As of June 1st, 2009 new entry doc­u­ments are now required for U.S. cit­i­zens return­ing home from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean or Bermuda, by land or sea.

The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) requires U.S. trav­el­ers to present a pass­port or other doc­u­ment that denotes iden­tity and cit­i­zen­ship when enter­ing the U.S. It is a result of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (IRTPA).

The goal of WHTI is to facil­i­tate entry for U.S. cit­i­zens and legit­i­mate for­eign vis­i­tors, while strength­en­ing U.S. bor­der secu­rity. Standard doc­u­ments will enable the Department of Homeland Security to quickly and reli­ably iden­tify a traveler.

WHTI went into effect June 1, 2009 for land and sea travel into the U.S. WHTI went into effect for air trav­el­ers on January 23, 2007.

For more infor­ma­tion, includ­ing a list of accept­able doc­u­ments please visit the WHTI web­site.

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