Crossing the border

[HDgirl]

What kind of ID do you need for Canada? Birth cert, passport?

Thanks,

Karen

[Angela]

Just a birth certificate. In fact when I went a few years ago they didn't even ask to see my cert.

[kirkbyky]

Gosh, we've always just used our licenses here in MI, but I'd take the birth certificate just to be safe.

Kyle

[funnybone]

Being Canadian and living in the US, we travel across the border a lot. If you are American or Canadian born, a BC is sufficient. However, if you were born in another country, you may need a visitor's visa.

Although they don't look at it 99% of the time, you must have it in case they ask. Since we are here on my husband's work visa, we ALWAYS have to have all our documents with us and 99% of the time, in our case, they look at them on the way back into the US to ensure we are legally here.

[gabbyh]

When he was working out of Detroit and would cross the border into Canada he needed his visa/passport...he is not an American citizen...he says this is to make sure he was in the Country legally to begin with...

[HDgirl]

Thanks for the info...I had said bc and license...the question came from someone born in Japan but his DD is going to Canada. I had to make sure she was born here. She was.

Thanks for straightening me out! I knew I could count on you guys!

Karen

[SandyM]

I travel across the border on a regular basis (driving from Michigan to Buffalo). Only one time was I asked for ID, and that was because I was "randomly chosen" for a vehicle search. Thankfully the only contraband I had was Diet Pepsi fo rmy mother!!!

I am an American citizen, I don't have an accent, I always make eye contact with the customs agent and only answer their questions directly. They don't need to know that you're visiting Aunt Tilly who had her gallbladder out. It took me a while to convince DH of this.........

[Wendy w]

I crossed over from Detroit last year to go to Niagara Falls and they just asked us if we were US citizens and let us go through. I find that the Canadian customs people are nicer than the Americans.

[cchhbb]

We tend to get a lot more questions because DH is Canadian. Going into Canada has never been an issue when I've been flying or driving. They haven't asked for id.

Entering the US is a completely different story. We drive up and they find out that we are of mixed nationalities (I'm US) and our car has US plates on it. Then they start the questions. Usually, they concentrate on DH, but sometimes they want to make sure I'm who I say I am. Since DH has a green card and not on an annual visa things are much better.

The good thing about them getting worked up over DH status is they often forget to ask if we have anything to declare. One time we bought 3 cases of whiskey and they never asked so we didn't tell. We saved about $200 in duty. BTW, we didn't drink the whiskey ourselves, it was for friends.

[Vanessa]

I believe a passport would be sufficient.

[csmcnamara]

I just went to Canada in June and they didn't ask for any ID--either coming or going. Usually they do ask more questions coming back into the states.

[BosunsWife]

Gosh, I used to go to Vancouver all the time when I lived in Washington State and I never used more than my driver's license. Until recently, I didn't even have a certified copy of my birth certificate. I requested it to get a passport which I haven't had time to apply for yet.

DH and I used to get a good chuckle because when we would go to Vancouver all the guys would do at the border crossing was look at the valid military sticker on our truck and wave us through. Same when we went to Tijuana - we walked through and had actually bought quite of a bit of stuff (read alcohol) and they just briefly looked at our military id asked if we bought anything and didn't even look to see what it was. Hello, we are just the same as everyone else, we could be smuggling in anything and they wouldn't know.

[Gail]

Going by requirements when I was still in the travel industry (circa 1990) passports were required for anyone except US citizens, who need proof of citizenship such as a birth certificate or baptismal record. (Driver's license is not considered proof of citizenship.)

Unofficially, it's really a flip of the coin. I don't think I've ever taken proof of citizenship into Canada or Mexico (I am embarrassed to admit) nor have I ever been questioned or stopped. Of course that isn't to say that YOU might not be the lucky statistic who just happens to get stopped, so it's wise to play it safe and bring proper documentation.