Passport required for entry to the States?
 

Is a passport required for a Canadian to enter the USA now or is that regulation not in place yet?

Is a birth certificate and drivers license sufficient?

Tried to find info online but no luck.

By the end of 2006 you will need a passport. Right now a birth certificate is fine. But it has to have a raised seal .... that's what I was told because we are traveling to Mexico and I had the same question.

Is that new? I have one from 95 but it doesn't have a seal on it. :(

Actually ... my bad. I inquired about that because Chris' was a copy and she said that it had to have a raised seal on it.

And then I started freaking out because you can't see it, I had to run my hands along the whole thing, but it does actually have a raised seal on it.

Is yours the original or a copy ... you said 95, I'm guessing copy?!?

I thought it was needed by end of 2007, not 2006?
As for your birth certificate, it should be fine but you should check the customs website because certain birth certificates won't work. I had to get a re-issue of mine since Quebec birth certificates didn't have seals on the earlier issues.
WG

For now driver's license and birth certificate are fine, but as Kristin says, by the end of the year you will need a passport to FLY in....

http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/va...entary_req.xml

-December 31, 2006: Requirement applied to all air and sea travel to or from Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Bermuda.

-December 31, 2007: Requirement extended to all land border crossings as well as air and sea travel.

This doesn't factor in the new ID cards they've been talking about lately either. I have no idea where they fit it.

As for the birth certificate with a raised seal, that's the first I've heard of it. I just had a brand new one issued and it doesn't even have one that I notice... :helpme

I heard 2006 ... but another my bad. I'm just gonna stop talking. I forgot MC is Canadian. The raised seal was for an American birth certificate.

Sorry ... I'm retarded, I admit it. I was trying to offer advice and probably messed you up more. ; )

They gave me GRIEF at customs in January on my way to the Vegas show. They told me next time to have my Passport or I would not get into the US. This trip to Phoenix will be my first US trip with passport in hand. So I do not know what the law is, but I am not taking chances.

It's all good Kristin.

Some good info came out of the thread for me. :)

Here MC this looks official. http://www.ppt.gc.ca/travel_tips/trip_planning_e.asp

Most excellent, thank you very much Brock! :thumbsup

Oh man, they gave me grief going in for Internext Florida last year and told me to have it by January Vegas.

I had to expedite my birth certificate because it was frayed on the end and THEN send in my application. As I dropped off my passport application in person I noticed at the booth that it was crossed off in INK (meaning VERY recently) that they'd changed the dates. I asked the woman about it and like she said, it's not gonna hurt you to have it.

Surprisingly both government agencies were great to deal with and very quick.

What I AM worried about is the new ID card they say you'll need. If I need THAT as well as, or instead OF my passport, I'll be pissed because I did the whole family while I did my own.

Why doesn't everyone just get a passport? It's a bit late now but even when I went to Mexico it was so much easier for me with my passport to pass right through as my friend was hassled and took forever, even just to check in at the airport. They cost less then $100 and last for 10 years.

I'm sure it's not much different in Canada... and if more Americans get passports then the rest of the world can stop bringing up how few Americans have passports, even if we still don't travel. :1orglaugh

They only last 5 years here, but I agree they're easier to travel with.

It is annoying that you have to reapply instead of just renew, but I understand they're working on that too here in Canada.

Getting my passport here shortly so I don't have any probs hopefully when I goto the Bahamas.

out of all the places i have visited, its the biggest pain the ass to enter canada from the usa..

a model showed me a california DL that she got for $100 in the park the other day . . . lamintaed, pic, bar code, the works . .

I got over a few weeks back with a 20 year old canadian citenship card with a really old pic of me. The guy just asked for some other id and I gave him my drivers license with a chunk kinda ripped from my dog and I was fine.

I went to Canada twice this year and both times they asked me for my passport, so if I were you, i wouldn't take any chances, since those immigration officials can do whatever they want

You are not allowed over even with a passport.


That is what I heard anyway :)

Funny, when I went to Vegas I was welcomed with open arms. The casino must have tipped off customs about my Caribbean Stud habbit, lol.
WG

Then you shouldn't have a problem getting over to the Seneca on this side. Drop a few k there.

i do fine with a birth certificate and photo id

But I've already attained Gold players status here, its hard to leave once the comps start rolling in :)
WG