To leave the USA, do you need a passport or can you have your birth certificate?

Question

To leave the USA, do you need a passport or can you have your birth certificate?

Answer 1

Leaving isn't the issue.   Getting back in is.

Passport

Answer 2

you need your passport if you are going out side of the USA.

but you only need an id card and/or birth certificate if you are going to canada. but in jan 2009 you will need a passport to go to canada too.

Answer 3

Yes you can leave.  If you travel to Mexico or Canada by ground travel you can cross with a birth certificate and drivers license until next summer.  Flying or after next spring, or travel to any other country you need a passport.

Answer 4

A passport is a more accepted ID than your birth certificate.

Answer 5

New rules soon to happen in the US require that US citizens show a passport otherwize they will not be allowed back in.  Nuff said.

Answer 6

It depends on where you're going and how you go. After 1 June 2009, you will need a passport. If you fly, you need a passport now. If you're going across a land border to Canada or Mexico or by boat  (Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, Caribbean region), you don't have to have a passport. If you don't have a passport, you do need both a government issued photo ID (such as a driver's license) and proof of citizenship (like a birth certificate).

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cbpmc/cbp...