Hi, looks like I might need to be in Cozumel, Mexico for a couple days in November. The US guide says that it's recommended to have a passport but NOT required. I have naturalization papers and would be flying in.

Has anyone had trouble where they couldn't get back into the US without a passport? I really would rather not pay the $97 for one if I don't really need it since it's just for a couple of days. I'd appreciate any comments. Thanks so much.

others around may be better equipped to answer, but a passport definitely eases the process.
Make sure you have your original birth certificate with you.

You are always better off with a US PP, imho.

If you loose your FM-T or your DL/BC, you may never get "home" after 9/11.

Bring copies of all your docs and register with the US Dept of State.

M

hey, mikemo, we agree on something !

Personally I would get a passport.

But techically a U.S. citizen can still enter Mexico with an original birth certificate plus a photo ID such as a drivers license. This rule is going to change soon, but has not yet.

If you are going to need an original birth certificate, you might as well get a passport. That's the hardest part of the process anyway.

~gnr~

Is this trip to Cozumel the only place outside the U.S. you will go in the next 10 years?

If truly you absolutely never travel internationally then I might just use the other 2 forms of ID for this trip.

p.s. Check with your airline's requirements, that's who controls whether you get on the plane.

Hi everyone, thanks for replying. The votes seem overwhelming for a passport. I was thinking "better safe than sorry" in the first place, but thought I'd see if a lot of people were getting in without one. Besides, 10 years is a long time and now I'll be ready to go overseas anytime!

Thanks again for everyone's input, it's much appreciated.

Good for you. I was just posting on another forum the other day that you might consider the payment for a passport as a sort of travel insurance, as it may help eliminate frustrating and costly problems. We've seen a couple of cases in the last 2 weeks of honeymooners having to cancel a night or two of their stays with no notice whie they get the correct papers in order for one or the other of them. That alone will cost them more than passports would have (and they still won't end up with the passports!).

It's not uncommon to see this problem crop up in other cases, either: another couple here recently had to pay something like USD 70 and scramble around the airport frantically to get a notary's help because the woman's birth certificate of course carried her maiden name and her ID carried her married name. So again they paid virtually as much but did NOT end up with a passport!

So even at that fee, it's only USD 10 per year for solid "insurance" against that sort of thing happening at any time during the 10-year period for which it's valid.

Incidentally, the deadline has been (re)set for the end of 2006 in terms of Americans being required to have a passport to re-enter the U.S. from Mexico. So in any event, you can only pursue the non-passport option for the rest of this year and next year.

Steve

My vote: Get a Passport. My travel agent said in the very near future, you will have to have a passport to travel to Mexico! It is because of 911! It is just reasonable to have one anyway and so much easier!

Of course Passport is best because you don't know what travels await you in the future. However -- If you use the birth certificate and drivers license, be sure if for any reason you have EVER had any name change and the Birth certificate and the DMV don't match, have the marriage/adoption, name change papers with you. They match names exactly of the Birth certificate and Drivers license. If there has been a marriage you must have a certified copy of the certificate.