Ask UnkieTrunkie V
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Joined: Sep 2004
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From: SJC
The passport card is the wallet-size travel document that can only be used to re-enter the United States at land border-crossings and sea ports-of-entry from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Bermuda. The card provides a less expensive, smaller, and convenient alternative to the passport book for those who travel frequently to these destinations by land or by sea. The passport card cannot be used for international travel by air.
The main reason you want this though, is that should, heaven forbid, your passport get stolen, get lost, or get held by a foreign official, you still have proof that you at least have the right to a passport, with your passport number on it.
Thread Starter
Moderator
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 109,435
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From: SJC
My folks were caught in the big Christchurch, NZ quake. They had their passports held by the hotel as a security deposit (a common practice). The hotel was condemned immediately after the earthquake, and my folks wound up having to get passports in Wellington (after getting airlifted out by the RNZAF). While everything went smoothly, everybody who had Passport Cards were given a single sheet of paper and processed quickly, while others were forced to do a full ID check and wound up traveling with a giant stack of paper back to the U.S.
Get the passport card.
Get the passport card.
Thread Starter
Moderator
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 109,435
Likes: 1,651
From: SJC
My folks were caught in the big Christchurch, NZ quake. They had their passports held by the hotel as a security deposit (a common practice). The hotel was condemned immediately after the earthquake, and my folks wound up having to get passports in Wellington (after getting airlifted out by the RNZAF). While everything went smoothly, everybody who had Passport Cards were given a single sheet of paper and processed quickly, while others were forced to do a full ID check and wound up traveling with a giant stack of paper back to the U.S.
Get the passport card.
Get the passport card.
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 111,885
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From: SoCal
