Passports necessary - your experience...

[Lil ole moi]

Driving from Fredericton, New Brunswick, crossing the Houlton Border to fly out of Bangor, Maine this coming November. Should we get passports or will photo ID be enough. What would you do? It would be nice not to have to fork over the money for passports...does anyone have any experience regarding this?

Thanks

 

[tribus121]

I cross that border Quite often ( I am a charter bus driver )and all I have ever needed was photo ID and a birth cert .and that is all that you will nead till jan 08 I will warn you that at times they have been checking all ID's and running them through their computer system and this has created a backlog some times as long as a hr when it is bussy If you dont nead them for an other reason I would wait as there is still a good chance that they will come out with a border crossing card that will be cheaper than a passport
note
If you where not born in canada you would need a pasport or proof of citsenship

 

[highland3]

No need for passports this fall. We cross between Ontario and New York fairly often and have never had an issue with photo ID and borth certificate.

It's still looking like the U.S. will stand by its passport plan for 2008.

 

[Charleyann]

I drove to Bangor last year from Fredericton and did fly out of Bangor. All I needed was birth certificate and a drivers license. For my little boy I got picture ID from motor vehicle. It is considered legal ID. Children need this too.

Charleyann

PS. I'm going in Nov too...

 

[F4disneyfan]

I would highly reccomend the passports you will need them after this year anyhow so you may as well get them early to avoid all the people rusing to get them before next year for teh new regs for land crossing. We went over to Port Huron a week or so ago and the US side asked if we had passports we do so no problem but that was our first experiance with actually being asked if we had them.

 

[bbangel]

Get the passport. It will open a world of opportunities. It is also easier to cross land borders with one now than without.

 

[maryliz]

While I agree that passports are a wonderful thing (family of 4 -- we all have them), I would not spend the money if you don't plan on needing them within the next year more than just this trip. JMHO. If you have children, all you require is their birth certificates ... photo ID is not needed for children, not for the border, nor for security at the airport. In fact, security in Buffalo handed me back the 4 passports before even looking at them and said "just the adults please". They refused to even look at the kids passports ... took more time for me to look at them and pull out the adults than it would have for security to just look at all 4 of them.

As long as you have birth cert and drivers license, you're fine ... for now.
If you think you'll be doing more border crossing, get them now to avoid the possible delays once they're required.

MaryLiz

 

[dsneygirl]

We have been to Buffalo probably 8-10 times in the last couple of months and have never been asked for a passport.

 

[CanadianPaco]

I grew up in a border town and have cross over to the US a million times it seems. But it is so much easier with a passport. It really is! The times we've flown to the US has proven to be the same. The customs guards don't seem to scrutinize our documentation the same way as before we had them! It is a worthwhile investment!

 

[pooksma]

Also cross at Houlton. Last time we did show them-our DS was 4 . Became more important in Boston than Bangor. We feel its a worthy investment.