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Implementation of border security rules delayed

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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Travelers now have more time to gather the secure travel documents they will need at U.S. land and sea entry points when a new identification requirement plan is fully implemented, the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department said in a joint statement issued Wednesday.

A requirement for U.S. citizens to show passports, or similar secure documentation, at land crossings into the United States from Canada and Mexico was scheduled to be fully implemented next January, but now will not go into full effect until summer 2008, the departments said.

But the new plan includes a preliminary phase: Beginning January 31, U.S. and Canadian citizens will be required to present some form of government-issued photo ID at land and sea entry points, in addition to a proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate. American and Canadian children under the age of 16 will be allowed to provide just a birth certificate.

Currently, U.S. residents arriving by land are not required to present any documentation, although driver's licenses, passports and other government identification can greatly ease a traveler's crossing.

"Beginning January, we will end the practice of accepting oral declarations alone at land and sea ports," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told reporters at a press conference Wednesday. "Merely saying 'Hi, I'm an American citizen' will not work after January 2008."

The secretary was quick to add, however, that the new rules will not be implemented overnight. Instead, there will be a phased process meant to grant travelers time to acquire the necessary documentation and slowly acclimate border agents to the new requirements.

"We're not going to drop the ax on January 31," he said, adding that after talks with Canadian colleagues it was understood a certain flexibility with the rules would be allowed. "We are going to develop a glide path to get this implemented in a way that gets it down in real time but doesn't jam it in a way that causes an enormous amount of disruption."

According to the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department, once the requirements are fully implemented -- expected to be sometime next summer -- these will be the accepted forms of identification needed to enter America via land crossings or sea ports:

The new requirements, which come as the result of the 9/11 Commission recommendations, will vastly increase the number of people who will need passports since the majority of travelers arriving from Canada and Mexico arrive by land.

Wednesday's announcement of a relaxed deadline follows on the heels of a House vote on Friday to delay the land border ID requirement until June 2009 over concerns that the new rules would snarl cross-border traffic if fully implemented in January 2008.

The approval of the postponement, a version of which is also working its way through the Senate, came after implementation of the first phase of the new rules. The first phase, which required passports for air travel, created such an avalanche of passport applications that the U.S. government was forced to relax the requirement for the summer travel season.

The new air travel requirements now stipulate travelers arriving in the United States by air from Canada, Mexico, Bermuda and the Caribbean must present passports, whereas previously only a picture ID was required for those trips.

CNN's Mike Ahlers contributed to this report.

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