Originally Posted by
catocony
The USVI is absolutely part of the United States, and they are US citizens. Now, it's not as straightforward as Puerto Rico, but generally, a drivers license is all you need. It's similar to traveling to Mexico or Canada prior to Fortress Amerika Days, when a drivers license got you through 95% of the time with no hassle and for the 5% of the times you got guff from Immigration, a voter ID card or something along the lines stops them cold.
Mike, as for asking for a birth certificate for the baby, do you think that all domestic travelers should be forced to carry them when traveling with kids? Kids are kidnapped all the time and just about anywhere, right? What "baby trafficking" is coming out of St. Croix anyways?
I never said they are not US citizens, but they are unincorporated parts of the United States. American Samoa's are normally US Nationals the rest of the territories and DC;s folks are citizens. Has nothing to do with their own customs and immigration laws.
They are American but seem not sometimes ;-) their own olympic teams notwithstanding... Each of the 5 big territories (not counting DC which is incorporated via the Constitution but obviously not a state, and with no representation) has their own unique rules, some on just customs, some on immigration and some on both. As I mentioned I am sure there is some birth cert rule, but I've passed CBP arriving from Pago pago in HNL and into AS they ask for passports. Ditto on a flight into Saipan from Guam YMMV.
Some info on the insulare possesions duty exemptions also:
When traveling to one of the U.S. insular possessions, such as the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, or Guam, you are required to clear Customs and Border Protection and are entitled to a $1,600 duty-free exemption, as long as you are there for 48 hours or more. After your $1,600 duty-free exemption you will be required to pay a flat rate of 1.5% on the next $1,000 worth of goods you purchased while you were there. The remaining balance of your goods after $2,200 will be assessed duty based on the commodity and country of origin.
As for the baby ID, I agree a birth certificate is easy to forge. Since my kids have had passports since 4 months of age I've always used those, and most of our travel was trans-Atlantic anyway. Not sure what I'd have done without the passports if it were domestic travel. if I have another I'll test the system and report back
