Passports??

happycamper1942 wrote:
May not be used for international travel? Going to Mexico is "inter nation" so what good are they?

Because the US allows a passport card to be used for entry from certain neighboring countries. In essence, instead of forcing you to carry a big passport every time you cross from Arizona to Mexico xxxxxxx, you can carry the drivers license size card. For frequent travelers to and from Mexico or Canada, the passport card is a welcome alternative to passport. As a bit of history, the passport card and rules for use are over a decade old.

The border crossing card is usefull for those that live on border towns and frecuentlly cross from the USA to Canada or Mexico, it is easier to have a small card than to carry the bulky passport, for someone that does not live close to a border they are useless, for air travell to Europe or the Caribbean or Asia you need the passport.

I have the border crossing card for trips to Tijuana to visit friends that live there and a passport for trips to Europe to visit family.

navegator

navegator wrote:
The border crossing card is usefull for those that live on border towns and frecuentlly cross from the USA to Canada or Mexico, it is easier to have a small card than to carry the bulky passport, for someone that does not live close to a border they are useless, for air travell to Europe or the Caribbean or Asia you need the passport.

I have the border crossing card for trips to Tijuana to visit friends that live there and a passport for trips to Europe to visit family.

navegator

Interesting, I did not know that.

navegator wrote:
for someone that does not live close to a border they are useless,

I use the passport card many places where identify or age verification is required. I like the passport card because the information displayed is limited. Nowhere on the card does it have your address, physical features (beside your gender) or even what state you come from. They basically get name, date of birth and your smiling face. That is more than sufficient to establish identity or date of birth. Drivers licenses have too much personal identifiable information right on the face.

I have never had any undo issues with using the Passport Card as identification unless I was renting a vehicle where a drivers license is required, or when for regulatory reasons, my address needed to be on a government issued document. Otherwise nobody needs to know what state I live, my address, my height, weight eye or hair color, or any other of those little things on many drivers licenses.

I like the passport card as a backup to my passport. I have been on cruises and to foreign countries where the cruise ship or hotel holds my passport. Without the passport card I am walking around with only a NJ drivers license as my proof of identity. I doubt the average European cop has any clue as to what Nj or VT or NH or ME, etc is. In addition the REAL ID Act requires valid government ID to fly, not all states comply right now.

Some of the new drivers licenses can be used at the border, they have the information needed for CBP on the stripe that can be read by the scaning unit, in Europe the majority of police know English and do know what a drivers license of a foreighn country looks like, it is in the USA that some LEOs have an attitude that unless it is an American document they do not accept any passport or drivers license from a foreign country, a friend of mine from Sweden got arrested in Nebraska for not having a valid drivers license, he was on a 2 week vacation in the USA in a rental vehicle, we had to contact the Swedish embasy so that a representative would go to him and straigten things out, four days latter he was out and left for Sweden asap, he never wants to visit again.

navegator

My friends often visit Nueveo Progreso and return to Texas with nothing more than a driver's license. Can't speak to other crossings. They often have a line for those without passports and even that line moves right along.

TomG2 wrote:
My friends often visit Nueveo Progreso and return to Texas with nothing more than a driver's license. Can't speak to other crossings. They often have a line for those without passports and even that line moves right along.

If he's a US citizen, he's not required to produce any documents to enter the US. All the documents do is speed things up, but they are not required (regardless what anyone says) of US citizens. Your word is all that is needed to gain entrance.

ItsyRV wrote:

TomG2 wrote:
My friends often visit Nueveo Progreso and return to Texas with nothing more than a driver's license. Can't speak to other crossings. They often have a line for those without passports and even that line moves right along.

If he's a US citizen, he's not required to produce any documents to enter the US. All the documents do is speed things up, but they are not required (regardless what anyone says) of US citizens. Your word is all that is needed to gain entrance.

Good Luck now days!
You will need some documentation that proves your a citizen. Otherwise it could be a long wait.
Just realize it is much easier to leave the US than it is to re-enter. We will always have both a full passport and passport card as we cruise and travel to Europe to visit family.

ItsyRV wrote:

TomG2 wrote:
My friends often visit Nueveo Progreso and return to Texas with nothing more than a driver's license. Can't speak to other crossings. They often have a line for those without passports and even that line moves right along.

If he's a US citizen, he's not required to produce any documents to enter the US. All the documents do is speed things up, but they are not required (regardless what anyone says) of US citizens. Your word is all that is needed to gain entrance.

I've seen that attitude, at least 3 times, at the Andrade crossing from Mexico into the US. US Citizen- "Hi I'm a citizen. CBP- "Prove it." Citizen- "You have to let me in" CBP- "No problem just prove you're a citizen and you can come in."