USVI and passport
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shakeybrainsurgeon
Contributor
According to the website visitstcroix.com, only a photo ID is now needed, although airlines still prefer a passport.
Whether that changes in January 2007 when the new passport rules come into effect, I don't know.
Whether that changes in January 2007 when the new passport rules come into effect, I don't know.
mow2000
Registered
Appears not. Check out:
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cbpmc/cbpmc_2223.html
Q. Will travelers from U.S. territories need to present a passport to enter the United States?
No. These territories are a part of the United States. U.S. citizens returning directly from a U.S. territory are not considered to have left the U.S. territory and do not need to present a passport. U.S. territories include the following: Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Swains Island and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
One useful bit of passport info to note also is that some countries (and islands, Roatan being one of them) require passports to be valid for six months beyond the date you enter the country. Whether this is enforced I don't know.
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cbpmc/cbpmc_2223.html
Q. Will travelers from U.S. territories need to present a passport to enter the United States?
No. These territories are a part of the United States. U.S. citizens returning directly from a U.S. territory are not considered to have left the U.S. territory and do not need to present a passport. U.S. territories include the following: Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Swains Island and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
One useful bit of passport info to note also is that some countries (and islands, Roatan being one of them) require passports to be valid for six months beyond the date you enter the country. Whether this is enforced I don't know.
RonFrank
Contributor
codlinjr:
St. Croix is considered part of the US, and even in 2007 when the new laws go into effect, a US citizen will not need a passport to travel to the US Virgin Islands.
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cbpmc/cbpmc_2225.html
Here are the rules about international travel, and the proposed implementation plans.
RICHinNC
Contributor
I would really recommend getting your passport. If you go to USVI and want to do the Rhone which is a great wreck dive....you need a passport because it is in Brit territory. Also, a passport is better ID in case of emergency with embassies and the like. It is worth the money and time....get it.
mike_s
Contributor
I agree... go ahead and get your passport.
Starting in January 2007, it will really limit you on where you can go if you don't have your passport.
Besides your US Birth Certificate, which doesn't have a picture ID on it, a passport is about the only form of picture ID proof of your Citizenship. It can be used for proof of citizenship for elgibility to work (required in US when changing jobs), etc. It's very usefull.
I've often been on trips also that if I didn't have a passport, I wouldn't have been able to go on the trip based on the short notice before the trip.
Simply put, just get your passport. It'll be much easier.
Starting in January 2007, it will really limit you on where you can go if you don't have your passport.
Besides your US Birth Certificate, which doesn't have a picture ID on it, a passport is about the only form of picture ID proof of your Citizenship. It can be used for proof of citizenship for elgibility to work (required in US when changing jobs), etc. It's very usefull.
I've often been on trips also that if I didn't have a passport, I wouldn't have been able to go on the trip based on the short notice before the trip.
Simply put, just get your passport. It'll be much easier.
I'm not inciting anything, or casting any negative accusations at anyone, and certainly no one has to answer this, but I really am curious.
I saw a travel magazine recently that said that of the several hundred thousand Americans who travelled to the Caribbean in 2005, only about 25% :11: of them had passports. I also read about an American couple who were refused entry into Jamaica for an expensive vacation because the airline ticket counter person said that their birth certificate was not original. (I'd hate for an airline employee to be making the determination of whether or not I could enter a country for a vacation that I had paid big bucks for).
For those Americans who do not have passports, yet travel outside the US, what are your reasons for not getting a passport? You have the necessary documentation (photo ID and authenticated birth certificate), so why not just apply for the passport and be done with the aggravations. Time? Dollars?
If you're an American who travels outside the country, but doesn't have a passport, how come?
I saw a travel magazine recently that said that of the several hundred thousand Americans who travelled to the Caribbean in 2005, only about 25% :11: of them had passports. I also read about an American couple who were refused entry into Jamaica for an expensive vacation because the airline ticket counter person said that their birth certificate was not original. (I'd hate for an airline employee to be making the determination of whether or not I could enter a country for a vacation that I had paid big bucks for).
For those Americans who do not have passports, yet travel outside the US, what are your reasons for not getting a passport? You have the necessary documentation (photo ID and authenticated birth certificate), so why not just apply for the passport and be done with the aggravations. Time? Dollars?
If you're an American who travels outside the country, but doesn't have a passport, how come?
RonFrank
Contributor
OHGoDive:
I think the simple reason is that US citizens have not needed a passport to travel to many places outside the US in the past. Many people go to Mexico, the Bahama's, the USVI, Canada, Alaska, and Hawaii. That is a LOT of places to vacation. In addition for a LOT of travel a drivers license is all that was needed even outside the states.
That is changing, so more US citizens will apply for passports as travel becomes difficult without one.
mike_s
Contributor
RonFrank:
The reason for that is simple. The Caribbean islands didn't require a passport because if they did, they would exclude 80% of their business from the US. Since tourism is the main money maker there, they didn't want to turn that away.
The US required proof of citizenship for re-entry to the US. In the past this has been a passport, birth certificate, or even a voter ID card or SSN card. Drivers licenses have never been official proof of citizenship for re-entry, however, I've gotten back in numerous times with only a drivers license and no other proof. The problem with birth certificates and even drivers licenses is that they are all different in every 50 states and sometimes different in individual counties. There is no national standard that can be conterfit proofed easily. Therefore they went to passports. Of course this is for Homeland Security to keep out the bad guys. But in reality the bad guys will just find another way, but that's a different thread.
The Caribbean nations assocations was in the news again recently asking the US to postpone the passprt requirement again because most Americans still don't have a passport and this will cut into their tourism income.
The US did postpone it again slightly this year. I thin they postponed it by one week to something like Jan 7th. That way people on travel over the vacation holiday wouldn't cause a bottleneck. ( I've seen this in the news but not an official State Department announcment).
At the end of 2005, only 21% of Americans had a passport. The US State Department now says that only abou 25% have passports. Some other reports say as high as 34%. No wonder the Caribbean nations are financially nervous.
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