New Passport Cards Now Being Issued
The Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security announced on July 22, 2008 that the new U.S. Passport Card is now being distributed. The Passport Card is a wallet-sized document for land and sea travel between the United States and Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean, and Bermuda—note that it is not valid for international travel by air.
About 350,000 Americans pre-ordered the U.S. Passport Cards and so far about 7,600 cards have been mailed out to advance customers. All pre-orders are expected to be filled by September 30, 2008 and then, after that, the processing time will take about the same as for U.S. passports—about 4 weeks.
The Passport Card will make it a whole lot easier for Americans who live in border communities to regularly travel back and forth over the border.
