An important note is that this will only affect land travel between the US and Canada. If you live on a Southern border state and like to travel to Mexico, you will need to get your children a passport. In addition, it appears if you travel by air between the countries, your children will need a passport.
I don't know, $82 isn't that much in the grand scheme of things, if you're planning a vacation out of the country, so long as you are able to plan ahead to get them. Since we tend to travel all over, and we may return to the Carribean again, we will all be getting passports - not all at once, as that might sting the pocketbook, but over the next several months.
I'd really like to see them ammend the rules completely to allow children under 2 to travel without a passport at all (regardless of land, sea, etc). It seems fruitless to get a passport for a child so young and have them using it for another five years - kids change a lot in that time!
It's not like we go all the time, but we have relatives in Mexico and the international bridge is only 30 minutes away from our house. I was already annoyed at the new rules, but thought, oh, well, that's life. But seeing that the rules are being relaxed for Canada and not Mexico really upsets me.
And yeah, $82 per kid is a big deal when it means not being able to cross the border whenever we'd like.
I'm surprised Mexico didn't make a fuss--this is really going to hurt the economy in the border towns.
I believe the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security is behind these rules, not the governments of Mexico and Canada.
ETA:
The passport rules affecting those entering the USA from Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, the Caribbean, and Central and South America have been controversial since they were announced in 2005 as part of a post-9/11 effort to tighten security along the nation's borders.
AWESOME news about softening of US Passport rules for Kids.
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The rule should be the same for land travel to Mexico as it is for Canada.
that sucks! the canadian children's passport only costs 22 dollars and you have one free picture change within the three years.
