Uh oh.

[rivka]

In IM conversation with eck, he mentioned that his passport was about to expire, and suddenly I realized that I had had mine forever and maybe I should...

Shit. My passport expired 12 APR/AVR 02.

I'm flying to Canada on Wednesday.

I've found a couple of U.S. government websites here and here suggesting that an expired passport is considered valid proof of US citizenship. On the other hand, this airline website explicitly states that a US citizen can no longer travel between the US and Canada on an expired passport. Ordinarily, I'd trust the US State Department over Alaska Airlines; on the other hand, I can't exactly afford to be sanguinely confident that I'll be allowed entry and re-entry.

For $225 a private company promises to get me a passport renewal in 24 hours. The official Washington DC Passport Agency says they provide service for people travelling in less than 14 days, by appointment only, Monday through Friday, but they don't say how long it takes or how much it costs.

I e-mailed my mother to see if she still has an official copy of my birth certificate. I have a hazy, and horrible, memory that she may have sent it to me once before, and that it's maybe supposed to be in my care. I hope I'm wrong, because if she can express-mail me my birth certificate that solution will definitely be simplest, cheapest, and most obviously acceptable to the participating governments.

You'd think my expired passport would be just as valid as my birth certificate. It's an official US document that clearly lists my place of birth as "Ohio, USA," and it has to be harder to forge than a flimsy little pictureless slip of paper stamped with the Cuyahoga County seal. If it weren't for that airline website, I'd feel perfectly confident.

Argh.

Update: Yay, mom. She has my birth certificate, and she's sending it today.

Comments

[almeda.livejournal.com]

Do you really need a passport to go to Canada? All you used to need was proof of residence in the US - a driver's license or state ID. We have a realtively open border ... or used to, anyway.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Do you really need a passport to go to Canada? All you used to need was proof of residence in the US - a driver's license or state ID. We have a realtively open border ... or used to, anyway.

Since September 11th, they've apparently started enforcing entry requirements much more strictly. Especially for people who are flying. Or so I've heard.

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

last time i flew to see james, i totally forgot my passport. it didn't occur to me that i'd need it. so i got in and back out with a drivers license and a stern lecture on both ends. however, that was early last summer, i believe.

i know that passport or dl+birth certificate are the combinations they look for. the one i live with got into canada for apc in ottawa with his hospital birth certificate with the leetle footprints, not a certified official one, but again, that was a few years ago.

[therealjae.livejournal.com]

serene (http://www.livejournal.com/users/serenejournal/) got turned back from the womboink in Vancouver despite much pleading, because she didn't have documents.

-J

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

while the border was wide open before 9/11, it has always been a requirement that they could deny somebody from the US entry if the person didn't have two forms of ID with them -- one for proof of citizenship, and one for photographic proof of identity. a driver's license qualifies only for the second, a birth certificate (or naturalization papers) only for the first, a valid (unexpired) passport qualifies for both.

yes, they used to be incredibly relaxed about it, and IMO they haven't actually tightened up a whole lot, but it's now less likely that you can just cross with a DL. especially when flying; the paramour has crossed several times by plane since 9/11 and got checked and rechecked a heck of a lot more intensely than i, who crossed by car.

-piranha

[therealjae.livejournal.com]

You do if you're flying. And that's not just since September 11th; that's always been true. I've seen people turned away for not having the appropriate documents, both before and after last fall. But a birth certificate should do Rivka just fine.

-J