OT: question for Canadians

Not a Canadian, Donna, but I am originally from the UK( 45 years ago). I have had a valid passport ever since I was 18, except for a two year lapse when it expired, and I didn't realize it. I think my mindset was you never know what travel opportunities might pop up unexpectedly, and it is better to be safe than sorry. I was a military wife for 20 years, and we were stationed overseas a couple of times, so the passport was very useful. I preferred to use it as ID even when we traveled to areas that didn't require it (cruises, Canada).

In recent years, it is disappointing that passports are not usually stamped. It was fun to see where we went, and when. The kids had passports when they were little, and I know my daughter still does, and suspect my son does too.

Gillian

I think it was 95% of Canadian travellers, not Canadians in general. And the number is probably high because many travellers escaping to warmer climes in the winter are going to places that need passports....

Wish I was going someplace warm today! Allison (in frigid Montreal)

Correct about the 95%. The reson for all the fuss is that as of Tuesday, all travellers entering the USA by air must have a passport. The same will be true for all other travellers in 2008. The rule applies to everyone, not just Canadians. It includes US citizens as well. To be specific, the 95% applied to all Canadians travelling to the US by air prior to Tuesday. HTH.

Well, US citizens have also been told that we now need a passport for entry to Canada or Mexico - places we didn't need them before. I expect this is a mutual decision.

ellice

I think for now you need a passport to re-enter the United States if you travel by air, not to leave the US. I thought I heard that if you travel on a cruise ship you can still use a driver's license and/or a birth certificate.

Lucille

You need the passport to gain entry into the other countries that before didn't require it. The same as the US requiring such of Canadians.

It used to be that a cruise ship stop worked with just the id of a license, but I think that is in the change now as well. If you're going to debark in a foreign port of a country that requires a passport for entry, then I think in the future you'll need one.

It'll be interesting to see how this all works.

Ellice

"Donna" ,in rec.crafts.textiles.needleworkwrote: and entertained us with

I would be surprised if it was that high, but don't really know for sure. I know the new regulations will make it very arduous for some people, Campobello Island in Passamaquoddy Bay will be one huge headache. So silly when the crossing guards know everyone personally anyway. Any 'terrorist' trying to enter there would have to be insane, they would stand out like a sore thumb !

I went and had a look and found this issued from the Passport Office, so it could be true of 2006 I guess.

Message from the Chief Executive Officer The significant increase in the volume of passport applications following 9/11 ? initially thought to be a one-time phenomenon ? continued unabated into 2003-2004 and the Passport Office had to contend with a workload that exceeded predictions and available resources. A measure of the challenges and changes facing the Passport Office is a striking rise in the number of Canadians holding passports ? from just 28 per cent two years ago, to an expected 50 per cent three or four years from now.

No, the decision was made by the US that we had to have passports to enter by air or sea, also to be applied to entry by land next year I believe. At that point, the US also said that American citizens wishing to return into the States would have to have one also.

We appealed but they said no, it was a security thing. A great shame, I wonder where the 'longest undefended border' pride went ?

I would check your source. There is no Canadian requirement for US citizens to have a passport to get in to Canada. What there is, is a *US* requirement that US citizens have a passport before they can *return* to the USA by air from *anywhere* that they travel.

US citizens don't need a passport to get into Canada or Mexico. They need it to *return* to the US.

Someone slipped into a news brief the other day the one and only mention that if you're planning to limit yourself to the immediate environs of the US (Canada, Mexico, Caribbean, if I heard correctly), then you can apply for a cheaper "passport card".

Since I'm not planning to leave the US in any direction this year, I haven't researched it yet.

Canada is planning a cheaper passport card as well. But its apparently still in the works... lord knows when they'll get it done.

I all ready have a passport. Just renewed it back in July, knowing that the days of the long lineups were coming, as the deadline loomed. Now, in canada you can wait up to 4 hours in line to just apply for a passport. I think I waited all of 3 mins to see a passport officer back in July. I needed one for travel in December. Thank god I did it then, up to a month before I left, the lineups had already started to reach the 4 hour mark.

Because I'm married and changed my name to my husband's name, I used to carry all sorts of documents to identify myself when travelling. I am a naturalized Canadian, so things were more complicated with having to show citizenship as well. I got tired of it and married them all up about 6 years ago and got a passport for the first time. Its lots easier with my passport. Less documents.

But, its true, it was the US who enacted the passport need. At the moment to enter Canada you don't need one. But even that time is coming to an end, they will be as far as I know requireing one soon.

Lynne (in Ottawa)

"lynne_d snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.ca" ,in rec.crafts.textiles.needleworkwrote: and entertained us with

True because if we don't, we will never be able to return any we do not wish to keep here!

I bow to your cleverness O Evil One !! lol

"Lucille" ,in rec.crafts.textiles.needleworkwrote: and entertained us with

Would you expect less ??? lol