Brisk business for passport cards

WASHINGTON - Nearly 740,000 Americans have ordered passport cards, a new document being offered by the State Department to speed border crossings by U.S. citizens traveling to Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.

Beginning in June 2009, travelers will be required to present documents proving both citizenship and identity when entering the U.S. through a land or sea border. For Americans who drive to Canada or Mexico or cruise regularly to the Caribbean, but who do not expect to fly abroad, the passport card is a cheaper, smaller, more portable alternative to a conventional passport book.

The card is especially popular with Americans who live in border states where it's not unusual to drive back and forth to Canada or Mexico. Residents of four border states - Texas, California, Michigan and New York - lead the country in the number of residents holding passport cards, according to Rima J. Vydmantas, spokeswoman for the State Department's Consular Affairs Bureau.

For details on how and where to get a passport card, visit http://www.travel.state.gov.