Travel EU<>US without passport?
Jul 20, 2016, 7:51 pm
#16
Join Date: Sep 2015
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That doesn't mean that there are no rules on needing to present your passport when reentering Schengen or the UK from outside EU/EFTA/EEA (although as a UK citizen you don't really have much of a choice), but it would be hard to police and they generally don't bother checking your BPs at the border.
(At Schengen entry/exit I sometimes do get asked where I'm flying to, but I think that's mostly the border guards helping make sure you're going to the right area/gates - and they don't actually ask me to show any proof that that's where I'm going.)
Jul 23, 2016, 2:43 am
#17
Join Date: Jul 2015
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On my last flight from Norway to the United States, the only place I presented my passport was exiting Norway at Gardermoen airport (Norway implements a passport exit control.) Crucially, the airline never asked for it.
The airline DID initially ask me for ESTA information. I told them I was a permanent resident of the United States and therefore did not require an ESTA. They verified my green card and stamped my boarding pass with a little red stamp indicating LPR status (perhaps for the benefit of gate checkers?)
I had my passport with me, but they did not request it, and I did not volunteer. So yes, it is possible to board a US-bound aircraft with just a green card, although I'm sure different airlines have different policies on this.
acceptable substitute for EU/EEA/Swiss citizens.)
The airline DID initially ask me for ESTA information. I told them I was a permanent resident of the United States and therefore did not require an ESTA. They verified my green card and stamped my boarding pass with a little red stamp indicating LPR status (perhaps for the benefit of gate checkers?)
I had my passport with me, but they did not request it, and I did not volunteer. So yes, it is possible to board a US-bound aircraft with just a green card, although I'm sure different airlines have different policies on this.
acceptable substitute for EU/EEA/Swiss citizens.)
Jul 23, 2016, 4:06 pm
#18
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: PDX
Posts: 908
It is indeed possible to board a US-bound flight with only a Green Card. Before naturalization, my wife had a passport that did not feature a MRZ and was written pretty much by hand, so when she was boarding to the US, the airline representative checked her in with the Green Card only. That was in 2008.
Jul 24, 2016, 3:11 am
#19
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It is indeed possible to board a US-bound flight with only a Green Card. Before naturalization, my wife had a passport that did not feature a MRZ and was written pretty much by hand, so when she was boarding to the US, the airline representative checked her in with the Green Card only. That was in 2008.
It sounds like they flew her with the passport and the green card. In other words she was traveling with a non-MRZ passport in conjunction with a US LPR card in order to comply with the US regulations that also include the US' WHTI.
Jul 25, 2016, 1:52 am
#20
Join Date: Jun 2009
Programs: GE
Posts: 247
On my last flight from Norway to the United States, the only place I presented my passport was exiting Norway at Gardermoen airport (Norway implements a passport exit control.) Crucially, the airline never asked for it.
The airline DID initially ask me for ESTA information. I told them I was a permanent resident of the United States and therefore did not require an ESTA. They verified my green card and stamped my boarding pass with a little red stamp indicating LPR status (perhaps for the benefit of gate checkers?)
I had my passport with me, but they did not request it, and I did not volunteer. So yes, it is possible to board a US-bound aircraft with just a green card, although I'm sure different airlines have different policies on this.
acceptable substitute for EU/EEA/Swiss citizens.)
The airline DID initially ask me for ESTA information. I told them I was a permanent resident of the United States and therefore did not require an ESTA. They verified my green card and stamped my boarding pass with a little red stamp indicating LPR status (perhaps for the benefit of gate checkers?)
I had my passport with me, but they did not request it, and I did not volunteer. So yes, it is possible to board a US-bound aircraft with just a green card, although I'm sure different airlines have different policies on this.
acceptable substitute for EU/EEA/Swiss citizens.)
I would not want to be at the mercy of the airline employee that wants to double check your APIS record... At minimum you should have you passport information written down and available to you in case your APIS needs to be re-entered for some reason!
Jul 30, 2016, 2:39 pm
#21
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WHTI has nothing to do with the legality of an LPR entering the USA without a passport. See https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-20...l1-part211.pdf .
The airline might or might not board an LPR without presenting a passport. I've successfully done so twice, once from YEG, once from BLR.
About 50% of the time a CBP officer will ask me for my passport whether I am using GE or not. I've never experienced what happens when he asks and I don't have my passport (sometimes my passport is sitting in a consulate getting a visa. Sometimes it is getting renewed).
The airline might or might not board an LPR without presenting a passport. I've successfully done so twice, once from YEG, once from BLR.
About 50% of the time a CBP officer will ask me for my passport whether I am using GE or not. I've never experienced what happens when he asks and I don't have my passport (sometimes my passport is sitting in a consulate getting a visa. Sometimes it is getting renewed).
Jul 30, 2016, 3:20 pm
#22
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WHTI has nothing to do with the legality of an LPR entering the USA without a passport. See https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-20...l1-part211.pdf .
The airline might or might not board an LPR without presenting a passport. I've successfully done so twice, once from YEG, once from BLR.
About 50% of the time a CBP officer will ask me for my passport whether I am using GE or not. I've never experienced what happens when he asks and I don't have my passport (sometimes my passport is sitting in a consulate getting a visa. Sometimes it is getting renewed).
The airline might or might not board an LPR without presenting a passport. I've successfully done so twice, once from YEG, once from BLR.
About 50% of the time a CBP officer will ask me for my passport whether I am using GE or not. I've never experienced what happens when he asks and I don't have my passport (sometimes my passport is sitting in a consulate getting a visa. Sometimes it is getting renewed).
Aug 3, 2016, 6:58 am
#23
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Washington DC
Programs: MR (so far)
Posts: 11
On a related note, in the latest Carrier Information Guide on page 25, CBP says that for departure by air, a passport is required even if the destination country accepts, say, an identification card for admission. The one exception is a Nexus card, but "only at a designated NEXUS location" which makes so sense because there aren't any NEXUS locations, right?
But then on page 70 of the Guide, it straight up says a Nexus card is fine for departure by air. Not departure by air only to Canada. Not departure by air only at a designated NEXUS location.
So I'm a US/EU dual citizen with both a Nexus card and an ID card from an EU member that lets me enter the EU/EEA/CH/Schengenland without needing a passport. So if I'm flying from the US to, say, France, could I use only the two cards and not a passport?
(I know that I would need the US passport to return to the US. This question is only about the US to France flight and what documents I would need to depart the US.)
But then on page 70 of the Guide, it straight up says a Nexus card is fine for departure by air. Not departure by air only to Canada. Not departure by air only at a designated NEXUS location.
So I'm a US/EU dual citizen with both a Nexus card and an ID card from an EU member that lets me enter the EU/EEA/CH/Schengenland without needing a passport. So if I'm flying from the US to, say, France, could I use only the two cards and not a passport?
(I know that I would need the US passport to return to the US. This question is only about the US to France flight and what documents I would need to depart the US.)
Aug 3, 2016, 8:03 am
#24
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On a related note, in the latest Carrier Information Guide on page 25, CBP says that for departure by air, a passport is required even if the destination country accepts, say, an identification card for admission. The one exception is a Nexus card, but "only at a designated NEXUS location" which makes so sense because there aren't any NEXUS locations, right?
But then on page 70 of the Guide, it straight up says a Nexus card is fine for departure by air. Not departure by air only to Canada. Not departure by air only at a designated NEXUS location.
So I'm a US/EU dual citizen with both a Nexus card and an ID card from an EU member that lets me enter the EU/EEA/CH/Schengenland without needing a passport. So if I'm flying from the US to, say, France, could I use only the two cards and not a passport?
(I know that I would need the US passport to return to the US. This question is only about the US to France flight and what documents I would need to depart the US.)
But then on page 70 of the Guide, it straight up says a Nexus card is fine for departure by air. Not departure by air only to Canada. Not departure by air only at a designated NEXUS location.
So I'm a US/EU dual citizen with both a Nexus card and an ID card from an EU member that lets me enter the EU/EEA/CH/Schengenland without needing a passport. So if I'm flying from the US to, say, France, could I use only the two cards and not a passport?
(I know that I would need the US passport to return to the US. This question is only about the US to France flight and what documents I would need to depart the US.)
Aug 3, 2016, 8:39 am
#25
Join Date: Sep 2015
Programs: 1 thousand
Posts: 2,112
On a related note, in the latest Carrier Information Guide on page 25, CBP says that for departure by air, a passport is required even if the destination country accepts, say, an identification card for admission. The one exception is a Nexus card, but "only at a designated NEXUS location" which makes so sense because there aren't any NEXUS locations, right?
But then on page 70 of the Guide, it straight up says a Nexus card is fine for departure by air. Not departure by air only to Canada. Not departure by air only at a designated NEXUS location.
So I'm a US/EU dual citizen with both a Nexus card and an ID card from an EU member that lets me enter the EU/EEA/CH/Schengenland without needing a passport. So if I'm flying from the US to, say, France, could I use only the two cards and not a passport?
(I know that I would need the US passport to return to the US. This question is only about the US to France flight and what documents I would need to depart the US.)
But then on page 70 of the Guide, it straight up says a Nexus card is fine for departure by air. Not departure by air only to Canada. Not departure by air only at a designated NEXUS location.
So I'm a US/EU dual citizen with both a Nexus card and an ID card from an EU member that lets me enter the EU/EEA/CH/Schengenland without needing a passport. So if I'm flying from the US to, say, France, could I use only the two cards and not a passport?
(I know that I would need the US passport to return to the US. This question is only about the US to France flight and what documents I would need to depart the US.)