TOPIC: Traveling Abroad during the Pandemic for PMMA

Sort of an urgent question due to a mess up on my part. My appointment is tomorrow and while going through my bag and ensuring I had everything I looked at my passport and noticed it expired in April. Do i need my passport to cross border into Tijuana if I'm on avanti's shuttle which I would guess is classified as medical shuttle. Will my driver's license, expired passport, and birth certificate suffice. I don't wanna fly out in morning get to the border and be turned away.

I'm still here in TJ and on my drive in yesterday, they didnt even stop us. They didnt look at anything. Nothing. So getting in wont be an issue.

Okay good thank you. Worst case scenario I end up getting turned away at the border and spending few days vacationing in San diego

Worst case, you get stuck trying to get ba crack into the US lol

True lol extended Vacation in Tijuana. I mean i wouldn't complain but I don't think my job or wife would be happy about that one

Lol true story

GirthyGoals wrote: Did you need your passport? I read that under 72hrs and being on the shuttle just a valid government issued ID would suffice.

Mind if I ask where you read this (may you provide a link)? Short of ample alternative documentation that's been checked with Border Custom policies, I'd make it a habit to travel with a passport internationally regardless.

GirthyGoals wrote: Sort of an urgent question due to a mess up on my part. My appointment is tomorrow and while going through my bag and ensuring I had everything I looked at my passport and noticed it expired in April. Do i need my passport to cross border into Tijuana if I'm on avanti's shuttle which I would guess is classified as medical shuttle. Will my driver's license, expired passport, and birth certificate suffice. I don't wanna fly out in morning get to the border and be turned away.

You don't need it to get into Mexico -- there's generally not an immigration check -- but you need it coming back into the USA. However, they can't really deny you entry to your own country. While I can't officially recommend this, if you just went and then handed it over I highly doubt they would do anything to you -- maybe they would take you into a room and ask you a few questions. Just bring multiple other proofs of id. They can't really deny you entry just so you can prove that you're a US citizen, but they can bust your Balls a little.

This is my 4th trip here. It has been my experience every time that you will not need it to get into Mexico but you absolutely will need it to get back into the USA. Prepare to add a day or two to your trip because you will get stuck in Tijuana. Especially during the pandemic.

GirthyGoals wrote: Sort of an urgent question due to a mess up on my part. My appointment is tomorrow and while going through my bag and ensuring I had everything I looked at my passport and noticed it expired in April. Do i need my passport to cross border into Tijuana if I'm on avanti's shuttle which I would guess is classified as medical shuttle. Will my driver's license, expired passport, and birth certificate suffice. I don't wanna fly out in morning get to the border and be turned away.

I misread it. You don't need a Visa I'm sure passport is required. I have it but I was an idiot and didn't check the expiration date and it expired this April. Now I'm unsure about whether to try it or not.

What does adding a day or 2 help? My appointment is tomorrow my flight back is Friday.

So should I cancel or try it with my driver's license, birth certificate, and expired passport. It expired April 30th. What would most of you do?

I would plan to proceed to originally scheduled.

Generally if you have several forms of ID you should be able to get back into your own home country. It's not like they can deport you somewhere... They would likely bust your ass though a bit. They basically never check going into TJ, they just stop random vehicles it looks like to do checks because the place is a gong show going in when busy.

My biggest concern when I go is I believe the US is still restricting foreigners from travelling into the US via land. So as a Canadian, I don't want to fly to San Diego, cross over fine, and then get rejected trying to get back to the airport. I also want them to lift the mandatory 14 day quarantine for travel upon return to Canada...

GirthyGoals wrote: So should I cancel or try it with my driver's license, birth certificate, and expired passport. It expired April 30th. What would most of you do?

The best thing to do is to postpone the trip. However, due to the pandemic it's taking a really, really long time to get a US passport (but you may be able to get it expedited as you're planning a "medical" trip). However, the biggest problem that I believe you will face when coming back is that immigration may require you to get an emergency travel document (like what people get when they lose their passports abroad). It generally takes about a day to get one, although I don't know the details for doing this in TJ.

What you could do is be proactive and don't want to take a chance of being turned away at the border is to arrange for one of these documents before coming back to the US, and then you could hang out and rest at the hotel while it's processed. Or you could just call US immigration and be like, "Shit, I came to TJ for a medical procedure and I just looked at my passport and noticed it's expired, what should I do?" As there's generally no immigration inspection on the way into Mexico they probably deal with Americans in similar situations all the time.

However, another thing to consider is that Avanti is sometimes pooling patients together in shuttles these days due to the fact that less drivers are available to cross the border. It would probably be considerate that if you do go that you make sure that you're not riding back with someone else.

Hope it goes well for you. Let us know what you decide to do.