The day that U. S. border crossers anxiously have been preparing for is finally here.

At 12:01 a.m. Monday, the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative takes effect.

The days of going back and forth to Canada over the Peace Bridge with just a verbal declaration of U. S. citizenship officially ends.

Instead, travelers returning home from Canada will be required to present a U. S. passport, passport card, enhanced driver’s license or Trusted Traveler Program card such as NEXUS.

Frequent border crossers seem to have accepted the changes, albeit begrudgingly, and have been crowding local Department of Motor Vehicles offices for enhanced driver’s licenses and post offices for passports over the past few weeks, especially during the last couple of days.

Driving to Niagara Falls?

Unless you plan to stay on the U.S. side, you’ll need a passport.

As of Monday, U.S. citizens crossing into Canada, Mexico, Bermuda or the Caribbean by any means — land, water or air — must have a passport or a secure-identity card designed for the purpose.

The latest rule change, requiring a passport for land and water border crossings, is the last phase of a 2004 law meant to curb the risk of terrorism.

Border crossings by air have required a passport of anyone 16 or older since June 2007. (Children younger than 16 can present a birth certificate or other proof of citizenship as identification.)

The rules as a whole have been plagued by delays and false steps.

A surge of applications flooded passport-service agencies in 2007 when the rules for air travel changed. The requirement was delayed for six months as the government processed the backlog.

Since then, Americans have had ample time to digest the rules for land and water crossings — scheduled to take effect last year but also postponed.

Laura Tischler, spokeswoman for the State Department, said the government has made great efforts to avoid the problems of 2007.

“We’ve increased our passport-issuance capacity by 90 percent,” Tischler said. “We’ve increased our staffing; we’ve opened new facilities, including passport agencies in Detroit and Minneapolis; and have plans to open an additional agency in Dallas.”

Passport applications peaked at 18.3 million in fiscal year 2007, falling to 16.2 million last year. Applicants with Ohio addresses received 404,000 passports last year.

Through April, the federal government had received 7.1 million applications in the current fiscal year.

A first-time application for a passport takes six to eight weeks to process. The application fee is $97. Expedited processing is available at an additional charge.

The government has also introduced a cheaper “passport card” (the size of a driver’s license) for use at the Canadian and Mexican borders and for seaport entries from Bermuda and the Caribbean. The card costs $45 for first-time passport applicants.

“We encourage everyone, even people who aren’t traveling this summer, to get a passport,” Tischler said. “It’s good for 10 years, and it’s always good to have.”

Canadian tourism officials don’t expect major problems because of the new U.S. regulations, said Mark Thompson, a spokesman for the Ontario provincial Ministry of Tourism.

“Are we worried?” he said. “The bottom line is, not particularly, no.”

Some destinations hope to benefit from travelers who are reluctant to apply for a passport.

The U.S. Virgin Islands has a marketing campaign under way touting the fact that U.S. citizens can visit that U.S. territory without a passport.

Most travelers do seem aware of the new requirements, said travel agent Ike Reynolds of Reynolds Travel in Columbus.

“I know a few people who have been getting by on cruises without a passport, but they knew the new rules were coming,” he said.

“And every time you come to a deadline, some people will wait until the last minute. The question everyone wanted to know was: How soon were (the changes) really going into effect?”

For detailed information about the passport-application process or the law, go to www.travel.state.gov/passport or www.ontariotravel.net.

(Source: Buffalo News / Columbus Dispatch / YWN-112)