Re: [84attendees] passport cards and such, was YVR Checkin Counter

[Eric Burger <[e-mail]>]

Why do I have a Passport Card? Because I've had my identity stolen three time by folks using my driver's license number. Whenever I get a request for a government-issued ID, I use my Passport Card. It's not tied to anything.

On Aug 14, 2012, at 4:00 PM, Warren Kumari wrote:

> 
> On Aug 14, 2012, at 3:48 PM, Bede McCall wrote:
> 
>> You can use a US Passport Card instead of your passport book at all sea/land crossings between the US and either Canada or Mexico (for either inbound or outbound travel).  
> 
> What occurs to me is that having a passport card / GE card might also be useful if you happen to lose your "real" passport in a foreign country. I suspect that showing up at an embassy / consulate with the card might make getting a replacement passport simpler / faster (but could be wrong, usually am…)
> 
> W
> 
> 
>> I forget what the card costs, but the basic story is that if you have a passport, for a fee you can get a passport card.  The card fits in your wallet, which is the use case that led to controversy when it first came out -- it has an embedded RFID chip that can be read at a fair distance, so State was compelled to issue a RF shielding  jacket with each card.  I've used my card at ground-level Canadian border crossings several times without a hitch, and have on occasion used it as ID (once due to a misplaced driver's license) for TSA.
>> 
>> To the very limited extent that I understand the situation with US Customs & Immigration, Global Entry simply gets you through inbound US customs/immigration via the kiosk instead of the booths at international airports -- you still need a passport book (but NOT the card) for the kiosk.  It doesn't cover driving, sailing or train crossings, for which either a Passport Card or book is OK.  I believe NEXUS works for any type of inbound (and apparently outbound) travel to(/from) Canada.  Some ground-level border crossings reportedly have dedicated drive-through lanes for NEXUS and SENTRI.  I suspect that one idea lurking behind the GE card is that you could use it as an ID card and possibly as a backup for TSA's PreCheck.  The thing about PreCheck is that it's supposed to be based on an encoding printed on the boarding pass;  my instincts say there will be quite a few TSA shirts out there who will insist on seeing the GE card regardless.
>> 
>> Much of the confusion that results from the welter of cards stems from the fact that there are multiple government agencies involved, each with a different mission/policy base and few of which communicate with each other in meaningful ways.  On the US side, State (Passport and Passport Card) doesn't have much to say to DHS (GE, PreCheck, ...) and within DHS the multiple agencies (e.g., TSA,     CBP, ICE) don't have a strong history of cooperation.  The nascent TSA PreCheck program is a glimmer of hope, if only because TSA is basing PreCheck enrollment on the existing CBP Global Entry program rather than competing with CBP.
>> 
>> --Bede McCall
>> 
>> On 8/10/2012 10:54 AM, John R Levine wrote:
>>>> My understanding is that it serves in lieu of a passport for approved border crossings by car or boat, but since you already have a passport there is no real added benefit. 
>>> 
>>> The card fits in your wallet while your passport doesn't, unless you have a rather larger wallet than most guys.  But the GE card is of only marginal use since you can only use it to travel FROM Canada, not TO Canada, so you need the passport anyway.  It does let you use the NEXUS lane at a land border crossing, which the GE sticker in your passport doesn't. That might be helpful since the border lines are invariably longer going south than going north (except of course at Detroit.) 
>>> 
>>> I haven't gone to Mexico in a long time, but it's of even less use there because you can only use the SENTRI lane in a car that's been enrolled. So either you're hitching a ride with someone else with SENTRI, or you're walking bank to El Paso where there's a pedestrian readylane. 
>>> 
>>> R's, 
>>> John
>>> 
>>> 
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