$195 for an emergency passport!

[graywarrior]

[Sekhmets Daughter]

3. adding insult to injury....

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

4. I got nothing to offer

but maybe a few tears.

Damn.

[Gorp]

5. Since when do you need a passport to go to Canada? I never did.

To be fair, my last trip there was over ten years ago, but I hadn't heard that it had changed. I thought we had a mutual agreement with Canada.

[KatyaR]

6. As of several years ago, you have to show citizenship to be allowed BACK

in the country. You can go out, no problem,--but getting back in, you gotta have a passport. There was a temporary fix in place for a couple of years, but I think that's done now.

[Gorp]

8. Well, that's good to know. I've never had a passport but I've been to Canada several times.

The biggest problem in getting IN to Canada was having a laptop (note, this was over a decade ago) because they automatically route you into the holding area. No matter how many times you said it was personal travel, they wanted all kinds of documentation on the grounds that you were probably there to "conduct business". The few people who admitted to being on business spent about four hours in the holding area and it involved multiple FAX transmissions. It was just easier to lie and get the 15 minute lecture and then go on your way.

Getting back in was never a problem. Frankly, they were probably happy to get rid of me.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

7. AKAIK...

...you only need the passport for Canada if you enter via an airline. You can drive across without one.
It seems dumb.

[Gorp]

9. Seriously? You don't need one to drive across? WTF?

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

10. I just found this

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1082.html#entry_requirements

[Gorp]

14. Good grief. We're almost the same country, well other than the fact that their government works.

[graywarrior]

18. Nova Scotia is right next to Maine, yet it's a pain in the ass to get there.

[Gorp]

19. Ultra-lite.

[MrsBrady]

12. I go to canada once a year, and yes, you need a passport. n/t

[Gorp]

15. That's just weird.

[WolverineDG]

11. Nope, you need it for land crossings as well

I live on the US/Mexico border & this is a big issue. A passport or a passport card is needed to get back into the US.

[graywarrior]

13. You still need one of those passport cards

It's a royal pain because I went to Portsmouth NH to get the card, which they didn't provide and told me I could only get it in Boston. None of the Post Offices tell you this and the 800 number you call to make the appt doesn't connect to a live person so you can't get the info there.

I'm planning on driving up thru New Brunswick and then take the ferry to NS.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

16. $195 plus delivery

http://travel.state.gov/passport/hurry/hurry_831.html

$135 or the passport plus $60 for expedited service plus delivery.

[DFW]

17. The Russians did that to me just for a visa

We got an invitation to visit a friend who was station chief for his outfit in Moscow, and had to get visas head over heels within a couple of days. We went to the Russian embassy to pick them up, and they cost $350 for my wife and me (hers was the cheaper because she is German, but it was still well over $100). They were nice, fancy VIP special visas from the МИД (sort of their version of the State Department), but not worth $350!!

Last August, my wife visited a friend who lives in northern Vermont, and the two of them went over to Canada for a few hours for some shopping. On the way back the idiot US CBP guy almost didn't let my wife back in because he was too stupid (or lazy) to find her July entry stamp (she had entered the USA 4 weeks before). He only let her back in because she had an entry stamp from 3 months before when she came for my nephew's college graduation. She was flying back on Aug. 13 (had no travel docs with her), and had entered the USA for the graduation on May 12. The dumb CPB guy told her that Aug. 13th was one day over the limit for tourists. She then said, oh of COURSE, I'm so dumb, I arrive back home in Germany on Aug. 13th, but of course, the flights to Europe always leave the day before. Total BS, but the CBP guy was then OK with this and let her back into Vermont. He never did find her entry stamp at Logan Airport from July 6th, which was in plain sight (granted, only if you're literate).

[graywarrior]

20. Jeeze, I can't wait to try getting back in to the US

Maybe I'll be forced to live in Canada. That would be awesome!

[DFW]

22. My wife is a German citizen

And they didn't haff vays to make her talk

on edit:

*oh, and old friend of mine used to be Canada's ambassador the the USA when Clinton was in office. If you really get stuck, I'll put you in touch. He's retired from the foreign service now, but I'm sure he still knows a few people (his uncle was PM!).

[Hassin Bin Sober]

21. Is that the GOV's fee or are you using an expediter?

IMO, you can expedite your own passport. I know you have to pay a $60 dollar rush fee but don't pay for an expediter.