New travel document requirements for USA citizens

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Krishna Kumar <kmkumar () earthling net>
Date: February 6, 2008 2:49:26 PM EST
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] New travel document requirements for USA citizens

for IP, if you wish:


I also find it suspicious that State announced new passport fees ($100)
starting on the same day that DHS required additional border  
documentation.
For the average traveller, I would rather take a passport on a trip to
Canada than a birth certificate -- it a real pain to get a new copy of a
birth certificate.

I think there are two issues here:

1)  New border requirements:  in my very humble view, this is an  
initiative
to push northern border states to get onto the REAL-ID bandwagon.  My
understanding of REAL-ID is that the database links and citizenship
documentation would be sufficient to cross the border.   State is  
supposed
to issue "Passport" cards (cost -$45) but not until next summer.

2) APIS pre-flight clearances:  again, my humble view is that this is an
attempt by DHS to move away from the Visa Waiver Program model for  
friendly
countries, ad instead go to an Australian model.  Visitors to Australia
don't get a Visa Waiver, they get an electronic visa that is issued  
after a
"security" check.


One other point to raise here:  convenience.   Australia lets a LOT of
countries participate in their program -- more than the relatively
restricted visa waiver program.     If we go to an Australian model,  
can we
open it up to countries like Poland, Taiwan, Greece, Turkey, etc?

Also, how the hell does a passport cost $100.   If the passport card  
will
cost $45, then $55 of the passport fee is for the physical passport --  
and
the rest is the back-office expenses.  I say if DHS requires them, then
they get to subsidize them -- let them cost $15.

> ________________________________________
> From: eekid () aol com [eekid () aol com]
> Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2008 8:15 PM
> To: dfarber () cs cmu edu; David Farber
> Subject: New travel document requirements for USA citizens
>
> http://hasbrouck.org/blog/archives/001371.html
>
> "Under new regulations and procedures announced to take effect over  
> the
> next month, citizens of the USA will, for the first time, be  
> required to
> obtain USA government permission in order to return home to their own
> country from abroad -- from anywhere else in the world, by air or  
> sea or
> land."
>
>
> "One might argue that a passport is merely a travel document, not a  
> form
> of permission. But that would be wrong. Because nothing in the law  
> or the
> regulations for passport
> žssuance<http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20071800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2007/E7-22461.htm 
> >
> (which were revised in November 2007), guarantees anyone a right to a
> passport, it is in effect a travel permit, issued at the government's
> discretion. The individualized, per-flight, advance "clearance"  
> message is
> quite unambiguously a permission-to-travel requirement."
>
> "As I had expected<http://hasbrouck.org/blog/archives/001159.html> ,  
> the
> passport card will contain a "vicinity" RFID chip, i.e. a chip that  
> can be
> read at longer range than the "proximity" chip in "RFID passports."
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