To enter Canada, U.S. citizens must first apply for and obtain a U.S. passport from the Department of State's Bureau of Consular Affairs. Passports applications can be submitted at any Passport Acceptance Facility in the United Sates. Form DS-11 is the passport application that must be filled out and submitted to the Department of State for a U.S. citizen to obtain a passport for international travel. Most Passport Acceptance Facilities are in local post offices.
Applicants must provide identification, proof of citizenship and two passport photos that are in color, identical, less than six months old, in normal clothing wearing nothing on their heads or glasses that are not prescription and of their full face. Acceptable forms of identification include drivers licenses, naturalization certificates and military or government identification cards. Proof of citizenship includes naturalization certificates, birth certificates, certificates of citizenship and consular reports of births abroad.
U.S. residents traveling to Canada on a cruise ship or by land can apply for a U.S. passport card instead of a passport book. The passport card application is the same as a passport book, but the fee is less. Also, the book is not permitted for air travel between the U.S. and Canada. Other countries that accept the passport card include Mexico, the Caribbean islands and Bermuda.
A U.S. citizen should apply for a passport at least eight weeks before leaving for Canada. The standard time after submitting an application for a passport is six to eight weeks. U.S. residents traveling to Canada in less than eight weeks can expedite the processing of their passport by paying an additional fee.
U.S. residents can travel by land, sea or air to Canada, although each needs the proper form of a passport, whether it is the passport card or the passport book. The fees for each are different. Passport books cost $95 and passport cards cost $45, as of June 2010. This fee is standard and not specific to obtaining a passport strictly for travel to Canada.
