Now I need a passport to go to Canada?

WTF? At least we're all safer now.:sarcasm:

You will only need one to re-enter the US.

This is the first step to a national ID.

maybe I won't need one after all! I'll just stay.

My family is ready anytime and my nephew will play in hockey Canada shortly.

I'm only 40 miles away and I bring my parents up there at least once a year to buy prescription drugs.

Good to go -- so to speak... B-)

Using a birth certificate and picture ID is more time consuming than the passport. Once everyone has one, it will make lines at the border much faster.
If you don't have one, it is a pain to get, but it's well worth it: if you ever lose your wallet ( or don't drive like me for three years :(), you have a picture ID!

just give them my license. not really any lines up here.

But if you're taking the bus for some reason, it's always birth certificate, passport or bust. And I have seen people with expired visas get escorted right back across the border.

but it will start on air travel sooner.

Gee, I just love this country's superior freedom, don't you?

to use just for Mexico and Canada, if you want.



http://travel.state.gov/travel/cbpmc/cbpmc_2223.html

Just get a real passport! It's not that big a hassle, and they're well worth having.

Dunno if it's been straightened out since, but some time ago a I knew someone born in Sweden and came over to Canada with her family when she was 5 and was told she needed not only a passport but a visa to enter the US, since she was not a native born Canuckistanian.

Last I heard, she said "fuck it" and took her vacations in Cuba, where it was cheaper anyway.

Make it harder for $cash$-carrying visitors to cross the border, they LOVE that.

I ALWAYS bring my passport

But you can't go back without one.

wonder if my social insurance number is still valid (landed immigrant status at the time)? :shrug:

So c'mon up for a free proctoscope exam! It's on us!

I don't see the big deal.

It will cost me 350 bucks to buy passports for my family to get back into the U.S.. Been going to Canada semi-regularly 40+ years.

Or more.

And yet it does not seem unreasonable to me to require a passport. It just seems to me to be something we got away with for a long time, but that time is over.

still sucks

you need a passport to come back from Canada.

Sid

My ex and I even got a new kayak across from US into Canada with his duty free maximum + mine. I easily talked the border guard into this. No longer. :(

when I would go up there, I'd tell the Canadian side I was picking up medicine. Coming back down, the U.S. side didn't care about the drugs but were more concerned about if I had any beef.

...All tucked up inside the land of the free and the home of the brave. Really makes me sad.

Hekate

only for flying back.

From Birmingham, AL, we flew to Calgary on Dec. 23rd. We were asked for our passports at the B'ham airport and they were stamped. During our connecting flight from Las Vegas to Calgary, the flight attendant handed out a customs form, which more or less asked who you were and what you were bringing into Canada. Not a big deal, as we've flown through Canada before, and were familiar with the form. On the way back to the U.S., on Jan. 2d, we were asked again for our passports.

The biggest hassle is getting a passport to begin with. It costs around $100 and takes about 12+ weeks to get. You have to prove U.S. citizenship, which for most people means presenting a birth certificate, and unless you have one readily available, well, you have to fork out that expense. And you have to have a passport photo made. Since applying for my passport and having my photo made, I've lost about 110 pounds, so I got a second look or two when I presented it on this last trip.

BTW, I can't say enough for Banff, Canada! Great vacation spot! Well, it was f'ing great!

one of the glaciers has melted back about 1/2 mi. in 25 yrs.

Up north of me there is a golf course in Fort Kent, Me. The front nine and pro shop is in the US. The back nine and the clubhouse (and bar) is in Canada. It was built that way during Prohibition. So does that now mean that I'll need a passport to play there?