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Canadians coming to Vegas - do you really need a Passport now?

Discussion in 'Misc. Vegas Chat' started by GeorgeJ., Apr 20, 2015.

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  1. GeorgeJ.

    GeorgeJ. VIP Whale

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    My wife and I are going to fly to Buffalo and then over to Toronto and the Canadian side of Niagara Falls next month. A co-worker of hers told her that you need a passport now to cross back into the US...when I've gone to Canada or Mexico in the past, all you needed was your Driver's License from the US...

    Even flying...I flew to Toronto in the late 90's and did not need anything but my Driver's License....

    Not so today? You guys now need a Canadian passport to enter the US when going to Vegas?

    Now we have to scramble to renew expired Passports..
     
  2. VegasChic-

    VegasChic- VIP Whale

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    Yes, ever since 9/11 they are very strict with proper documentation!
     
  3. newmans

    newmans VIP Whale

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    100% you need a passport to cross the border. It's been like that for years. Even if you have a NEXUS card, you still need to carry a passport.
     
  4. dannyocean

    dannyocean High-Roller

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    Yes, definitely have that passport!
     
  5. GeorgeJ.

    GeorgeJ. VIP Whale

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    I guess they had not gotten to that point yet later in 2001 after 9/11....I drove up to Toronto in October 2001 and needed nothing but my driver's license to return to the US at Niagara Falls...
     
  6. cjohnson202

    cjohnson202 VIP Whale

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    I hate passports.

    Funny Story

    A few summers ago I was driving across the border to visit a theme park in Ohio with a few friends. Got to the border, guy scans my passport and asks if I know a Christopher Gary Johnson. My name is Corey Johnson, so I tell him no. Guy calls a border guard over to his booth, then another, then another. Everyone is confused. Finally, they tell me to pull over and enter the customs building. Uh Oh. After an hour of waiting around and being questioned, I'm finally told that when my passport is scanned, someone else's name, information and picture comes up on my screen. Christopher Gary Johnson, who lives in one of the prairie states and is a student in the United States, so he frequently crosses the border. It's funny, because a few months earlier, I walked across the border at Niagara falls and the border guard there gave me a hard time and kept asking me if I was still a student in the United States and when I said I never was he didn't love my answer. Apparently, after getting pulled over, they put a note on my file about the error. Every time after that, when going through border security, they asked me if I was still a student, and I just replied "I never was, theres a note on my file explaining it" and they see the note, nod and let me go through.

    I dealt with that for 3-4 years. Needless to say, when I got my new 10 year passport last summer, it was a good day. Gone across the border now 3 times since (all to Vegas) without any issue or unnecessary questions.
     
  7. Iceicecool

    Iceicecool Low-Roller

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    Are you a Canadian citizen or a US citizen? If you're Canadian, yes you need a passport or you can be denied entry. If you are a US citizen they prefer you have a passport, but if you do not you'll be fine. The US cannot deny entry to a US citizen, the worst that will happen is they will send you to secondary.
     
  8. GeorgeJ.

    GeorgeJ. VIP Whale

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    Ice, if your question is to me, the OP, I am a US citizen...I would have preferred to skip all the crap I'm going through to get a new Passport (don't really have any need for one other than to go up to Toronto for a day) just because I don't know where my 2003 US passport is (I do have an older 1979 passport that I will be taking over to a local passport person at the public library and she told me on the phone that that should be OK rather than the most recent one that I can't find)...just going to secondary at the Niagara Falls crossing would have been preferred over getting a new passport..
     
  9. GeorgeJ.

    GeorgeJ. VIP Whale

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    Here's another good border story....back in 1980 I was working for a Mexican-licensed radio station broadcasting from Tijuana to the San Diego market across the border. The FCC in the US would not allow the station to send the programming down to the transmitter in Tijuana by Satellite or other means so we had to record each hour on a reel of tape & it played back from the Tijuana transmitter 5 hours later. To take the tapes down to Tijuana we had to stop first at US Secondary & have someone sign off on a sheet that 4 reels of audio tape were being taken across the border. Same thing on the way back-- they had to sign off that 4 reels came back into the US. Sometimes the other guys got lazy & didn't bring any tapes back with them when they made a delivery. One day I threw a dozen tapes under the seat of the station truck & came back to the border. Didn't declare them and the border agent dug through the truck & found them. He actually pulled his gun on me & marched me into one of their buildings. They held me for an hour (apparently for smuggling audio tapes into the US) and finally let me go. What a joke!
     
  10. sandybeachbar

    sandybeachbar Low-Roller

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    Have to go a renew mine this am. Not looking forward to the line and wait. First time able to go for 10 year one. Hope I can get lots of pages so I will not have to see them again for a long time!
     
  11. Kickin

    Kickin Flea

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    This is not true.

    My wife is Canadian and she has NEXUS. She does not need her passport when crossing the US/Canada border whether by land or air.

    Just the NEXUS card is enough.
     
  12. newmans

    newmans VIP Whale

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    I travel with the NEXUS card, but have been asked to show my passport..............clearing US customs.
     
  13. Yall

    Yall Low-Roller

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    You can also get an enhanced drivers license and use that in lieu of a passport.

    And as others have said, you technically can't be denied re-entry, but they may decide to make your life a little harder that day.
     
  14. phade

    phade Keeping tabs on LV while not there...

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    We live in wNY and the enhanced DL is all you need. Passports are generally easier, but the DL works.
     
  15. HoyaHeel

    HoyaHeel Grammar Police & Admin

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    1. This thread is VERY confusing because many responses are referring to Americans traveling across borders, NOT Canadians. Please state clearly if/when you respond what your passport/DL is.

    2. Be aware that rules are different (for Americans) for land crossings vs international air travel. http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/passports/information/card/Difference-Between-Passport-Book-and-Card.html

    And, you know, check with actual GOVERNMENTS about what you need to travel between sovereign nations, not strangers on a message board, no matter how well-intentioned we might be!
     
  16. Yall

    Yall Low-Roller

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    Fair points to be sure, but the OP is a touch confusing as it implies the poster is a US citizen planning on crossing the border from the US to Canada (presumably via land):

    "when I've gone to Canada or Mexico in the past, all you needed was your Driver's License from the US..."
     
  17. HoyaHeel

    HoyaHeel Grammar Police & Admin

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    Yes the OP asks two different questions in that original post - do Americans need a passport to visit Canada AND do Canadians need a passport to visit the US.

    FYI - I still recommend (whether American OR Canadian) you check the government website and make sure you check your method of transportation with identification needs. :thumbsup:
     
  18. Yall

    Yall Low-Roller

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    +1

    No debate on that! Last thing you want is to be ill prepared at the border when traveling. "Yall said so" doesn't even carry weight in my house, let alone at an international crossing. :woohoo::woohoo:
     
  19. Jane42

    Jane42 Low-Roller

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    My son and daughter-in-law, who are NY citizens and live in WNY, have enhanced licenses, and travel to Niagara Falls a couple times a year and as recently as three weeks ago.

    An enhanced license is less expensive than a passport.
     
  20. npom

    npom VIP Whale

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    I live in NY also and have the enhanced license. I am not sure if that is available in every state or if its just a NY thing. I do know that in order to cross over into Canada you have to either have the enhanced DL or a passport.
     
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