No Passport Required?
 

My brother and his wife are both soldiers in Iraq right now. As part of their 6-month break on their one year assignment the Army will fly them to any international airport in the world. Unfortunately, they do not have current US passports so they are limited to US Territories, and other countries/micronations that don't require a US passport to visit.

I know the rules have, and are continuing to change throughout the next two years and I've searched the internet, but I was unable to find a comprehensive list of all the places they would be able to visit without a passport in June/July of this year.

Can anybody provide me a list or point me in the right direction? Thanks in advance!

Obviously as a naive Brit I'm missing something..... It comes as a surprise to me that any country would allow another national to enter without a passport..... I suppose it happens within the EU a little....

I bet the US doesn't allow many people in without a passport - just Canadians perhaps?

Good luck anyway... hopefully you'll get some more useful answers from someone else!

Yeah, the US had agreements with a surprisingly large number of countries for a while there. As you can imagine, the whole "Global War on Terror" thing is bringing many of those long standing agreements to a halt. At one point, all of Central America, the Carribean, Mexico, and Canada were accessible sans US Passport. By the end of 2007 there will be no places left. I was wondering which ones have yet to be converted.

What about Guam and/or American Samoa? Honolulu would also be a darn nice place to visit.

Well, the US southern border has more holes than swiss cheese. The government does very little about it. Crossing illegally is a misdemeanor.

Legally, you can still visit most of the Caribbean countries without a US passport. All it takes is an original birth certificate and photo id. As gt_croz points out, that's going away soon.

Yeah, the US Territories won't require a passport, even after the switch. Honolulu would be nice, but it's not my vacation, nor my decision :) What I'm looking for is the most up to date list that I can send them. Also, any suggestions from that list that you all may have as to what would be a great 2-week cheap vacation spot would be appreciated as well.

Thanks again!

Will the US military not provide a way for them to get the paperwork and photo stuff taken care of so that they can get passports by June??? Seems like there has to be a way to have that taken care of.

Why don't they just get passports? You are talking about a trip they will be taking in 4 months. They have plenty of time to get the required documents to go almost anywhere.

:confused:

I don't know of a list that provides exactly what you request, but this website http://travel.state.gov/travel/tips/...ures_1229.html will give entry requirements by country. For instance, Jamaica is still doable without a passport. If they do obtain passports, this is also a good place to check if visas are also required. Since they have time, getting a passport is still the best option.

Isnt there still a good chance anywhere they fly through might not have a way of keeping them airside requiring a passport? What about the return?

Four months would be long enough for me to get an initial passport, for my brother and his wife, not so much. He's living in an Iraqi base completely cut off from telephone, and internet access. His wife, while in Baghdad has to seek special permission to visit the "Green Zone" where they would need to go to apply for a passport.

Additionally, the paperwork that they would need is at home in Tennesee. Getting passports is not a realistic option for them.

I believe the US Military has special arrangements for transporting soldiers on commercial carriers. They will be traveling to and from their destination in the same fashion that they arrived, sans passport.

In the late 90ies - US military personnel was able to enter AUSTRIA for vacation in civil dresses without passport - only with their military ID and a so called "vacation certificate". Since this agreement is now waived, other countries still might have similar agreements with the US government.

getting passports is the way to go, but i would think that r&r locations should be available thru the military....surely, going to germany should not be a problem and then going around europe....

the people i see on r&r at us airports are all in bdu's and are traveling w/orders [i think]...i always try to give them a high 5 and/or a drink coupon in the lounge... they may not have mufti, but could get some in europe...

have you contacted the state dept? and do you know what they would like to do?

places that come to mind are puerto rico, usvi, guam, pago pago...

good luck and a high 5 to them...

With the right papers they should be able to visit any NATO country with just their current credentials.