I am posting this to several cruising lists I read where cruisers lurk:
USCG & DHS have announced that if you hold any USCG license
(including a Coast Guard 6 pack or any Masters license) you have just
6 months left to get a new piece of plastic or your license will be
invalidated.
Your license will be invalid after Sept 2008 if you do not get a TWIC
Card (Transportation Worker Identity Card) from Homeland Security.
To get it you have to go personally to their satellite offices and
apply for and pay approx. $130 and produce id, and they will take
your personal information to have their contractor, Lockheed, prepare
and produce a new biometric id card for you to carry. It can be read
by automated readers and USCG personnel with wands in the future if
they board your vessel. They are into checking ids now and this is
part of the plan for the future to protect our waterways. If you
lose your card it costs $60 for a new one. You have to apply for it
in person, and then wait one or two months and return to the
identical satellite office where you applied to pick up your new TWIC
card. They cannot mail or deliver it and if you are traveling, you
are out of luck and need to fly back to where you applied. They are
issued by each office separately. If you want to schedule an
appointment or ask a question you can contact them by phone on their
single national site. No local phones to enquire at. They can deal
with you in either Spanish or English when you call.
They have a web site explaining it:
www.twicinformation.com
Future boardings by the USCG will not only check your boat but also
your ID.
We would not mind except Sue and I both just got our USCG 6-pack
licenses within the last month (including fingerprinting and data on
us placed in USCG files). It's now a bit of an aggravation to have
to go jumping through a bunch of new hoops all over again.
By the way, if you pre-register for a TWIC online. They make you have
a complicated secure password to check your status & assign a
confidential bar coded ID paper afterwards. My wife applied
separately and later found we had the identical 8 digit alpha-numeric
password assigned to each of us!
Ed
Ed Kelly (& Sue Kelly)
USSV Angel Louise - lying Brunswick, GA
Our Skype Phone (202) 657-6357
Email: EdKelly ("at" symbol) netins.net
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