Reminder of Passport Needed for re-entry.
After receiving notification of conflicting information on the date of implementation for the Western Hemisphere Initiative, I did some more checking. The date for implementation is 1 JUNE 2009. After that date the passport or the passport card is required for re-entry to the United States from Mexico. As I have said before, Mexico has required it for many years but has chose not to inforce the requirement in order to aid tourism (I assume).
The stated policy at this point is that for re-entry after 1 June 2009 any person without a passport will be required to go to the embassy (in Tijuana) and get an emergency re-entry visa. A three day delay can be expected for processing.
Here is the web page I used for the implementation information.
http://www.travel.state.gov/travel/cbpmc/cbpmc_2223.html
Also remember to check with immigration if you have team members with you that are citizens from other countries. Their re-entry requirements may be different. It is easy to get into Mexico, make sure it won’t be hard to get back out.
God Bless! John and Bonnie
