High-Security Driver’s Licenses Allow Canadians Easy Access into the States

Toronto, Ontario – At the beginning of 2008, high security driver’s licenses will be allowed as a form of identification that will allow Canadians easy access into the United States. This is seen by many as a way of balancing border security with convenience and cost.

Last week, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff confirmed that enhanced or high-security driver's licences will be among the accepted travel documents for Canadians travelling across the U.S. border beginning next year. A high-security driver’s license is essentially a driver’s license with citizenship information, bar codes and other security features on the back. The Department of Homeland Security also plans to expand the use of radio frequency identification technology at land border crossings. The system will be installed in the next year at 39 border crossings in the United States. The system requires cars to pull up to a scanning machine before reaching the border patrol officer. The scanner reads the traveler’s identity card and relays information to the officer. This is welcome news for many communities along the Canada-U.S. border whose businesses depend on a steady flow of customers crossing the border. It is also welcome news to the many Canadian and American citizens who did not want to apply for a passport because of long wait times and the high cost involved.

After the September 11th terrorist attacks, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, through the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, dramatically intensified its security procedures at all border checkpoints. When further changes come into effective on January 31st, 2008, all Canadian’s wishing to enter the United States by land will be required to present either a valid passport or they will have to show government-issued photo identification, such as a driver’s licence, along with a birth certificate or citizenship card. It was felt that the new law would create further delays at the border. People, who don’t possess a passport due to the costs and time involved in securing the document, now must produce two pieces of valid identification. Checking and processing this identification would create further delays at the border. Enhanced security driver’s licenses are seen by many as a way of balancing border security with convenience and cost.

Provincial governments in Canada have been lobbying the U.S. government to accept high-security driver's licences as alternative to passports for cross-border travellers for some time. The Government of British Columbia is expected to launch its RFID-based enhanced driver's licence in January 2008. British Columbia has been working with Washington state to promote the acceptance of enhanced driver's licences in order to alleviate border crossing congestion and provide easier access for Americans wanting to attend the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver. The Ontario government has been working in a similar direction. Earlier this year, it was announced that it was creating a high-security driver's licence with the goal of it also being accepted as a travel document by the U.S. government. Manitoba has supported enhanced drivers licences as an alternative to passports for some time. Additionally, New York State is to introduce an enhanced driver’s license that will allow its residents to cross the border without a passport. The State of Vermont has also been working on this program.

Although still on the drawing board, many Canadians are breathing a sigh of relief with the news that all they will have to show at the border is a high-tech driver’s licence when they enter the United States by land. According to U.S. Senator Charles Schumer, enhanced drivers licences are the way to go. “Passports will not work to cross the border. They’re expensive to get. We’re working to make a driver’s license a sufficient ID to cross the border. A real identification law that we’re passing federally, which makes a driver’s license harder to forge, could be for everybody,” states Senator Schumer.

Although Canada’s federal Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day is pleased with the change of heart south of the border with the introduction of enhanced driver’s licenses, he believes that all Canadians should still get passports just in case. A valid Canadian passport is a form of identification that is accepted internationally. Jason Thorne of Canadian Pardon Services (http://www.canadianpardons.ca), a law firm that specializes in Canadian and U.S. immigration law and in obtaining Canadian Pardons and U.S. Entry Waivers for clients with criminal records, points out that sometimes even processing a valid passport is not enough to secure entry into the States.

“Any Canadian citizen that has a criminal record must obtain a US Entry Waiver. It is considered illegal for a person with a criminal record to enter the States without one and the risk of getting caught is just too great,” states Thorne.

With the implementation of high security driver’s licenses and expanded use of radio frequency identification technology at land border crossings, it is projected that Canadians will have easier access to the United States. By utilizing advanced forms of technology and enhanced identification methods, border security will be increased and wait times at the border should be shorter.

Canadian Pardon Services
Dewey Nguyen
850 Bloor Street West, Suite 100
Toronto ON M6G 1M2
416- 535-0400
1-800- 298-5520
http://www.canadianpardons.ca
sales@canadianpardons.ca

Canadian Pardon Services works both sides of the Canadian/U.S. border to provide legal services for those that need to cross the border but can’t because of past criminal records. For more information about the Canadian Pardon and U.S. Waiver application process, please visit Canadian Pardon Services or call Dewey Nguyen at 1-800-298-5520.

This release was published on openPR.