Canada and the U.S. are negotiating a suitable date to implement mandatory passports for travellers at land and sea crossings.
"They're working at coming to a common date," John von Dongen, B.C.'s minister of state for intergovernmental affairs, said Thursday.
The U.S. Congress wants the new laws in place by June 2009.
But Dongen said Canada wants extra time to ensure that the security measures don't hurt trade and tourism -- particularly when Vancouver hosts the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.
Meanwhile, Canada has actively been supporting a pilot project between Washington state and B.C. that will test passport options.
"We're working in lockstep with the state of Washington," said Dongen.
"We're going to model our system on theirs in collaboration with the Canada Border Security Agency."
Officials are hoping to enhance driver's licenses with special radio frequency identification chips as a substitute for those without passports.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff is expected to officially sign off on the project as early as next week.
The project will also include scanning driver's licenses at the border with special hand-held devices. The scanners will be able to tell if the licenses are fake or if the person is on a watch list.
Some members of the Business for Economic Security, Trade and Tourism Coalition are objecting to plans to place the chips in licenses.
In a letter to Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire last week, signed by six members, the group said the step is unnecessary as citizenship can be proven when licences are checked against databases at the border.
