Originally Posted by
LuvAirFrance
Yeh, I'm guessing that's why Canada won't let you just present the birth certificate at the border. Requesting "duplicate" birth certificates for people whose obit ran in a newspaper is a known scam. That's why I think we need a 21st century form of ID that involves more than some of these things that have been around for so long I don't even know when they first we accepted. Really something like Global Entry is more like what people should have. Something a jihadist can't just order up from whoever cooks up false documents.
That starting guess would be a wrong guess -- it was the US which initiated the push for and first succeeded at getting agreement in place for the elimination of the use of birth certificates for intra-North American (including Caribbean) travel by US citizens. Canada followed the US lead and did the US's bidding. The WHTI is the initiative of the the most paranoid, with the (even marginally) more carefree following the US like good sheep.
Your closing sentence comes across as nothing but wishful thinking in a world where:
Originally Posted by
PhlyingRPh
The whoever is usually the government agency entrusted with the job of verifying documents. It's really not that difficult to have the identity you want, even in the US today.
Yes. Money talks in the US today too and that's not going to change anytime soon.
While India is pushing for birth certificates from US citizens, India is still planning to expand the visa on arrival process to cover more countries' nationals. US and UK citizens aren't going to be part of the next expansion.