You can get a passport now with a special border crossing card for $30 or $60 more (can’t remember). I just renewed my passport which expired 18 years ago and just had to make an appt to bring my old one into the SD dtn office, fill out a form and meet a human officer briefly so he/she could see for themselves that I’m the same person. I signed a declaration under oath and paid the fees and rec’d the docs in the mail 8 days later.
The new docs are beautiful and fancy!
I guess those new border crossing cards (for MX/CAN) must vet a returning US citizen into the “ready” lane. I haven’t experimented with it yet.
Yeah, spdrun, I used to roam freely between Ensenada, Rosarito and Tijuana and the US almost weekly. But that was before 9/11 when it was possible to do so without docs. We even drove to La Paz a couple of times in an old Ford pickup with 3 gas tanks! (This was before it was paved all the way down there and “resort-like.”)
I don’t travel internationally but just mainly renewed so I can go “rescue” my kids (with a lawyer in tow, if necessary) if they become hospitalized or get in trouble or otherwise detained while out of the country. Their dad has a Sentri pass but has a wacky schedule and is often 1000 miles or more into MX for weeks at a time.
