Seeking Advice: Do I need a Passport to Get into Canada?
 

Hello,

I am a US green card holder, and would like to go to Toronto this month. I do not have a passport right now and can not get a travel document before the planned date, so can I get into Canada in this case?

Two years ago, I had no problem doing so without a passport.

BTW, I will drive to Canada. I know for air travel, one has to have a passport. Thanks.

1) You don't state what your citizenship is.

2) Keep in mind you have two issues: a) Can you get into Canada b) can you get back into the United States.

Getting back may be harder than getting in.

Thanks, here is the update/experience.

With US green card (by land), one does not need to have a passport for border crossing between US and Canada until January 1, 2008. I mean in both directions from US to Canada or vice versa. I do not see that one's citizenship plays into consideration.

Quick answer :

No passport is needed to visit Canada.



Canada has a list of countries that are Visa exempt. Citizenship would dictate weather a visa is needed or not.

US green card, can be used to support the fact that the traveller may likely return to the US, has no bearing whether they can enter Canada.

No passport is needed, if citizenship can be established. If they're confident that you will leave Canada and can support yourself, confident that you're not going to work, etc, you should have no problem.

>I do not see that one's citizenship plays into consideration.

Of course it does. The green card merely dictates that you can live and work in the USA. You might still very well need a visa to enter Canada, and visas typically go in passports.

For example, if you're a citizen of India you'd likely still need a Canadian visa in your passport to enter Canada, regardless of whether or not there's a green card in there?

US GC card holders regardless of citizenship do NOT need canadian visa.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/visas.html

I'm not sure where in the US you live, but one concern with not having a passport (even though you can cross the land border without it) is, in an emergency, it will be much harder (possibly impossible) to fly back to the US.

I know that you do not plan on flying back to the US, but emergencies do happen.

You do not need a visa if you have a US green card, even if I am a citizen of, say India... I actually come from a country that need a visa to enter Canada, but with green card, it's never been an issue to cross-border without a Canadian visa...

Agree. It is always better to have a passport or travel document with you. Plus going into 2008, one has to have a passport/travel document to go to Canada, regardless of whether you travel by land or by air.

A green card is not an identification document - a passport is often needed to provide the necessary confirmation of identity to be admitted into Canada. While people might not have had problems, individual inspectors may choose to be more thorough or less depending on their own judgement. The best thing is to contact the Canadian border services and find the specific rules.