U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted a video on its Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) website (www.GetYouHome.gov) to show U.S. and Canadian citizens and travelers how to benefit most from their new WHTI-compliant documents.
Many of the new travel documents that comply with WHTI are embedded with radio frequency identification (RFID) technology—Passport Cards, Enhanced Driver’s Licenses, and NEXUS, SENTRI and FAST cards. These cards can be read automatically when travelers enter the United States, making border crossing even more efficient. The next generation of Border Crossing Cards, for use by Mexican citizens to enter the U.S. border area to visit and shop, also are RFID-enabled.
The video shows travelers the simple steps to follow as they approach a U.S. land port of entry with their RFID-enabled travel card:
* Stop at the entry to the inspection lane and wait for a signal to move forward.
* Each passenger removes his or her travel card from its protective sleeve and holds it up, with the flat front face of the card toward a window on the driver’s side. The RFID-enabled cards will be read automatically while the vehicle proceeds to the inspection booth.
* Stop at the inspection booth, and be prepared to present documents for all travelers in the vehicle to the CBP officer.
WHTI-compliant, RFID-enabled documents help reduce the time it takes to process travelers at the border. No personal identification information is stored on the RFID chip embedded in the cards – only a series of ones and zeros that points to information in a secure CBP database. The CBP encourages travelers to store cards in the protective sleeve provided with the document to protect them from being read without their knowledge.
See the video at www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/multimedia/video/rfid_enabled.