I have both US passport book and card. I am planning to visit Canada by land and like to use passport card. Do I need to carry both or just passport card. I appreciate if anyone can share their experience at the US-Canada border. Is the immigration check process is smooth or tough at the border.
Travel to Canada with US Passport Card or Book
- Thread starter sudha1999
- Start date
richmondva
Registered Users (C)
In my opinion one should always carry the passport book across borders irrespective of whether you have or carry the passport card or not. You never know when special/urgent situations may arise and its always smart to keep the option of flying open. A few years ago a friend (with green card) was on a vacation with his family to Canada and had to fly directly from Canada to India due to a family emergency. The wife and kids had driven back to the US.
With passport card you can only use it if you travel by land or water. To me that added assurance is a good enough reason to carry passport book when traveling internationally.
Triple Citizen
Registered Users (C)
I cross this border a good 4-5 times a year. In my 12 year experience, the Canadian side of this equation is always pleasant and relatively pain free compared to the US side.
I have gone to Canada 6 times so far - 4 times as a PR and 2 times as a USC. Crossing a border in either status was always a hassle-free procedure for me. Canadian border guards were not as consistent as their US colleagues: two times they did not even open my foreign passport or look at the GC, two other times they actually examined my passport and my green card, and two last times they typed all information from my US passport card and US passport book. Americans, on the other hand, always asked the same questions and always scanned the immigration documents. My last experience is described in one of the threads.
As for passport card vs passport book when travelling to Canada - it all depends. If you don't anticipate any emergency that will make you fly from Canada to your native country, then passport card should be OK. I usually make short trips (4-6 days) to Canada and I always drive by car, so in my case passport card will suffice.
As for passport card vs passport book when travelling to Canada - it all depends. If you don't anticipate any emergency that will make you fly from Canada to your native country, then passport card should be OK. I usually make short trips (4-6 days) to Canada and I always drive by car, so in my case passport card will suffice.