Can you travel to Canada by road with an expired US passport?
- By
- Aparna Patel
- |
- 21 Jul, 2023
- |
This is an old question, but I just traveled to Canada with a friend who had an expired passport, and we had no issues whatsoever. My friend’s passport expired in January 2018, and our trip was in March 2018. We went on a 2-day trip from Detroit to Toronto.
Entering Canada, we told the border guard that one of our passports had expired, and he responded “don’t care”.
Returning to the U.S., we told the same thing to the U.S. border guard, and he said “doesn’t matter.” The border guard was more interested in the random details of our trips (i.e., why we made the trip, why my friend was visiting me, etc.)
No extra identification was needed in either case. We handed over my friend’s driver’s license just in case it was necessary, but, in both crossings, the border guard returned it to us without even looking at it.
Of course, this is personal experience, and it’s possible that the border guards were just friendly that day. Nonetheless, from what I can tell:
(1) Canada doesn’t care if your passport is expired.
(2) I think the U.S. border guard just needs to establish citizenship. When you apply to renew your passport, your old passport serves as sufficient proof of citizenship, so I imagine it also works for re-entering the U.S.
Please see the “Update” section in the question regarding what i ended up doing. Anyway, I had also posted a question in Customs and Border protection (CBP) info center on 7/21/13 that was answered today (8/7/13). I asked if someone could reenter the US from Canada with the following documents —
- Original Naturalization certificate proving that she is a US citizen
- Tennessee State issued drivers license
- Expired US Passport (expired in Dec 2012)
In their response which arrived today (18 days after my enquiry), it states
Based on your inquiry, your daughter is allowed to travel by land with the documents mentioned. Thank you again for contacting the CBP INFO Center.
Oh, well
Since you don’t have an enhanced driver’s licence, your documents are not enough to enter the United States.
The basic requirements are regulated in the Immigration and Nationality Act, Section 215(b):
‘Except as otherwise provided by the President and subject to such limitations and exceptions as the President may authorize and prescribe, it shall be unlawful for any citizen of the United States to depart from or enter, or attempt to depart from or enter, the United States unless he bears a valid United States passport.’
According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the following WHTI compliant documents are accepted if you enter by land or sea:
- U.S. Passports
- U.S. Passport Cards
- Enhanced Driver’s Licenses
- Trusted Traveler Cards (NEXUS, SENTRI, or FAST)
- Military Identification Cards (for members of the U.S. armed forces on official orders)
- U.S. Merchant Mariner Document (for U.S. citizens on official maritime business)
As a US citizen you can not be denied entry to the US. It is possible that you will be subject to additional scrutiny when entering, and additional checks to confirm that your passport is legitimate, but otherwise you will be fine.
If you were entering the US by air then the answer would likely be different. Although technically you are still able to enter using an expired passport, it’s very possible the airline would refuse to allow you to fly. As you are entering by car this will obviously not be a problem.
Update: The Across the Border blog contains a quote from a named spokesman at US CBP that states :
“Federal officers will not deny entry to any valid US citizen.
Travelers may experience delays while CBP officers possibly refer them
to secondary inspection so that their identity and admissibility can
be positively determined.”
Credit:stackoverflow.com‘
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