Passport Requirements

Passports are required for all travelers, including citizens of the U.S. and Canada, who enter or re-enter the U.S. by air, land or sea.

There are a few notable exceptions pertaining to land and sea border crossings:

• U.S. citizens on cruises that begin and end in the same U.S. port and travel to destinations in Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean, the Bahamas, or Bermuda are able to re-enter the U.S. with proof of citizenship other than a passport or passport card. Acceptable proof of citizenship includes an original or certified copy of your birth certificate and a government-issued photo ID (such as a driver's license). Passports are required for cruises that begin in one U.S. port and end in another.
  
  
• Children under the age of 16 who are citizens of the U.S. or Canada are exempt from the passport requirement for land and sea border crossings. In lieu of a passport, children are able to use a birth certificate as proof of citizenship for entry into the U.S. by land or by sea. Children entering or re-entering the U.S. by air are required to have a valid passport.
  
  
• A new, lower-cost alternative to the passport, called a passport card, is acceptable for entries into the U.S. by land or sea. The passport card is not acceptable for air travel.

Photocopies of required documentation are not acceptable in any circumstance.

Even though passports are not required at this time for those who qualify for the exceptions mentioned above, we strongly recommend that all of our customers travel with a valid passport anyway. This is because those who need to fly to or from the U.S. unexpectedly during their trip due to a medical, family, personal or business emergency will likely experience significant delays and complications related to booking airline tickets and entering the U.S. if they do not have a valid passport with them. Of course, situations like these are rare, but they can happen.

Passports are not required for U.S. citizens traveling to or returning directly from Hawaii or a U.S. territory, including Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Swains Island, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Passports are required for travel to all International destinations not mentioned above, and for trips that involve air travel that begins or ends outside of the U.S. Passports must be valid for at least six months after the last day of travel.

Vacations To Go has partnered with CIBT, the largest and most well-established travel visa and passport company in the world, to offer you a fast, easy and reliable way to obtain a passport or other document for travel anywhere in the world. For information about obtaining a passport or passport card for the first time, or about renewing a passport or passport card, click here to visit the CIBT Web site.

Legal U.S. Residents (Non-Citizens)

Legal permanent residents of the U.S. must have a valid passport from their country of citizenship and a valid Alien Registration Card (Green Card) to enter or re-enter the U.S.

Non-U.S., Non-Canada Citizens

The following countries participate in a visa waiver program with the U.S., and citizens of these countries must have a machine-readable passport for entry into the U.S. :

Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Slovenia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom

Citizens of the countries listed above who do not possess machine-readable passports, and citizens of countries not listed above must present a valid passport and a valid United States visa upon entry into the U.S. For those whose travel plans include multiple entries into the U.S., such as a cruise that begins and ends in a U.S. port, a multiple-entry visa is required.

Visas

All travelers, including U.S. and Canada citizens, are responsible for verifying visa requirements with consular officials, and obtaining visas where required, for every country visited during their trip, including countries visited via connecting flights.

Always check with your Vacations To Go travel counselor at the time of booking to verify the documentation requirements for your vacation.