Is a passport a MUST to return from TJ on foot?

29 comments

• sinclair

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  7 years ago

  Birth certificate and social security card work. I do not know about the drivers license since many state let illegals have them.
• sinclair

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  7 years ago

  Scratch that, social security card does not work, but I've seen people get back in with birth certificates.
• BumHip

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  7 years ago

  Thank you for the info. I was thinking to show my Birth cert, SS card, and Drivers license all together to the border agent on the way back.
• flagooner

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  7 years ago

  Instead of asking here, why not look it up online or make a phone call to someone who can give you an official answer? Are PLs known to have the right answer on everything? Okay, I'll answer. You should be fine if you have a hand written note signed by your Mom.
• l00ber

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  7 years ago

  You are required to show photo ID proving legal status when re-entering by the letter of the letter of the law. CBP has been trained to give more leeway to the obviously American (meaning white folks with high erudition or southern drawl) tourists. I have been with fellow white tuscl'ers who forgot their passports and got waived through the San yisidro Poe with just a drivers license. I have also been with Hispanic folks under similar circumstances who got finger printed and their names logged with a verbal warning that they would be stuck in Mexico until their family could FedEx them their passport the next time this happened. Thank the Lord I don't look threatening. I'm looking to head down again real soon myself.
• san_jose_guy

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  7 years ago

  I love it how some TUSCL'ers have posted about spending the night in that motel in San Ysidro. I can just see it, those old fashioned television sets where the remote control runs a motor to change channels. A couple of large extra cheese pizzas. And then you are so close to TJ's zona that all you have to do is walk out into the parking lot and you can smell all the pussy juices flowing. I just hope they remember to bring their cell phones so that they can post about it on the new mobile device friendly TUSCL. SJG Hand of Fate, Rolling Stones [view link]
• WetWilly

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  7 years ago

  Driver's license to get back in to the USA. They cannot legally prevent a US citizen from entering their own country. They can question you, berate you for not having a passport, but cannot block you from entering your own country. SS card is worthless for this purpose. Birth certificate? Do you really want to carry that around while you're drinking beers, entertaining putas, and likely going to be half drunk? Unless you look like a Mexican national, a driver's license and a few simple answers is all you need. Wth a drivers license or birth certificate, you're going to be in the slow lime, so the later you come back the better.
• BumHip

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  7 years ago

  flagooner, I have looked it up. To the letter of the law, I need a passport, or passport card. When I ask around, I hear real world events are sometimes not at cut and dry. Just asking about others experiences. 100ber, if you go w/o a passport, please let me know how it goes. I'm a generic white guy too. Hoping they do a little profiling myself.
• BumHip

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  7 years ago

  WetWily, I lost my birth cert when I lost my passport. Box of my stuff was stolen when I moved. Those documents were in that box. When I got my new birth cert, I got 3 copies of it, was only an extra $2 each. Sounds like I should be ok. Looks like next week i'll be in TJ to seek and destroy!
• WetWilly

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  7 years ago

  Driver's license. Drivers license. Driver's license.
• flagooner

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  7 years ago

  I was being an ass, but my point was that if you count on getting lenient treatment because some other PL that you never met claims it is SOP you deserve what you get. As far as not being legally able to prevent a citizen from reentering, that is the purpose of having your passport, to identify yourself as such.
• flagooner

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  7 years ago

  All these comments should be followed by YMMV.
• shailynn

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  7 years ago

  Lol - asking PLs - I like it. "Yeah dude, last time I showed this my MasterCard and a receipt from the BW3 in San Diego proving I've been in the USA, they were cool and let me back in."
• BumHip

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  7 years ago

  shallynn, I fail to understand your point. Who would know better about the border, than those who cross it? Do you have experience crossing it?
• JohnSmith69

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  7 years ago

  Why is this an issue. Just go get a passport.
• WetWilly

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  7 years ago

  I'm not counting on some other monger to tell me whether I can cross with a drivers license. I'm speaking from 10 years experience in crossing, acting as a wingman for many of my friends who own nothing but a drivers license, and daily reports (as recently as today) who come back easily wth their drivers license, an American accent, and white look. No one need depend on the good graces of US Customs officials to " let " them come back to their own country. I don't read government websites to find it the answers, I travel there myself, walk across the border, answer a couple of questions, and say thank you......
• WetWilly

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  7 years ago

  JohnSmith, the OP has a passport on its way. If you'll read his post you'll see his replacement passport is 2 weeks away, but he wants to get laid in Zona Norte before it arrives........
• JohnSmith69

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  7 years ago

  Good fucking point.! Next time I'll read the original post and not just skip to the comments.
• vincemichaels

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  7 years ago

  You can always use one of the tunnels under the border. :)
• skibum609

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  7 years ago

  You need proof of citizenship to re-enter and a driver's license does not constitute such proof. Pray you get lucky with the agent.
• flagooner

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  7 years ago

  "Who would know better about the border, than those who cross it? " Uh, how about those who determine whether you can cross or not?
• Longball300

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  7 years ago

  I have both a passport and the driver licence sized passport card which fits right in your wallet for my trips to Canada. Not sure about the Mexican border but, I can tell you better have some type of passport when coming from Canada. Friends of mine who tried to do it with just a drivers licence got held up in the office for over an hour. [view link]
• 4got2wipe

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  7 years ago

  It is seriously non-brilliant to leave the country without a passport (or passport card if traveling to an appropriate country). WetWilly may have crossed the border with only a driver's license, but he is ultimately relying on the good graces of the US border agents. Maybe those guys routinely let people through with only a DL, but if that is true they aren't doing their jobs.
• Estafador

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  7 years ago

  @l00ber that sounds pretty racist. So what, they gonna give the black guy the business just because he doesn't look like Bill Gates?
• flagooner

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  7 years ago

  Halt the presses!!!! Seriously, racism exists?
• shailynn

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  7 years ago

  SEEKnDESTROY - I was making a joke that you obviously didn't get.
• WetWilly

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  7 years ago

  Americans cross that border every single day with nothing but a drivers license.
• WetWilly

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  7 years ago

  This thread is getting funny! If people with actual experience about the subject of the thread posted, it would be a tiny thread. L100br had crossed many times, but does any other poster here have any actual experience with this subject?
• Tiredtraveler

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  7 years ago

  I have been told that without a passport you need to make prior arrangements to go either way. I would just use your passport, they are not expensive and only take a few weeks to get if you are a citizen. If you fly there are many state Drivers Lic. that are not up to standards and will not be accepted for air travel. Cali it the biggest because of their lax license regulations where they let anyone the walks through the door have a license(no proof of citizenship, no residence requirement, no proof of insurance).