Do I Need a Passport?
Where you are going, how you get there and who is traveling: whether you need a passport book, a passport card or only an ID, from the rule that decides it. Every answer links the official pages it rests on.
Puerto Rico · fly · a US citizen, 16 or older
No passport neededA REAL ID driver’s license, or another ID TSA accepts: a passport, a passport card or a trusted traveler card.
What to take
- A REAL ID driver’s license, or another ID TSA accepts: a passport, a passport card or a trusted traveler card.
- No REAL ID or other accepted ID? TSA charges $45 (TSA ConfirmID) at the checkpoint to try to confirm who you are.
The rules this answer rests on
- USAGov: Do you need a passport to travel to or from U.S. territories or Freely Associated States? (updated March 31, 2026)
- Transportation Security Administration: Acceptable Identification at the TSA Checkpoint
Rules checked September 26, 2026. This informs; it never promises entry: read the official pages before you travel, and ask your airline or cruise line what it checks at boarding.
Quick answer: not for Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Guam, Hawaii or Alaska: those flights are domestic, so a REAL ID is enough. Flying to Canada, Mexico, the Bahamas or anywhere abroad takes a passport book. On a cruise that starts and ends at the same US port, a US citizen can travel with a birth certificate and a photo ID.
How to use it
Pick where you are going, then how you get there and who is traveling. Only the ways that exist for that place are offered: you can drive to Canada and Mexico (and to Alaska through Canada), not to Puerto Rico. The answer lists what to take, anything to watch for, and the official pages it comes from, with their dates. For a family, check each person: a child’s documents can differ from an adult’s. Copy link keeps the answer.
The rule that decides it
Most of the answer is set by what it takes to come back into the United States, in federal regulation 8 CFR 235.1(b). A US citizen needs a passport book to enter the US, with three exceptions. By land or sea from Canada, Mexico, Bermuda or the Caribbean, a passport card is enough, and so is a NEXUS, SENTRI or FAST card or an enhanced driver’s license. On a cruise that boards at a US port and comes back to the same port, a birth certificate (an original or a copy) with a government photo ID is enough, and a child under 16 needs only the birth certificate. A child under 16 crossing by land or sea from Canada or Mexico also needs only a birth certificate. Then the country you visit has its own rule, from the State Department’s page for it: Mexico asks everyone for a passport book or card at a land border, and Bermuda and Aruba ask for a passport even from a cruise.
A flight between parts of the US that stops nowhere else is a domestic flight. There, TSA’s rules apply: since May 7, 2025, travelers 18 and over need a REAL ID or another ID TSA accepts, and since February 1, 2026 TSA charges $45 to try to confirm who you are if you have none. Children under 18 need no ID from TSA. American Samoa sets its own rule: a passport or a certified birth certificate.
For a US citizen of 16 or older
What each trip takes, by the way you travel. “No passport” on a round-trip cruise means a birth certificate and a photo ID; “book or card” means a passport book or a passport card.
| Where | Fly | Drive or walk | Round-trip cruise | Other sea |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Puerto Rico | No passport | — | — | — |
| The US Virgin Islands | No passport | — | — | — |
| Guam or the Northern Mariana Islands | No passport | — | — | — |
| American Samoa | Passport or birth certificate | — | — | — |
| Hawaii | No passport | — | — | — |
| Alaska | No passport | Book or card | No passport | Book or card |
| Canada | Passport book | Book or card | No passport | Book or card |
| Mexico | Passport book | Book or card | No passport | Book or card |
| The Bahamas | Passport book | — | No passport | Book or card |
| Bermuda | Passport | — | Passport | Passport |
| Aruba | Passport book | — | Passport book | — |
| Another Caribbean island | Passport book | — | No passport | Book or card |
| Palau, Micronesia or the Marshall Islands | Passport book | — | — | — |
| Anywhere else abroad | Passport book | — | — | Passport book |
Children and green-card holders
Children. A child flying into the US from anywhere abroad needs their own passport book, CBP says. By land or sea from Canada, a child under 16 needs only a birth certificate (an original, a photocopy or a certified copy); Canada’s border agency asks for a consent letter from the parents when a child travels without both of them. Mexico is stricter at its land border: every traveler, children included, needs a passport book or card. On flights within the US, TSA asks children under 18 for no ID.
Green-card holders. A green card is what brings you back into the US: CBP says a passport is not required for that. Every other country sees your nationality, so you travel on your own country’s passport, with a visa where that country asks one of your nationality. Canada asks green-card holders for both the passport and the green card, however they arrive. On flights within the US, TSA accepts a permanent resident card as ID.
Worked examples
A family driving to Niagara Falls, Canada. The parents each need a passport book, a passport card, a NEXUS card or an enhanced driver’s license; the children under 16 need their birth certificates. If a parent stays home, bring a consent letter from them.
A Bahamas and Cozumel cruise from Miami, back to Miami. A closed-loop cruise: each adult can sail with a birth certificate and a driver’s license, and a child under 16 with a birth certificate. Mexico asks for an original or a certified copy with a raised seal. The State Department still recommends a passport: if you have to leave the ship and fly home, you need one.
A long weekend in San Juan, Puerto Rico. No passport: a domestic flight. An adult needs a REAL ID or another ID TSA accepts, such as the passport or passport card you may already have. Without one, TSA charges $45 at the checkpoint.
Common mistakes
- Flying on a passport card. It works only by land or sea from Canada, Mexico, Bermuda and the Caribbean.
- Booking a one-way cruise, or a round trip that ends at a different port, as if it were closed-loop. Only a cruise that comes back to the port it left lets you sail on a birth certificate.
- Assuming a cruise stop in Bermuda or Aruba is like the Bahamas: both ask for a passport.
- A flight to Guam through Tokyo or Seoul. A stop in another country means coming back into the US from abroad, and that takes a passport book.
- Leaving the REAL ID for later. Since May 7, 2025, an ordinary driver’s license no longer gets an adult through TSA.
Plan the trip
See the Caribbean islands you can visit without a passport, the Puerto Rico travel guide and whether the US Virgin Islands are worth visiting. Going by ship? Read the first-time cruise tips and the Alaska cruise guide. Going further? The free Do I Need a Visa? says what a US passport needs in every country.
FAQ
Do you need a passport to go to Puerto Rico?
No, if you are a US citizen flying from the US: it is a domestic flight. Adults need a REAL ID or another ID TSA accepts; children under 18 need no ID from TSA. A green-card holder can fly on the green card.
Do you need a passport to go to the Bahamas?
To fly, yes: a passport book. On a cruise that starts and ends at the same US port, a US citizen can use a birth certificate and a photo ID; on another cruise, a passport card is enough. The State Department recommends a passport anyway, in case you have to fly home.
Do you need a passport to go to Canada?
To fly, yes: a passport book or a NEXUS card. By land or sea, a passport card, a NEXUS card or an enhanced driver’s license also works, and children under 16 need only a birth certificate. Green-card holders need their own passport and their green card.
Do you need a passport to go on a cruise?
Not on a cruise that starts and ends at the same US port and stays in the Western Hemisphere: a US citizen can sail with a birth certificate and a government photo ID (a child under 16, the birth certificate). Bermuda and Aruba still ask for a passport. Any other cruise needs a passport book, or a passport card if it only visits Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.
Do you need a passport to go to Hawaii?
No: flights between Hawaii and the rest of the US are domestic. Adults need a REAL ID or another ID TSA accepts, such as a passport or a passport card.
Do you need a passport to go to Mexico?
To fly, yes: a passport book, because a passport card is not valid on flights. By land, a passport book or card for everyone, children included, plus Mexico’s entry permit (the FMM). On a cruise that returns to the US port it left, a birth certificate (original or certified, with a raised seal) and a photo ID.
Where can you travel without a passport?
From the US, as a US citizen: Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, Hawaii and Alaska on a REAL ID, American Samoa with a certified birth certificate, and the Caribbean, Mexico or Canada on a cruise that starts and ends at the same US port.