[arthymom]

We are planning to go to Canada in August and dd comes home in July.

Do we need anything special? I assume her Guatemalan Passport but what else?

Thanks all-

[ej-momtobe]

I know that if you have an IR-3 visa, you can use the Guatemalan passport with the visa stamped in it for entry into the US for a year. I'm not sure what the rules are if you come in on an IR-4.

[hesabanana]

Where in Canada are you going Arth? I am right across the border from Niagara Falls!

[arthymom]

Thanks, EJ mom!

Hesa, Montreal area...Sorry! You are lucky...I love Niagra Falls and upstate N.Y.

Best to you both,

[jeannecr]

You may want to make sure there are no restrictions for her to enter Canada with her Guatemalan passport.

[romee_1101]

I will be in NF in a week visiting my dad and then I plan on traveling up to Guelph. I have his BC, his Guatemalan passport, and his COC (which came a couple months after). Since it is so close to homecoming, maybe a copy of the adoption papers? I don't know. I would be interested in the answer to this.

Gracias,

Lesley

[arthymom]

Leslea,

Please let us know how it goes at the border!

thanks,

[melissa41]

if you are interested, you can get a us passport for our child. we live in the netherlands and had to get a us passport before returning to the netherlands( many countries require visas for guat passports). the day after we landed in the us, we used a passport service to get a us passport. we had it in 3 business days. i did not have a coc (there are rumors that you have to have one but not if your child comes home on ir-3). you do have to send guat passport, original bc, original, adoption decree and othre stuff like copy of parent bc, copy of parent drivers license. pm if you want the name of this passport service. it is so worth the money if you don't live in one of the 13 cities that you can do it yourself (and no hassle traveling abroad)

[arthymom]

Wow Melissa! That sounds like the way to go for us.

Thanks for the suggestion!

[janhelper22]

According to the Canadian Embassy website (HTTP Error 301: File Not Found, Guatemalans need visas in order to travel to Canada. So, if your baby is using her Guatemalan passport, you will need to get her a visa first. Technically, if she enters on an IR-3 and is automatically a US citizen, she should enter and leave the US as a US citizen---in other words, with a US passport, but you won't have any problem getting back into the US with her Guatemalan passport and the residency stamp in the passport. But, you'll need the Canadian visa to get into Canada.

[romee_1101]

Will let you know about the border!

My understanding - US citizen's do not yet need a passport to enter/exit Canada/US when traveling by road and that the US requirement for a passport while traveling by air has been suspended for a few months due to a backlog of requests. I sent in my passport three months ago (renewal) and I have yet to see it.

I have never had any trouble personally going back and forth, although some US border guards have been terse about "need a passport" next time.

I am bringing all my documentation for my son just in case, but I am hopeful that there will not be a problem - hope they don't decide they need my passport - have to t/w the US Government about that fiasco.

Lesley

[arthymom]

Great information everyone!

I started another thread but in case you missed it,
Melissa gave me the idea to research passport agencies.

There are 14 in major U.S. cities. If your trip is w/i 14 days and you bring all necessary documentation, you can get the U.S. passport BEFORE the CoC.

Just thought that might be helpful. We are going that route and just making color copies that are notarized of all of her vital records before we have to hand over those precious docs.

Best,

[CurlysGirly]

Arth I asked yesterday for us planning trips to The Great White North. The guy who processed us in Houston said that we would be good to go because her visa is good for 6 months. I asked if we needed the CoC and he said no.

(This all goes without saying that they might say something else to someone else)