USVI-On-Line

Will a Birth Certificate and ID Card work getting to and from STT and BVI??? I have a passport, but other guest do not have passports. Do they need to get passports?

When will you be traveling? You can still go back and forth without, but they claim it will be required after January 2009-I say "claim" because they've said this about the past two Januarys!

I will be there September 19th. So pretty much Ill find out when I get down there if no passport is needed between USVI and BVI

Required or not, it appears having a passport speeds things up in getting into BVI, getting back into STJ and then getting through STT on the way home. The newer passports can be scanned and that seems to help a great deal.

I'm a big fan of passports. It's always better to have it than not. I think some folks have gotten by, but like my American Express card, I don't leave home without it.

If they've got the time, I would tell them to get their passports. You just never know when you might want to take that last minute trip to Paris or Bora Bora!!

My husband and I have passports but we're bringing my son and his girlfriend for their first visit to St. John in December and they still don't have theirs. We're all planning on a day sail to Jost and the passport office informed them that since they will be going to the BVI's via boat from the USVI's they only need a passport card which is somewhat cheaper than a regular passport. If you were going to the BVI's via plane you would need a regular passport. For those that don't travel much that would be an option.

What is a passport card?

Honestly though I am from the school of everyone should have a passport!

I second that Gromit. From the looks of our tickers we'll be in St. John the same time as you.

I think everyone should have a current passport.

A few years ago, my passport was expired and I was asked to go to Israel for a business trip. My boss was very grumpy when I explained to him that I couldn't go because my passport was not valid. I didn't have any foreign travel planned and had never really expected it for work, so I just didn't spend the money to renew it when it had run out a few months earlier. Needless to say, I went out the next day and applied for a new one. It ended up being a great idea, because now they've made it so much harder to travel without one. You just never know when you need it. And, you can use it to get a new driver's license or if you get a new job, and it's easier than carrying around your birth certificate or other documents.

No passport required until a to be determined date. We have family who travel with us and use birth certificates and state photo id (no photo id required for 18 and under) with no problems.

Cheers, RickG

Growing up in Europe during the Cold War (1970's) taught me how valuable an asset your passport can be. I guess I got used to it and really take having it for granted. I always assumed everyone had one even when we returned to the U.S. (silly me!)

Not that I do, but if I wanted to pick up and go somewhere else in the world (or need to) I can.

I view my passport along the same lines as my driver's license. And in fact travel with it when I fly domestically. When I show it at the check-in counter they never hesitate. While folks showing a driver's license may get the once over.

My passport is also an nice memento of all the places that I've been.

The notion of carrying a copy of my birth certificate around with me is a completely foreign concept. I don't think I've ever seen a copy of it. Just had a passport since I was a baby. If I ever have kids they will have passports as soon as I can get one for them. Just makes life a whole lot easier IMHO.

Gromit wrote:Growing up in Europe during the Cold War (1970's) taught me how valuable an asset your passport can be. I guess I got used to it and really take having it for granted. I always assumed everyone had one even when we returned to the U.S. (silly me!)

The notion of carrying a copy of my birth certificate around with me is a completely foreign concept. I don't think I've ever seen a copy of it. Just had a passport since I was a baby. If I ever have kids they will have passports as soon as I can get one for them. Just makes life a whole lot easier IMHO.

My father immigrated from Eastern Europe after WWII and his attitude and experiences certainly influenced my outlook on the subject, maybe to the extreme but it is cheap mental insurance. It wasn’t until I was in college and going to Mexico with friends that I realized not everyone had a passport.

Our son had his by the time he was 3 months old.

Gromit wrote: Not that I do, but if I wanted to pick up and go somewhere else in the world (or need to) I can.

True! We had the opportunity to travel for business to a country that required a passport and we did buy the tickets and go in a very short time frame.

You may as well get it now. I believe they will be mandatory to fly very soon.