Try A New Passport Card When You’re Leaving The Country For Business!
If you are going to travel outside of the US, then you will need to have a passport with you. There are two types of passports you could use: the passport book or the passport card. In this article, we’ll be talking about the latter example. We’ll help answer all your questions related to passport cards, including what a Passport card is.
Compared to the regular passport book, the New passport card is cheaper and a lot more lightweight. Its wallet-size features make it easy to store and relatively harder to lose than the larger passport book. Aside from that, applying for a passport card is also less expensive, around half of the passport book’s price.
But take note that you can only use your passport card in limited destinations and modes of travel. Your use of the passport card is only allowed in destinations that are included in the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative or WHTI. Countries and regions that are included in the WHTI are Canada, the Caribbean, Mexico, and Bermuda. Outside of these destinations, you will have to present your regular passport book.
Once again, you can only use your passport card if you’re traveling by sea or land. Now what if you’re planning to travel to WHTI destinations by plane? You cannot use your passport card in this instance. Therefore, you’ll have to present your passport book.
However, if you travel to both types of destinations (WHTI and non-WHTI areas), then you could opt to apply for both types of Passport card as well. This allows you to travel to one destination and meet the necessary documents needed to get there. That way you could travel by land to a WHTI area one day, then travel to an Asian country in the next. Plus, there’s also a huge discount if you apply for both passports.
Now how do you apply for a US passport card? If you already have a passport book, or had one in the past, then you can apply for a passport card through the mail. When applying by mail, you will have to fill in Form DS-82. This applies even to those getting their passport cards for the first time. On the other hand, if you haven’t had any passport before, or should the passport require it, you will have to fill in Form DS-11, which is for first-time passport applicants.
The great thing about having a passport card is that it’s so convenient to use. This is mainly because of the radio frequency identification (RFID) chip that’s embedded on your card. Now all the US Customs have to do is to scan your card, and they will get all the information they need to provide proof of your identity and citizenship.
