This can be said with any other document(s) in your wallet that you carry every day. In fact, if someone takes a credit card, your drivers licence, and your Social Security Number (or SIN in Canada) they do more damage with that then any passport can.




If 9/11 was any indication (I was working in Indiana at the time), they closed all the border crossings between Michigan and Ontario (not sure about others). But by the time I made it to Detroit, they just opened them (and there was no traffic whatsoever at the time - all commuters went to hotels, friends, etc). Best to call Canadian consulate and find out status (the one in Detroit is at the Ren Centre, and have views of both the tunnel and bridge).

"Should a passport be part of your EDC?"

Not as such.

SHTF the passport goes into a sealed waterproofed packet that rides with your other important papers on your person.

dweste, since you're asking about passports in a BOB in another thread, I'm just curious, did you have any specific situations in mind when asked about EDC'ing a passport? Because since you live in central California (that's correct, right?), not particularly near the border, I can't really think of any reasonable situations where you'd need a passport instantly, without going home or to your safety deposit box to get it. If you're just thinking of the passport as a form of identification, rather than as a travel document, then I would say that other ID like your state drivers license should be sufficient in any disaster scenario, particularly if you have documents like credit cards, health insurance card, etc. in your name on you, too.

Good questions and comments.

I am in central California at the moment, but actively looking to relocate north out of state. From time to time I also visit friends in the far south of California and the topic of trips to Mexico, particulary fishing trips, comes up.

I will be getting a passport soon and I just began wondering how this community used a passport as a survival /preparedness tool.

In an emergency I do not think I want to have to get to my safe deposit box.

OK, that helps clarify the situation. So you're thinking of the passport as a travel document and not just as a form of ID.

Actually, so you're sort of like Kris, at least when you're visiting your friends in far southern California, where there's a decent possibility of actually wanting to cross the border on a moment's notice, so in that case, I could see the utility of EDC'ing a passport in that situation since going back to your home to get it wouldn't be practical, whether for a fishing trip or during some emergency while you're down there. But if I lived, say, in San Diego (which I did) I never felt that EDC'ing a passport held any advantage for me over the risk of losing it or getting it stolen.

I would say that a passport in a BOB is a different situation from EDC'ing one, but that's a comment for a different thread.

I have no plans or desires to leave the country.

In my wallet, I carry 3 Federal types of ID: Military (picture w/health record encoded), TWIC (picture w/security data in RFID chip), SS, and my TRICARE cards;
2 State types of ID: Driver's License (picture w/encoded info), fishing license;
1 local type of ID: Library card;
6 miscellaneous types of ID: Employee's (picture), health history (microfiche), insurance, CPOA membership, minature HS diploma, Sam's Club Membership Club (picture).
Credit cards

I think that is overkill to the max as to proving who I am. I think I'll forego a passport for now.

" Actually, in past massive earthquakes in the Pacific Northwest, I wonder what the border control situation was like? Would Canadian authorities be reluctant to let Americans cross over after, say, Seattle is devastated, fearing an influx of American refugees/evacuees who then might become a burden on the Canadian gov't, or vice versa? "

I don't think Americans need a passport to come into Canada; it's getting back into the U.S. that is increasingly difficult. (I don't believe Americans need more than a valid driver's license if going by car, but that will change in a year or two ... the rules are kind of a moving target.)

If Seattle is devastated, it's possible that Vancouver will have been hit hard as well. That might change the border situation.

Mostly, though, I think you'd find that Canadians will go out of their way to be good neighbours, and help people in need.

Simply by way of FYI, for most countries, the stamp they put in your passport during your processing at immigration *is* your tourist visa. You needn't have anything other than proper documentation of your identity, a polite attitude toward the official, and, sometimes, proof that you have a plane ticket or the like back out of the country at the end of your stay. Some countries--generally ones not on good terms with one's home government, or those who have stricter immigration policies--require that the visa be arranged in advance via consulate/embassy vetting. However, as an American, I've traveled all through North America, South America, Europe, and Australia without needing any advance work. The stamp will have an expiration date, at which point you need either to have left the country or to have arranged for a visa extension (which would be an additional stamp/document in your passport).