[dsomers]

Exactly this. As late as the 2001 I could cross into the US from Canada with as little as my birth certificate, which I often did. That was just a cotton blended paper with tattered edges with some writing, and the crest of my province printed on it. There wasn’t even a photo on it! It was closer to writing, ‘I’m daniel plz let me in’ on a napkin, than it is to my passport of today with its photo, barcode, and RFID chip that they can cross reference their data base with.

[jrochkind1]

> As late as the 2001 I could cross into the US from Canada with as little as my birth certificate,

Growing up in Detroit in the 80s (which some people don't realize is right on the border with Canada -- and that you travel south across a bridge to get to Canada! look it up) -- we generally didn't even bring our birth certificate. which may be a testament to our social class -- they could ask for a birth certificate if they thought you seemed "suspicious" (which i'm sure is racially coded), but for 90%+ of crossings, and 100% of our crossings, it was a two question interview without showing any paperwork at all. "What is your citizenship? What is your purpose of travel? OK, go through." No showing of ID at all -- not even a driver's license!

[And again, they could ask for ID -- a driver's license or birth certificate -- if they wanted. I am positive at least 9 out of 10 crossings they did not. I am indeed sure that the race and class appearance (and accent) of the crosser was significant].

We used to patriotically brag (in the time of the cold war and berlin wall) that this was how borders between two stable "free" countries, the US and Canada, could be, "the longest open border in the world".

It makes me really sad to think about how much we have gotten used to living in a security state, that does not need to be that way.

[jrochkind1]

(I'm realizing in my memory that not only did you show no paperwork, for the majority of crossings for people they did not deem "suspicious", you didn't even provide your name at all. I guess they could have been recording your license plate, not sure if they were, but there was no record left of the individual people crossing).

[rmason]

Actually before 9-11 you could enter Canada with only a Michigan drivers license. I did it all the time, had friends in Windsor and I'd drive down just to have dinner with them.

Now you need either a passport or a special Michigan drivers license. Last time I renewed in person after COVID I tried to get one. The lady behind the counter said you don't want one of those. I asked her why and she told me that I'd hold up the line behind me. Since I was renewing months after my license expired due to the office being closed at the beginning of COVID I didn't argue with her.

[OJFord]

As little as a birth certificate?

You can still cross EU borders with just a driving licence, or government issued ID where they have them.

(In practice the vast majority using planes and boats at least probably do take a passport, I always did from the UK, but in theory you don't need one, so if you weren't planning to go elsewhere you wouldn't even need to get a passport.)

[messe]

> You can still cross EU borders with just a driving licence, or government issued ID where they have them.

For anybody unfamiliar with Europe, I just want to add that there aren't any checkpoints or border crossings, you just drive through or walk over. Half the time you won't even notice you're doing it. You're just supposed to have your ID on your person when you do.

Ireland (and previously the UK) is the only major exception to this, as it's part of the common travel area alongside the UK. In practice, this doesn't make a huge difference when you're an Irish or EU citizen (it does if you're a tourist who needs a different visa to visit), as it's an island, and airlines require a form of ID to board anyway. When travelling from Ireland to Schengen, I usually have a passport in my carry on luggage as a backup, and take my passport-card (similar to a national ID card) in my wallet.

[pell]

>For anybody unfamiliar with Europe, I just want to add that there aren't any checkpoints or border crossings, you just drive through or walk over. Half the time you won't even notice you're doing it. You're just supposed to have your ID on your person when you do.

The above is only true in the Schengen zone. As soon as you cross the border to a non-Schengen country or you arrive from a non-Schengen country you will go through normal border control (with some exceptions). This includes multiple EU countries beside Ireland like Romania, Bulgaria or Cyprus. And many non-EU countries like Bosnia, Serbia, Monaco, Kosovo, Andorra, Ukraine, Turkey, Russia, etc.

[usrusr]

But it also includes certain non-EU countries, like Switzerland. You won't notice having crossed the border before your phone notifies you that it just disabled data thanks to roaming charges getting capped at 50 without confirmation.

(I'm exaggerating, but only slightly.. the irony is that I used to have data roaming included in Switzerland, but the network forced me to a new plan that doesn't have that because the old one was almost but not quite complying with EU roaming rules)

[ajuc]

> As soon as you cross the border to a non-Schengen country or you arrive from a non-Schengen country you will go through normal border control (with some exceptions)

Nothing in EU is as simple, therefore it's not only a Schengen/non-Schengen thing. For example a border between North and "regular" Ireland isn't marked in any way, you just cross a brook or a field.

[messe]

> you just cross a brook or a field.

Or walk to the other side of the room. The border cuts through a number of houses and businesses as far as I'm aware.

[dfawcus]

I though the point of the Irish passport card was that it is a passport (not a national ID card), but that the only place where it is needed / accepted is in other EU MS (due to format, and lack of ability to be stamped)? Note - the EU includes a passport union, which has been in place since the EEC days.

i.e. that there should be no need to also carry your passport, unless intending to travel on outwith the EU?

[messe]

You're right there isn't any need to have the passport booklet when travelling within the EU. I have the passport card on me almost 100% of the time when I'm not at home, as it's kept in my wallet. So I use that when flying within the EU as well.

However, when I'm traveling to somewhere that has a hotel safe, or somewhere secure enough to leave valuables, I'll bring the full passport booklet in my carry-on along with me, and leave it there when I go out. That way, in the unlikely event I should lose my wallet / passport card, I still have the full booklet to travel home on, rather than having to arrange emergency travel documents for the flight back.

I haven't needed it yet, but I don't see the harm in also taking it. It's not as if it takes up an obscene amount of space in my carry-on luggage, nor am I risking losing it by carrying it on my person at all times. It's purely there for peace of mind, and a backup in the very unlikely event I need it.

[phil21]

> As little as a birth certificate?

Lost in translation I think. You could cross the border to Canada with just your state issued ID/drivers license as well back then.

What OP is saying is that it was even more lax than that. OP brought a piece of paper that is trivially forged, no photo on it, that basically just said in writing who they were with no additional ID needed.

[OJFord]

> > As little as a birth certificate?

> Lost in translation I think.

Yeah, perhaps. My surprise I suppose is because to me a birth certificate is something somewhat safely tucked away somewhere, extremely rarely required; frankly I don't know how much of a problem it would be to lose and try to replace (maybe not replacing it but fraud would be your greater concern?) but certainly not something generally carried around with you here. (At least, I'd be surprised to learn that's just me?)

[yakubin]

Where do birth certificates contain photos? That… doesn’t sound very practical. (Imagining an elderly person handing in their photo as a toddler to border control.)

[dsomers]

> As little as a birth certificate?

I get what you’re getting at, but in Canada birth certificates from the 80s had a wallet sized version that had no more information than a drivers license, but it didn’t even have a photo on it. It was just a little pice of paper. I remember that’s very different from modern birth certificates.

I also crossed into the U.S. with my health card that only had my name on it and a number that is meaningless to the US boarder agency, also no photo.

[alexanderchr]

No, a drivers license is not enough, you’re supposed to bring a passport or a national id card. For UK nationals that meant a passport since the UK never had a national id card.

Within Schengen you can get away with just a drivers license since there are no checks, but that doesn’t make it allowed.

[usrusr]

In the boarding line of a flight between EU destinations (well, Schengen destinations), I usually see about one couple clinging to their passports. They stand out as if they were dressed up in victorian age safari gear.

[CalRobert]

You can cross schengen borders with nothing.

[ramraj07]

Sure, but no matter how far back in history you go this hasn’t applied to everyone. My dad had to jump through hoops to attend a conference in the states in the 90s. Including sitting in a line on the sidewalk in front of the US embassy for hours, as a well respected doctor in his 40s, curious what your thoughts are about that. Then I come to Canada in 2008 and hear people talk about all their trips to Europe and South America and they didn’t know what a visa meant. The world is a very unfair place, and first world people especially non-minorities never knew how bad it was for others. Perhaps post 2001 kind of leveled the Playing field in some ways.

[jrumbut]

Funny enough I went to Canada for a quick trip in with my (non-real ID) driver's license and birth certificate, stayed a couple extra days, and arrived back at the border just hours before the switchover to requiring a passport/real ID went into effect.

I wonder what would have happened?

[ilyt]

> There wasn’t even a photo on it!

I mean, picture of a baby isn't exactly useful...