# When did Canada start requiring Americans to get Passports? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 20, 2014, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-canada-start-requiring-americans-to-get-passports/701957 "2014-10-20T22:33:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-canada-start-requiring-americans-to-get-passports/701957/21 "2014-10-21T04:06:51Z")
The library that I mentioned in the OP is the Haskell Free Library and Opera House. It straddles the Canada / US border. A black line inside the building indicates the border. > **[Haskell Free Library and Opera House](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haskell_Free_Library_and_Opera_House)** > > The Haskell Free Library and Opera House (French: Bibliothèque et salle d'opéra Haskell) is a Victorian building that straddles the Canada–United States border, in Rock Island (now part of Stanstead), Quebec and Derby Line, Vermont, respectively. The Opera House opened on June 7, 1904, having deliberately been built on the international border. It was declared a heritage building by both countries in the 1970s and 1980s. > The library has two different addresses: 93 Caswell Avenue, Derby Line, Ver... The towns are Derby Line Vermont and Stanstead, Quebec. > **[Derby Line, Vermont](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derby_Line,_Vermont)** > > Derby Line is an incorporated village in the town of Derby in Orleans County, Vermont, United States, slightly north of the 45th parallel, the nominal U.S.-Canada boundary. The population was 687 at the 2020 census. > The village is located on the Canada–United States border and is contiguous with the district of Rock Island in the town of Stanstead, Quebec. > Notable buildings include the Haskell Free Library and Opera House. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-canada-start-requiring-americans-to-get-passports/701957/22 "2014-10-21T04:35:13Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > …Also, what is the “Group W” bench? The group W bench is from Arlo Guthrie’s “Alice’s Restaurant.” You can Google the lyrics. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-canada-start-requiring-americans-to-get-passports/701957/23 "2014-10-21T05:24:01Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > Also, what is the “Group W” bench? It’s where they have you sit with all the mother stabbers and father rapers. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-canada-start-requiring-americans-to-get-passports/701957/24 "2014-10-21T06:11:42Z")
From what I know about thru-hiking the PCT (West coast US trail from Mexico to Canada borders), You can enter Canada w/o a passport or enhanced DL - and this crossing is unmanned, but you can not reenter the US without it. This produces a ‘one way gate’ on the PCT. Most hikers travel from Mexico to Canada, after completion they hike the short distance to a Canadian town, instead of the nearest US town which is days away. But if you wish to start at the CA boarder and hike it south you have a logistical nightmare, you either have to start at the nearest US trailhead and hike days north to get to the point where you start heading south, or start in CA, hike the short distance to the start of the trail, illegally cross to start your hike - and this latter method makes it very hard to get permits that are needed as the PCT permit for the entire trail will not be issues to these hikers. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-canada-start-requiring-americans-to-get-passports/701957/25 "2014-10-21T06:55:48Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > Interesting. The individual officer has the power to deem me “rehabilitated” on the spot and waive me through? What if he says “no”? Can I back up 20 feet and then attempt to go through a different traffic lane where a different officer might be more sympathetic? > > Also, what is the “Group W” bench? Nope, lining up again will only make matters worse. These days they keep track of how often you cross the border and if there have been any problems. Group W bench: [http://youtu.be/b0a6iWHSWbA](http://youtu.be/b0a6iWHSWbA) ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-canada-start-requiring-americans-to-get-passports/701957/26 "2014-10-21T14:58:58Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > There are large areas in the West where the border between Canada and the US remains completely open, unguarded, unfenced and easy to cross. Yes, of course, but that wouldn’t stop people from complaining about how easy it is to cross at checkpoints. Also, “easy” is kind of relative. There’s a lot of wilderness out there. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-canada-start-requiring-americans-to-get-passports/701957/27 "2014-10-21T15:10:37Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > Also, “easy” is kind of relative. There’s a lot of wilderness out there. It would be impossible to cross “in the wilderness” between Winnipeg and Montreal, without a pretty good boat. A few places, from the east end of Michigan’s UP, where it can be done in winter on a snowmobile. But it would be easy from Vermont or a few places in eastern Maine, even in a car, which I have done… ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-canada-start-requiring-americans-to-get-passports/701957/28 "2014-10-21T16:03:10Z")
One item I read said the DUI entry denial was retaliation for a US policy that seemed to basically find any excuse possible to deny entry to Canadians. One fellow I knew was a middle manager going down to a business conference in Washington, in his mid-50’s. He was somewhat inebriated, and the customs agent in Toronto denied him entry to the USA based on a juvenile conviction when he was 17. Another guy, his mother called the police on him when he was 15 to “teach him a a lesson” over some pot she found in his room. He was 35, heading to the USA with his family to visit Disneyland, and denied entry due to a drug charge. Apparently _any_ drug conviction can get you denied entry. I recall one discussion where someone mentioned going to Burning Man; the US border agent asked if he had _ever_ smoked dope, and when he said “yes”, that was reason to deny him entry. Never admit to have committed a violation, even outside the country, even if not charged or convicted. The customs agent can deny entry for almost any reason; once denied entry, trying to get in without going through the proper paperwork will guarantee no entry for 10 years or some such penalty. Since everything is computerized, don’t expect a different lane or different crossing will work. As for that DUI, Canada and the USA share their police databases to some extent. Not sure if an Australian or French conviction will be seen, but almost everything in North America does. Another case in the news, a woman who had attempted suicide while depressed was denied entry to the USA a year later as mentally unstable and a risk. The customs knew about the incident because they had access to her name and the 911 ambulance call details from the police database, even though there were no charges. A customs agent was charged with a road rage assault on a Canadian tourist in Washington State. When he was appealing to not be fired, his proof how good an agent he was - he had denied the most number of Canadian entry to the USA in the Washington border crossing where he worked. But to get back to the OP - this passport requirement is a result of the discovery(?) after 9/11 of just how flimsy the USA (and Canada) identification system was. Until then, it was very easy to get false identity drivers licenses, birth certificates, and many other documents. The passport was a document that ensured a certain level of due diligence had been applied in verifying identity and was the standard for other international travel anyway. As mentioned, there are now “enhanced drivers licenses” and similar documents where (a) a certain amount of identity verification had happened and (b) the document was hi-tech and tamper-proof to prevent alterations. ---
**Author:** ![ThisSpaceForRent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisspaceforrent/32/345_2.png) [@ThisSpaceForRent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisSpaceForRent)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-canada-start-requiring-americans-to-get-passports/701957/29 "2014-10-21T17:21:02Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > Nope, lining up again will only make matters worse. These days they keep track of how often you cross the border and if there have been any problems. > > Group W bench: [http://youtu.be/b0a6iWHSWbA](http://youtu.be/b0a6iWHSWbA) Thank you…it has been about 27 years straight that this is my Thanksgiving movie and ode… ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-canada-start-requiring-americans-to-get-passports/701957/30 "2014-10-21T17:21:41Z")
Another thing that’s led to tighter controls on the border (in addition to 9/11 and all that) is that there were some gun control laws that came into force in Canada in the late 90’s and early 2000’s including mandatory registration and bans on certain types of handguns. Prior to that, there wasn’t anything Canadian customs were _too_ worried about coming in from the US, hence the wave-throughs in many places, but afterwards the flow of illegal and/or unregistered guns from the states became a major concern. > [@jtur88](#): > > The question should have been “When did Canada start requiring visiting Americans to have any form at all of ID?” Before 9/11, and for some time after, all you needed to do at the border was tell the immigration officer where you were born, and if your answer was not USA or Canada, of if they had some reason to not believe you, like a strong foreign accent, , then you could be asked for some form of identification, and a drivers license was usually sufficient. Sometime around 2006 (I think) I crossed over at a rural crossing in Montana and on the Canadian side they basically waved me through but on the way back the US people wanted a driver’s license and a birth certificate or passport. Which I didn’t have. Whoops! They gave me a stern talking to, but eventually let me back in… _just this once_. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-canada-start-requiring-americans-to-get-passports/701957/31 "2014-10-21T18:05:38Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > . There’s a lot of wilderness out there. What about Glacier National Park, for example? It straddles the border, and has plenty of hiking trails. If you’re a wilderness backpacker, do you have to carry your passport? ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-canada-start-requiring-americans-to-get-passports/701957/32 "2014-10-21T18:42:14Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > What about Glacier National Park, for example? > It straddles the border, and has plenty of hiking trails. If you’re a wilderness backpacker, do you have to carry your passport? Glacier-Waterton is a bit of a special situation. There’s a customs station at the south end of Waterton Lake that at least all the marked trails that cross the border go through. You can hike north of the customs station (or take the little boat trip down) from Canada without clearing US Customs. Undoubtedly you could do some bushwacking and get across without passing customs, but that’s true of most of the US-BC border. FWIW, even though there’s not a whole lot of monitoring of the border itself, supposedly there is a fair amount of patrolling and electronic surveillance of places where the road networks on either side of the border are close. So it’s not just a matter of walking across the small swath of cleared timber that marks the border-- if you’re going to get caught it’s likely going to be at the road on either end. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2014, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-canada-start-requiring-americans-to-get-passports/701957/33 "2014-10-25T17:04:08Z")
If an officer deems you rehabilitated, does that go into the system and make you permanently rehabilitated, or do you have to do the song and dance each time? I might start that paperwork. Is it discretionary or is it pretty much “shall issue” if it is only a misdemeanor and the sentence is complete? ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2014, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-canada-start-requiring-americans-to-get-passports/701957/34 "2014-10-25T17:24:42Z")
Song and dance each time if you are deemed rehabilitate by an officer at the crossing. The permanent rehabilitation is discretionary decision, but if the only issue is a misdemeanor DUI form 16 years ago, the odds are very high that the rehabilitation would be granted. The risk is that that if you are turned down either at the border for the one-visit-only process or through the visits-for-the-rest-of-your-life mail-in process, then the rejection will be on file and pop up on the screen the next time you try to enter Canada. I don’t know what the procedure is for re-applying once already denied. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2018, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-canada-start-requiring-americans-to-get-passports/701957/36 "2018-05-14T10:45:26Z")
Spam reported. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2018, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-canada-start-requiring-americans-to-get-passports/701957/37 "2018-05-14T11:11:33Z")
There are some locations where free entry into Canada is allowed. One is the PCT hiking trail, running from Mexico/US border to the US Canadian boarder. When getting to the northern end it is more common (and legal) to continue to the nearest town in Canada at this unmanned crossing. It is required to contact them once you reach civilization. It is however illegal to enter the US this way. There are also towns that are both US and CA, with the international line down the middle of the road. Usually another call saying that you will be in town and crossing for whatever reason (someones to drive out of town it is required to drive on the other side of the road, thus another country. Also there is a small exclave of the US somewhere near Wisconsin IIRC, where one must drive into CA to get to it (I think one can do it by boat also), there is a pull over and a telephone to call to get permission. There is no school, or no high school, in this exclave, the bus to the states has to stop 2x to make this call announcing each child upon crossing for permission. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2018, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-canada-start-requiring-americans-to-get-passports/701957/38 "2018-05-14T13:34:31Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > there is a small exclave of the US somewhere near Wisconsin IIRC, where one must drive into CA to get to it (I think one can do it by boat also), there is a pull over and a telephone to call to get permission. There is no school, or no high school, in this exclave, the bus to the states has to stop 2x to make this call announcing each child upon crossing for permission. Angle Inlet, MN. And there is a school there, just not a high school. And yes, I know this is a zombie thread. But I couldn’t let the assertion that a bit of WI land touches Canada go uncorrected. ---
**Author:** ![rat\_avatar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rat_avatar/32/255_2.png) [@rat\_avatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rat_avatar)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2018, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-canada-start-requiring-americans-to-get-passports/701957/39 "2018-05-14T13:35:04Z")
Note that if you live in some border states like Washington you can apply for an “Enhanced Driver’s License” or ID which is acceptable for land/sea but not air. As others have mentioned the issue is re-entry the U.S more than Canada’s entry needs. ---
**Author:** ![yanceylebeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yanceylebeef/32/12290_2.png) [@yanceylebeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yanceylebeef)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2018, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-canada-start-requiring-americans-to-get-passports/701957/40 "2018-05-14T14:51:27Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Angle Inlet, MN. > > And there is a school there, just not a high school. > > And yes, I know this is a zombie thread. But I couldn’t let the assertion that a bit of WI land touches Canada go uncorrected. There’s also [Point Roberts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_Roberts,_Washington), just south of Vancouver in British Columbia. ---
**Author:** ![rat\_avatar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rat_avatar/32/255_2.png) [@rat\_avatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rat_avatar)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2018, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-canada-start-requiring-americans-to-get-passports/701957/41 "2018-05-14T14:56:42Z")
Hyder Alaska is another example of a place that only has road access through Canada. They even use Canadian phone numbers and the Mounties are the only police force in the area. But they do have customs to come back into Canada. I drove over to see the town in December but nothing was open and had to be re-admitted to continue my drive South back to the US. Some areas like Haines AK, are serviced by the Alaska State Ferry which is considered a part of the Alaska Marine Highway System. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-canada-start-requiring-americans-to-get-passports/701957.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-canada-start-requiring-americans-to-get-passports/701957.md?page=3)