On 11/02/11 9:31 AM, James Hare wrote:
Yep. Generally speaking, it is easiest for Canadians (i.e. bearers of
Canadian passports) to enter the United States. The only thing easier
is if you're a U.S. citizen or permanent resident returning to the
U.S. It's a more relaxed system because people in border communities
(for example: Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario) tend to cross
the border frequently. Migration between the U.S. and Canada is
governed by the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, which allows
several different kinds of documentation instead of a passport:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Hemisphere_Travel_Initiative>.
For what it's worth, though, it isn't like the old days where a birth
certificate or voter registration would have been enough.
Technically a US citizen visiting Canada still needs a passport to
re-enter the US. Proving one is a US citizen could be difficult
otherwise. I can't say how much this has really been a problem on the
practical level.
Ray