtually all travelers entering the U.S. to present a passport, other document, or combination of documents that are deemed by the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to be sufficient to denote identity and citizenship.

The recently enacted Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2008 (P.L 110-161) amended the IRTPA to state that the plan described above may not be implemented earlier than June 1, 2009.

(Note that CBP has issued a notice stating it will no longer accept oral declarations of citizenship at land and sea ports of entry as of January 31, 2008, which has previously been characterized as a first step toward full implementation of WHTI. See future issues for BP summary.)