Do I Need a Passport for Travel to Mexico, Canada or the Caribbean?
Wednesday January 18, 2006
Edited 11/23/2006 and 01/25/08 to add: Things have changed since this was posted in 2006 -- read the latest passports news by clicking *here*
In answer to a frequently asked question these days, no passport is needed for travel to Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean or Bermuda in 2006. According to the US Department of State's proposed timeline, beginning December 31, 2006, you will need a passport for air or sea travel and beginning December 31, 2007, you will need a passport for land travel to Mexico and Canada (the new PASS passport "substitute" may suffice when it is available). That means you don't need a passport to visit Mexico or any of the other spring break hot spots.
Getting a passport is a great idea, though; it functions as universal international ID, and it's far cheaper and easier to get one at your leisure than just before you need it. The US Department of State recommends traveling with a valid U.S. passport when returning from Mexico to "...avoid delays or misunderstandings." As of this writing, you will not be kept out of the US because you don't have a passport... but any travel, including travel to and from Mexico, can be simpler if you have one.
Comments
Hey! I was wondering for sept 2007 will i need a passport for the carribean? I am an american living in fl. and i need to know within 2 days. so please someone tell me that knows for sure. email me candace88nov@yahoo.com PLEASE!!!! i have a trip plained and i need to leave by then and buy my ticket before aug. 31…
Please let me know if I need to get a passport to travel to Bermuda. I have reservations to fly in mid June 2008.
Is a passport needed to travel to the Virgin Islands by sea?
You have got to be kidding me! We now need papers to move across our neighbor’s borders? I have to entrust my “biometric” data to these scoundrels? If this isn’t fascism, I don’t know what is.
That makes sense, the government should maybe do more to advertise it a little more but I am sure it is easy enough to find out, their is just so many people who would be away on their travels without thinking about being turned away at border control, they would not be happy.
Hey, can anyone tell me if I will need a passport to travel by air to mexico in July 2009?