Yet another Passport ??

[SaraMc]

We are planning on going "home" to WDW in Feb and bringing our soon to be little guy with us. He will be about 6 months old then. With all the changes about to happen to what we need to cross the border. What will he need? Will he need his own passport or will he go under ours with his birth certificate?

Thanks everyone!

Sara

 

[coastgirl]

Aww, I love that ticker!! We just took our kids down, and as photo id is pretty useless with kids, they accept birth certificates, which is what we had for them. The new passport rules don't start until 2008, I believe. Is this your first? In my experience (my kids were born in BC), it can take a while to get the birth certs processed, so don't forget to register the little one ASAP. (THe hospital gave us the kits for the certs.) And of course with a newborn in the house time does odd things and it's easy to lose track... I don't think you can put kids on your passport anymore, they can get their own, though he won't really need it (and it still costs--slightly less than the adult one). Kid passports do require photos, but you can also add new ones to the doc--what photo is going to be even recognizable five years later?? (We got the passport apps but ran out of time so went without. Yep, time is still doing odd things in my house with a 3 and 5 yo!)

Congratulations!

 

[dancin Disney style]

A birth certificate is fine for a baby.

It can take as much as 4 months to get your childs birth certificate so be sure and start the process immediately after the arrival. You will get the paper work to register your birth from the hospital (or midwife). You need the certificate of registration to apply for a birth certificate. It is the registration process that is quite slow. In Ontario you can apply online for the birth certificate and it will be delivered to you in 1-2 weeks.

Congrats in advance!!!!

 

[blairjen]

You may want to look further into the passport requirements. Effective at the first of the year (Jan 1/07) anyone entering the US via air or sea will require a passport. The requirements for land crossings kick in Jan 1/08. Passports will be required for all. Passport Canada will allow a one time free replacement for passports that are issued to newborns (less than 1 year old). The fee for children is $37. Check out passport canada website for more info.

 

[Northstar]

Sounds like another good reason to fly out of Buffalo! You WILL need a passport for your baby if you fly out of Canada, but for next year only, you can still use a birth certificate at a land border crossing, as Blairjen said.

 

[amw]

I don't see what the big deal is about getting passports. My children have always had passports -- the first was at 10-months old. As a previous poster mentioned, it's less than half the rate of an adult passport. They do expire after 3 years instead of 5, and you can get a free photo upgrade under 1 years old.

I found it a lot easier to carry my family's passports than birth certificates, and is a lot faster going through the airport -- I'm at Pearson. I certainly wouldn't say that it's worth driving across the border and flying out of Buffalo because you want to avoid a $37 document!

It only takes 2 weeks to get one. I think you're better to get one then spend all this time worrying if you need one.

 

[dsneygirl]

I found it a lot easier to carry my family's passports than birth certificates, and is a lot faster going through the airport -- I'm at Pearson. I certainly wouldn't say that it's worth driving across the border and flying out of Buffalo because you want to avoid a $37 document!

It only takes 2 weeks to get one. I think you're better to get one then spend all this time worrying if you need one.

I have never understood people saying it's faster with a passport. I've been across the border dozens of times in the last couple of years and never had my BC scrutinized or felt it tied me up at all. Also I don't carry my passport to the states out of concern it would be lost or stolen. It's an incredibly valuable document and you'd be amazed what forgers can do these days.
A passport provides a lot more history which they can examine. Once we were with a friend who had her passport and had travelled to Thailand, Vietnam etc, she certainly got asked a boatload of extra questions about her travels.

And I don't think people fly out of Buffalo to save the passport fee, it's the $300/person you save on airfare that makes the trip worthwhile.

 

[amw]

I have never understood people saying it's faster with a passport. I've been across the border dozens of times in the last couple of years and never had my BC scrutinized or felt it tied me up at all. Also I don't carry my passport to the states out of concern it would be lost or stolen. It's an incredibly valuable document and you'd be amazed what forgers can do these days.
A passport provides a lot more history which they can examine. Once we were with a friend who had her passport and had travelled to Thailand, Vietnam etc, she certainly got asked a boatload of extra questions about her travels.

I was born in Quebec, and until the early 90s, you were not issued a birth certificate. Your "official" papers were your church documents such as baptismal certificates. Crossing the border through Ontario caused quite the confusion with American officials who were handed an 8 x 11 church baptismal record.

I always felt it was better to have a "Canadian" passport rather than a provincial document that border guards may not be familiar with.

 

[Northstar]

Sure, it's better to have a passport, but it can be hard to get a passport for a young baby in time to travel. You kind of have to start the process at birth, in case there are bureaucratic delays (BTW, to the poster who said it only takes two weeks to get a passport... you are lucky! Sometimes it can take 6 weeks. Vagaries of the system.) Remember that you need to work through 3 levels of documentation... you can't get a passport until you get a birth certificate, and you can't get a birth certificate until the province has registered the birth. So if you want to travel to the US to introduce your newborn to Grandma and Grandpa snowbirding in Florida, you may find the scheduling to get that passport pretty tight after next year.

I think it's nice that the OP has that reassuring, one-year-only way to go without the baby's passport so she doesn't need to stress about getting the passport ASAP if she doesn't get around to it right away.

 

[amw]

This is from the Canadian Passport website:

In April 2005, the United States Government announced the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) requiring all visitors to and from the Americas, including Canadian citizens, to present a passport to enter or re-enter the United States by December 31, 2007.

The WHTI will be implemented in two phases, as follows:

December 31, 2006 - A passport will be required for all air and sea travel to or from Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Bermuda.
December 31, 2007 - The passport requirement will be extended to all land border crossings as well as air and sea travel.

Here's the website if you would like to look at more FAQs:
http://www.pptc.gc.ca/help/faq.aspx?lang=e

Also on the website, if you apply in person, passports will be ready in 2 weeks. If you mail in your application, the turnaround is 4 weeks. You can get it couriered faster than 2 weeks at a cost. Also, interestingly, you can order a passport for a newborn without a birth certificate, but there is a special application route (see website for more info).

 

[disney funseeker]

SaraMc, are you driving or flying? That will make the difference in whether you will need one by the time you leave for your trip.

amw's reply has all the information.

The little guy will need his own passport if flying. If you are cutting it close receiving his other documentation, apply in person, get his passport expediated. YOU WILL NEED FLIGHT INFORMATION AND HE WILL HAVE TO BE THERE IN PERSON . Then you can pick up his passport.(after he authorizes you to ) Dh had to sign and authorize me to pick up his.

Just so happens, I was at the passport office this morning.

 

[SaraMc]

Thanks everyone, so first things first, get him born, get his birth certificate in order. We are flying out of Buffalo so we will only need that for getting him across the border.

 

[amw]

Thanks everyone, so first things first, get him born, get his birth certificate in order. We are flying out of Buffalo so we will only need that for getting him across the border.

Good luck with the baby Sara. It's crazy what us pre-planners will stress over ... you forget what's really important