Passport for children
 

Hi,

We are heading to Dis in October of this year and I have a question about passports and flying out of Buffalo. I am American and we go back and forth across the border every few weeks to visit family and shop. Currently we only need my daughter's birth certificate to go back and forth across the borders when driving. Do we need a passport for her to fly out of Buffalo to Orlando? I'm guessing since we've already gone through customs and crossed the border we won't. My daughter will be 11 at that time.
Any information would be helpful
Thanks

Wow! How are you doing that? Passports are now supposed to be required for everyone crossing the border, regardless of land, air, or water crossing.

But if crossing then border is working for you, then no, you don't need a passport to fly domestically within the US - but you do need proof of identity.

You don't need passports for kids under 16 to cross land border Canada to United States http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/whti-ivho/ls-tm-eng.html just a birth certificate is fine. You also don't need a passport crossing at land border if you are going with a school group for say sports or whatever and are under 18. Since you are then flying domestically you will not need a passport for her to get on plane Buffalo to Orlando. We ended up getting passports for our kids because I thought one day there just might be a flight with a good price from Canada to Florida......so far no luck with that we always fly out of Buffalo.

I was just going to give a link that showed the same thing. I didn't think we would since we would have already crossed the border by car, but I wanted to clarify. I also had an ulterior motive to get this information out there since I couldn't find it in the forums anywhere. This will be our first time flying to Disney since 2004 and we flew out of Buffalo at that time.
Thanks for the information.

Well I'll be darned. I was led to believe (by a US C&I agent) that I would need passports for everyone a couple of years back when we went on a shopping trip SOTB (was before the newer rules came into effect). We didn't bother with the passports for driving trips back then, but have always had passports for the kids for flying anyway. Now we use passports for every crossing, and since DS turns 15 this year, both kids are too old for non-passports anyway.

I got a Nexus card for crossing border or flight to US. The line is shorter and faster. Well worth the money. However if crossing the border in a car, everyone in the same car must have the Nexus card to use the Nexus lane. I still have passport for non-US travel. This is another option to avoid long lines.

I always thought passport was needed as well. We went over once with my DD15 but was I think 13 at the time & was told I needed a passport for her so have used one ever since. Also both Buffalo & Orlando airports have always asked for our passports. How are we not so lucky & we shop in buffalo all the time & just flew in October.

We go shopping at least a couple of times a read and fly to disney from both Canada and the states and are always asked for the kids passports, even the TA says they need one. Weird how it seems different for some people.

We have passports for the kids too and always have. I love how I can't get a passport renewal for my 8 year old without ordering and paying for his long form birth certificate but all I need to get over the border apparently is his short form birth certificate.:rolleyes2

This is true, but for the effort to get a childs passport they are well worth the money to have. What happens if you have a problem and need to fly back to Canada directly?

If this is a renewal for your child you do not need the long form birth certificate-just renewed my girls who are 10 last fall-it is there in the info on renewals........only for new passports do you need the long form.
You do need a passport for any travel by air from Canada to anywhere including the United States - the no passport deal for kids under 16 is strictly land crossing Canada-US.


http://www.ppt.gc.ca/info/16-.aspx#parent
"Exception: A proof of parentage document is not required with an application only if a Canadian passport or travel document has previously been issued to the child and it is the same parent(s)/legal guardian(s) who applied for the previous passport or travel document participating in the new application process. All other documentation, including proof of citizenship, is still required."

We do have passports for all kids but that would certainly not be my reason for having them.......if I flew out of Buffalo my vehicle would be there........and to fly into Toronto is farther from our home than Buffalo is! Hamilton is closer but again vehicle in Buffalo.........so that reason makes no sense to me...

The info I had said adults can do a "short form" renewal but not kids. But this looks to be a bit of a short cut at least, not being required to have parentage established if it's a renewal.

We actually renewed dd's passport last summer when this all came about and used information from here (Disboards) and a link someone posted. We went in with the short form and were sent home to apply for the long form. I asked that he please check because I had seen the above posted info and he came back and said "Sorry.. you need the long form." I was so perturbed because I'd had to take time off work and travel 45 minutes each way.

I ordered my sons long form at the same time I ordered dd's and went in with it 2 weeks ago and that's what they took. Mind you, this time I wasn't taking any chances so I didn't even try the short form.
In the end I see what you've posted, and I read it last time and they absolutely would not take the short form. I don't know if that information is wrong, or because the policy was new they were confused but I tried and it was a no-go. I even tried the "but your website says..." and they just kept apologizing and wouldn't take her renewal application.

They also told me in no uncertain terms parentage had to be established for a renewal. Because technically there is no renewal for kids.
For children, they application is the same as applying for a new passport. I had to have a guarantor again for the kids, but not for my husband applying at the same time (2 weeks ago).

Just as a FYI. We took my son and my husbands passport applications in on a Thursday. They called to verify a few things with me on the Friday but I wasn't home. I called back Monday and everything was good. We got the passports by registered mail on Wednesday! I was very surprised at how quick it was.