Question about flying domestic with foreign passport.
 

Hi. I'm a newly registered user and I just wanted to ask a couple of questions regarding domestic flights in the U.S.

I am wondering if I will have any problem flying domestically in the U.S. with my South Korean passport as valid I.D. From what I know, the policy is that for anyone 18 years or older(which I am), he/she is required to present valid government I.D. and I dont know if foreign passport is considered one of'em. Other than the passport, I have my college ID (City College of New York). Will this also work? Please let me know ASAP. Thanks.

BTW, i believe my visa is expired. but does this matter for domestic flights?

Yes, a passport is a valid government ID (actually it is "the" government ID, you cannot really get anything more official, I'd think). So you won't have any trouble using it.

David

I don't see how this is a problem. You should be good.

You'll be fine.

Yes, any form of any government-issued ID works. I'm not sure if ID from countries not recognized by the US will work, but since South Korea is recognized, it will work. If your college ID is from a state college, meaning one funded by and run by a state, that ID will work as well, as it is government-issued, but if you go to a private college, that ID will not work as it is not government-issued.

I've travelled intra-US using my German passport as ID. You might get some funny looks, but other than that you should be fine.

Unless of course you get one of TSA's biggest idiots who will try to tell you a foreign passport is not an acceptable form of ID because it's not US Gov't issued (there was a thread about this somewhere). Call a supervisor to get things sorted out and watch the idiot get schooled... :D

TSA only checks IDs in case they found trace explosives or finding a prohibited item way out of the realm of an honest mistake.

OK fine, I mean the Rent-A-Cop that checks IDs in front of the TSA checkpoint, not TSA itself.

Mea culpa.

I just saw your edit. While an expired visa in your passport does not really represent a problem while flying domestically (your visa is unlikely to be checked), it does present somewhat of a problem for you anyway because an expired visa would mean that you are in the US illegally. That can cause you all sorts of problems including possible deportation or being banned from entering the US in the future, either for a few years, or in really bad cases, for life.

Needless to say, this is not a situation you want to be in. I would check whether or not your visa has indeed expired, and if it has, I would find out how to get it renewed. This may involve going back to Korea for a while though, I'm not sure of what the procedure is nowadays.

Welcome to FT! You'll be fine, even if the rent-a-cop doesn't realize it.

You'll be fine with the passport, just open it up to the photo page. If checking luggage, you may have to show it to the airline employee checking the luggage and you'll need to show it to the "ID checker" before you get to the TSA checkpoint.

As far as your visa being expired, that could cause you other problems at some point in the future as you'd be in the US illegally if it is expired. It's possible you may be banned from re-entering the US for a period of time after you do leave the states. I don't know your circumstances which allowed your visa to lapse, but you may want to consider talking to an attorney who deals with immigration law to minimise any problems this may cause. The US has gotten very strict with people overstaying their visas.

The ID checkers will just want to see the passport and see that the passport is valid. You're good to fly!

SDF_Traveler

Actually: if a foreign passport weren't acceptable as an ID, it would be impossible for citizens of a number of countries, Norway for instance, to travel on a domestic flight in the US, as the passport is the only govt' issue ID valid abroad, and for most countries it certainly is the only foreign ID recognized by the US Government!

Now when it comes to the competence of the "rent-a-cop-ID-checkers" in identifying a foreign passport as ID, it might be variable. But all foreign passports in the US should have some kind of US Govt' stamp in it: Visa Waiver entry stamp or Visa, so if the checker is in doubt s/he can look for that.

For what it's worth my NO Passport has been accepted as ID without trouble at ORD, EWR, IAD, TPA, ATL, PHX, EYW, FLL and SFO for domestic flights during the last year. Obviously these are all airports seeing a lot of foreigners travelling through: knowing that there are more official terrorist goals in Montana than in New York City, obviously I do not know how the checkers would react in suche high risk areas as Bozeman or Billings...

I've seen people travelling on foreign passports post 9/11. It's government ID, that's all that counts.

Your expired visa is another matter. It's very unlikely to be caught but if it is you are in trouble.

I can't see any problem using a foreign passport, I've certainly done it in the US many times, before and since 9/11.

Logically, if you're not from the US you're not going to have US government issued ID, so your foreign passport it the most logical ID for you to present.

We heart the safety of Dillingham
 

^ :D Be careful, your North Norway town is probably as big and remote as the Number One Terrorist Target in the US, Dillingham, Alaska. :D (search for that thread if you did not read it.)

I travel international sometimes starting from my local bus station with airplanes, where all flights arrive and depart from Gate One: The only gate. Here, everyone shows their drivers license to the ID checker, whether biz travelers or students on vacation. I was going to ATL and catch a intl to AMS, I need my passport boarding in an hour, and another 15 times in the coming week at borders and airports, so I run my whole trip with the passport as ID.

Last trip the ID checker was a local gal, the kind who might never have been out of the state or owned a passport, the kind who could not find Norway on a map. An unusual concept for a European, but common in the US, especially small towns. I gave her my USA passport, she gave me a "That's not a drivers license like I always see, what is that, I'm not sure I've seen one of those things before" look. :eek: She looked through it and finally figured out what it was. I got the feeling she know so little about what it should look like, that she would not spot a bad fake one.

In the US you can get so far in the woods, a US passport is suspect. And these are places with scheduled jet service and a TSA lane.

Watch out if you have one of those colored cover foreign passports. But do come visit anyway.:D