does GC holder need passport to fly/drive b/w US/Canada?

[CalGreenCard]

I had thought that by now everyone including GC holders had to have a passport to travel between the USA and Canada whether by air or land. However the following link would seem to suggest otherwise:

http://help.cbp.gov/cgi-bin/customs.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=74

Note in particular the following text:

"Lawful Permanent Residents (Green card holder's) do NOT (capitalization theirs) need a passport to enter the United States, however you may need a passport to enter another country."

Any comments? That page was updated fairly recently (June 16 of this year, after the last stage of the WHTI came into force on June 1) so it would seem to be current information, not an outdated link.

[Reba]

You will need your Canadian passport in order to enter Canada. To get back to the US, you may only need your green card, but I have always been asked to show both.

[lawsrlaws]

To enter the USA an LPR only needs to show his/her LPR card. If they ask for both it is just the officers preference and not policy.

Also, all LPR cards are accepted, even the 20yr old non-expiring cards.

[CalGreenCard]

You will need your Canadian passport in order to enter Canada. To get back to the US, you may only need your green card, but I have always been asked to show both.

Hmmm--I looked up the following at a Canadian URL:

http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/security-securite/admiss-eng.html#s3

That URL states:

"Proper identification includes a Canadian birth certificate, a Canadian passport, a permanent residence card, a citizenship card or a certificate of Indian status."

For someone visiting Canada from the USA it goes on to state:

"If you are a permanent resident of the U.S, you should bring your Permanent Resident Card (i.e., green card) with you. "

I thought I read somewhere that, in the case of air travel, the requirement for a passport is technically speaking not a requirement to actually enter either country, but is instead a requirement to board an aircraft travelling between the two countries. If true, that would mean in practice that of course you'd need a passport to fly--but the above quotes seem to strongly suggest that at a land port of entry a GC should be sufficient in either direction.

[Steven]

You don't need any kind of documentation at all to enter the country you're a citizen of, it's just helpful and speeds up the process. Under WHTI, US citizens are supposed to have a US passport to re-enter the US (or some other authorized travel document) but imagine for example you're a fisherman, you go out to sea and lose your passport. They have a procedure where they check other systems like DMV and SSA to find out if you're a citizen.

Various countries have a procedure whereby if you lose your passport while you're on vacation, instead of issuing you a new one via the consulate they issue you a travel document which allows you get on the plane, but when you arrive, immigration will check that you're a citizen.

In addition, they cannot require passports for people with LPR cards, because some people are stateless. For example, if you are a refugee from a country like the PRC which considers you persona non grata there is no method of you getting a passport. Therefore you only have your LPR card.

However as a practical matter you probably need a passport to enter the other country, and most airlines won't let you on board without one or something equivalent to it. (Although Canada will allow visitors in who only have a US LPR card, one of the few exceptions).

Anyway, a US LPR card is a WHTI-approved travel document.

[Reba]

If you are entering Canada as a Canadian citizen, then you will require some form of official documentation that proves you are in fact a Canadian citizen. In most cases, that is a Canadian passport.

If you're flying you HAVE to have a passport if you are getting on an intnational flight. The airline won't let you on unless you have a passport in most cases. They may or may not accept a green card to get on the plane.

If you don't have an up to date Canadian passport, it is easy enough to apply for one from the US. The hardest part is finding somewhere to have your photo taken. Sears Portrait studios will do them, then you send the application form to Gatineau, takes about a week or 2.

If your expired passport was issued in Canada, then you can likey use the Simplified renewal form. If you have never had a passport however, you have to use the regular form, and the process will take longer.
http://www.ppt.gc.ca/cdn/form.aspx?lang=eng&region=USA

[CalGreenCard]

If your expired passport was issued in Canada, then you can likey use the Simplified renewal form. If you have never had a passport however, you have to use the regular form, and the process will take longer.
http://www.ppt.gc.ca/cdn/form.aspx?lang=eng&region=USA

Thank you for the info, Reba.

My last Canadian passport expired in 2003. I am a dual citizen of Canada and Australia. The combination of my Australian passport, my US GC, and my Canadian citizenship card has worked well for me for a number of years.

The gap between the upcoming expiration of my Australian passport and my naturalization as a US citizen getting my first US passport is likely to be brief--a few months at most. I am trying to establish whether it is worth the hassle and expense of getting a new passport--be it Canadian or Australian--to cover this brief period or whether I can make do with just the GC for a few months.

[Reba]

Regardless of when you get US citizenship, you should always keep your other passports current and up to date.

You are always a Canadian citizen, regardless of how many other citizenships you hold. Ergo, you should always enter Canada as a Canadian citizens (or Australia as an Australian for that matter).

If by some chance you are travelling somewhere other in the world, there are still quite a few places Canadians are looked upon more favourably than Americans, so it would be wise to use your Canadian passport in those countries. In some countries, Americans require visas where Canadians do not. Also, if you're somewhere there is no US Embassy, or can't get to it, if you get into trouble, you can go to a UK or Canadian or Australian Embassy, but if you do not have ID to identify you as Canadian or Australian, they likely won't/can't help you.