Children's passport question - Flying out of Detroit

[calnmace]

I'm really hoping someone can help me with this. I understand that kids don't need a passport when traveling by land into the US. We will be driving in to the US with our 2 kids and flying from Detroit to Orlando. Will my kids need passports at the airport? I was told that kids aren't asked for passports when traveling within the US. My husband and I have passports but our kids don't.

 

[Lizzzys]

I'm really hoping someone can help me with this. I understand that kids don't need a passport when traveling by land into the US. We will be driving in to the US with our 2 kids and flying from Detroit to Orlando. Will my kids need passports at the airport? I was told that kids aren't asked for passports when traveling within the US. My husband and I have passports but our kids don't.

You should be fine. Several years ago I was preparing for a trip to DL with my 3 daughters when the "crush" of passport applications happened due to the new rules in the US (anyone flying into the US from a foreign country has to have a passport). Long story short (and it's in the archieves if anyone is interested!) we were down to the wire getting the kids' passports back in time for our trip. Our "Plan B" was to drive across the border and jump on an airplane to LA from the US. I was told that would work just fine. (ended up paying extra for fast processing and going through the whole process over again, beginning to end because our original apps were somewhere in a huge mail pile in Winnipeg)

Liz

 

[Macduffy]

Wow I never knew that but you're right:

Canadian citizens aged 15 years or under are only required to present proof of Canadian citizenship, such as an original or a photocopy of a birth certificate, or an original citizenship card, when entering the United States by land or water. Canadian citizens 18 years of age or under who are travelling with a school or other organized group, under adult supervision with parental/guardian consent, may also present proof of Canadian citizenship alone.

I guess I got the kids passports for no reason LOL! Ah well.... they are awful cute

 

[racerangel]

I'm really hoping someone can help me with this. I understand that kids don't need a passport when traveling by land into the US. We will be driving in to the US with our 2 kids and flying from Detroit to Orlando. Will my kids need passports at the airport? I was told that kids aren't asked for passports when traveling within the US. My husband and I have passports but our kids don't.

Hey there,

I was thinking about the same thing for September when we are flying out of Buffalo. I gave the passport office a call on this one just to make sure. It is true that you do not need a passport for a child under the age of 16 to cross over the boarder by land and then can fly out of a US city. However I was told to keep in mind that if you are down in Florida and by some freak of nature something happens (illness, death in the family back home, any emergency, etc. etc.) and you need to fly directly back into Canada, your children will not be able to go because they do not have a passport. You would have to go to the Canadian Consulate to get special permission to allow them to fly out of the US directly into Canada.

Obviously something that no one plans on having happen to them, but it would be added stress in a time of an emergency if you had to go through all the extra trouble of getting permission for you children to fly back with you.

Just something to keep in the back of you head when deciding on wheter or not to get them passports or not.

 

[snickerboo]

Oh shoot, I didn't know that! I just got us passports a few weeks ago and paid for them for the kids, too. We only ever fly out of Detroit! Oh well, they're 5-year so they're good for a long time. And, FYI, if you want them, they're much cheaper than the adult passports, though you still need a picture. And they only take two weeks if you apply in person.

 

[calnmace]

Thanks so very much for your replies you guys are the best!

I tried to apply for passports for them last week and I got their pics done etc. and after waiting in person at the passport office I was told I would need a long form birth certificate to apply for their passports because my husband and I were not married at the time they were born
We leave at the end of the month and so I was feeling really overwhelmed with trying to go back and deal with all that...
Thank you again for your help. I love you Dis people

 

[Lizzzys]

Hey there,

I was thinking about the same thing for September when we are flying out of Buffalo. I gave the passport office a call on this one just to make sure. It is true that you do not need a passport for a child under the age of 16 to cross over the boarder by land and then can fly out of a US city. However I was told to keep in mind that if you are down in Florida and by some freak of nature something happens (illness, death in the family back home, any emergency, etc. etc.) and you need to fly directly back into Canada, your children will not be able to go because they do not have a passport. You would have to go to the Canadian Consulate to get special permission to allow them to fly out of the US directly into Canada.

This should not be an issue either, you CAN fly into Canada from a foreign country without a passport. (just need valid ID) I have heard that some people have been hassled at a US airport when trying to fly into Canada without a valid passport, but ultimately they cannot prevent you from flying into your own country by imposing US rules on you. Canada does not have as stringent border crossing policies, as of yet.

Liz

 

[Lizzzys]

This website for the 2010 Olympics should help reaffirm my answer regarding travelling by air to Canada.

http://www.vancouver2010.com/en/spe.../entry-into-canada/-/34212/1juvgw8/index.html

The US rule (even for their own citizens) is that anyone entering the US by air from a foreign country (including Canada) is required to show passport identification. A US citizen is not even required to show a passport to enter Canada, but the difficulty arrises with them trying to get back into their own country if they are flying. So neither Canadian, nor US citizens are required to have a passport when crossing from the US into Canada either by land/sea or air.

Liz

 

[OntFamily]

I'm really hoping someone can help me with this. I understand that kids don't need a passport when traveling by land into the US. We will be driving in to the US with our 2 kids and flying from Detroit to Orlando. Will my kids need passports at the airport? I was told that kids aren't asked for passports when traveling within the US. My husband and I have passports but our kids don't.

When flying domestically in the USA (from one American city to another American city) the citizenship of the person flying is immaterial (ie no one cares). However, when flying in the USA, any person 18 years and older must show photo id to the security official (passports are acceptable photo id). Once you cross the border (in your case, a land border probably at Detroit / Windsor), you won't need to prove citizenship to anyone until you return to Canada.

 

[racerangel]

This should not be an issue either, you CAN fly into Canada from a foreign country without a passport. (just need valid ID) I have heard that some people have been hassled at a US airport when trying to fly into Canada without a valid passport, but ultimately they cannot prevent you from flying into your own country by imposing US rules on you. Canada does not have as stringent border crossing policies, as of yet.

Liz

You are right it shouldn't be an issue, but it really all depends on who get as your border guard coming back into country. (which is kind of scary if you ask me)

My great-aunt was going to my cousin's graduation in the States this past summer just after the law change in June this year requiring passports for audlts crossing the border. She had forgotten that she had gotten a passport about 3 years ago when she had planned on going on a cruise and ended up not being able to go. Because she had forgotten she applied for a passport and was actually issued a new one with no issues or questions in regards to the other passport.

She croseed into the States with no problems, but coming back on the Canadian side she was stopped by the guards and told that her passport was not valid and could not cross. She had a valid Driver's License, Ontario Health card and Birth Certificate, but they insisted she was not able to return to the Country without a proper valid passport. It took a few phone calls, conversations to the upper authorities and some convincing that an 80 year old woman posed no real threat to the Canadian country to eventually let her cross, but they detained her for 2-3 hours while discussing wheter or not they were going to.


In terms of the what I said about the children returning home. I might have misinterrupted what they were telling me as being a Canadian law (as this is the way it was presented to me by the person I spoke to at the passport office) But if US law requires:

"Canadian citizens travelling by air to, through or from the United States must present one of the following valid documents:

a passport; or
a NEXUS card when used at a kiosk at designated Canadian airports and at all U.S. airports when returning to Canada.
This requirement applies to all travellers, regardless of age, including children"

They could make it very difficult for you to get on a plane to come home. This is not something anyone wants to deal with in an emergency and was the reason I brought it up. You would hope they would show some compassion in an emergency situation, but I guess for me I was not willing to risk finding out if they would our wouldn't.

 

[mtmbyck]

This should not be an issue either, you CAN fly into Canada from a foreign country without a passport. (just need valid ID) I have heard that some people have been hassled at a US airport when trying to fly into Canada without a valid passport, but ultimately they cannot prevent you from flying into your own country by imposing US rules on you. Canada does not have as stringent border crossing policies, as of yet.

I wouldn't trust this theory. What about those news headlines about that woman overseas that was Canadian, didn't look like her passport, so Canada denied her transportation back to Canada. She had to use DNA to get herself back. Exteme yes, but why have the hassle. We just applied and got our passports and it only takes about 3 weeks. You might not need them now for the kids, but at some point this will change too.

Interesingly, the US is so concernd about our ID flying into their country, but I recently flew stopover within the US and do you know they don't even ask for photo ID boarding a plane in the US. Just your boarding pass and you get on the plane no problems.

 

[Miandrea]

It is much easier to have a passport for your child. My children have passports - I would recommend them.