Birth certificate From Guam

[kdunn6]

My niece was born in Guam in 1970, in a military hospital,  do you think Carnival will except her original  birth certificate?

[DramaQueen22]

No one here is going to be able to give you a definitive answer.  Best bet would be to call Carnival and ask.  

 

I personally would also recommend getting a passport.  If you ever have an issue while onboard, a birth certificate alone won't get you back into the US.

[sparks1093]

It's a US territory so an official birth certificate issued by Guam should work. Doubtful anything issued by the hospital would work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[south-carolinagirl]

I was born in England many moon ago, father was in US Air Force.  My birth certificate is a consular proof of birth issued by State Dept and Carnival accepts mine.  

[Saint Greg]

She's a US citizen by being born in Guam so it shouldn't be a problem. If she wants to remove all doubt, a passport would do that. I don't know how difficult it is to replace a BC from Guam if something were to happen to it.

[Purvis1231]

Guam is a US territory and people born there are US citizens. Carnival FAQ indicate birth certificates from Puerto Rico prior to 2010 may not be accepted  but no mention of Guam. 

[sparks1093]

11 hours ago, Purvis1231 said:

Guam is a US territory and people born there are US citizens. Carnival FAQ indicate birth certificates from Puerto Rico prior to 2010 may not be accepted  but no mention of Guam. 

They aren't accepted because of PR law, which invalidated all birth certificates issued prior to a certain date because of rampant fraud. I've never read of a similar issue with other US territories.

[sparks1093]

13 hours ago, DramaQueen22 said:

No one here is going to be able to give you a definitive answer.  Best bet would be to call Carnival and ask.  

 

I personally would also recommend getting a passport.  If you ever have an issue while onboard, a birth certificate alone won't get you back into the US.

Except that there are provisions in the DHS regulations that allow for the waiver of the passport requirement for emergencies and for humanitarian reasons. The government isn't going to let millions of its citizens leave the country without have procedures in place to get them home if something happens. 

[sparks1093]

12 hours ago, south-carolinagirl said:

I was born in England many moon ago, father was in US Air Force.  My birth certificate is a consular proof of birth issued by State Dept and Carnival accepts mine.  

Yes, your citizenship was conferred because of your father being a citizen, whereas someone born on Guam gets their citizenship from being born in a US territory, just like being born in a state. DW received her citizenship by naturalizing and used her naturalization certificate to cruise with the first few times. (I will note that both the CRBA and NC cost money to replace, so having a more durable form of citizenship proof might be prudent. When I found out that it cost $350 to replace a naturalization certificate we got our EDLs.)

[satxdiver]

People born in Guam are US citizens, can move to the mainland (US states/DC) and register to vote as soon as they declare their address in one of the states or DC.  Best answer is to get a passport recognized by all nations on the earth.  

[kdunn6]

Do you think she will need to bring her marriage license?

[BroadwayGirl]

13 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

Except that there are provisions in the DHS regulations that allow for the waiver of the passport requirement for emergencies and for humanitarian reasons. The government isn't going to let millions of its citizens leave the country without have procedures in place to get them home if something happens. 

Yes, procedures are in place but they are not the easiest and are a real pita for the embassies abroad and the citizen trying to get back. And it's not an instantaneous process.  I know someone who is the lucky person to answer those calls when someone is stuck and needs documentation to fly home.  They would tell anyone who's leaving the country for any reason to trust them and get the darn passport as they've heard and seen it all.  Oh and don't lose it abroad either...that was fun for one of our friends to get one reissued to fly home. 

[satxdiver]

Just remember that an emergency on your part does not make one on the US Embassy.  US Embassy and Consulates are closed on US federal holidays and on that country's holidays.  In order to get you credentials to get back in the country, they have to get permission from the State Department in Washington DC.  They don't act fast!

[kdunn6]

55 minutes ago, satxdiver said:

Just remember that an emergency on your part does not make one on the US Embassy.  US Embassy and Consulates are closed on US federal holidays and on that country's holidays.  In order to get you credentials to get back in the country, they have to get permission from the State Department in Washington DC.  They don't act fast!

We leave next Saturday , there was no time for her to get a passport.The3 cruise is a last minute trip. Thank you for all your info.

 

[sparks1093]

9 hours ago, BroadwayGirl said:

Yes, procedures are in place but they are not the easiest and are a real pita for the embassies abroad and the citizen trying to get back. And it's not an instantaneous process.  I know someone who is the lucky person to answer those calls when someone is stuck and needs documentation to fly home.  They would tell anyone who's leaving the country for any reason to trust them and get the darn passport as they've heard and seen it all.  Oh and don't lose it abroad either...that was fun for one of our friends to get one reissued to fly home. 

In instances that I've read about the passengers aren't the ones making the call. The cruise line port agent notifies the authorities and they issue the authorization for the passenger to fly home on the first direct flight to the US. When the passenger lands they are sent to secondary inspection where they are cleared to continue their journey. The one drawback to all of this is that if one were to miss the ship then their cruise would be over since they would not be able to fly to the next port. Yes, everyone that works in the business recommends a passport, it does make their job easier but to me that is a poor reason for me to spend my money. People have a choice when it comes to travel documentation for closed loop cruises and as long as they are comfortable assuming the small risk involved that's all that matters.

[sparks1093]

9 hours ago, satxdiver said:

Just remember that an emergency on your part does not make one on the US Embassy.  US Embassy and Consulates are closed on US federal holidays and on that country's holidays.  In order to get you credentials to get back in the country, they have to get permission from the State Department in Washington DC.  They don't act fast!

There is a bit of delay while things are worked out but the delay is typically measured in hours from what I've read. There are people on duty all of the time that handle this type of thing and as I said in my last post the arrangements are made between the cruise line port agent and the authorities. 

[sparks1093]

10 hours ago, kdunn6 said:

Do you think she will need to bring her marriage license?

If her last name is different on the drivers license then it is on the birth certificate then it is recommended. Some people do get asked to show it but I've never heard of anyone being denied boarding for not having it. 

8 hours ago, kdunn6 said:

We leave next Saturday , there was no time for her to get a passport.The3 cruise is a last minute trip. Thank you for all your info.

 

Bon voyage!

[Ferry_Watcher]

@sparks1093, you were doing yeoman's work on this thread my friend!

[sparks1093]

Just now, Ferry_Watcher said:

@sparks1093, you were doing yeoman's work on this thread my friend!

I'm not one to let all of that research go to waste.🙂

[Ferry_Watcher]

1 minute ago, sparks1093 said:

I'm not one to let all of that research go to waste.🙂

Love it!  ;  )

[BroadwayGirl]

4 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

In instances that I've read about the passengers aren't the ones making the call. The cruise line port agent notifies the authorities and they issue the authorization for the passenger to fly home on the first direct flight to the US. When the passenger lands they are sent to secondary inspection where they are cleared to continue their journey. The one drawback to all of this is that if one were to miss the ship then their cruise would be over since they would not be able to fly to the next port. Yes, everyone that works in the business recommends a passport, it does make their job easier but to me that is a poor reason for me to spend my money. People have a choice when it comes to travel documentation for closed loop cruises and as long as they are comfortable assuming the small risk involved that's all that matters.

Yes it does make their job easier and I respect your opinion....but that wasn't my only reason.  I was also saying they have seen and heard so many different situations that make things difficult to get the authorization or a reissued passport. And it makes it easier on you the traveler.   My opinion is if you can afford to cruise every year, you can spend the 20 bucks a year for 10 years to get the passport.  It's just like insurance, you can choose to spend some money for peace of mind or not. For both, you don't need it, until you need it.....

[sparks1093]

1 hour ago, BroadwayGirl said:

Yes it does make their job easier and I respect your opinion....but that wasn't my only reason.  I was also saying they have seen and heard so many different situations that make things difficult to get the authorization or a reissued passport. And it makes it easier on you the traveler.   My opinion is if you can afford to cruise every year, you can spend the 20 bucks a year for 10 years to get the passport.  It's just like insurance, you can choose to spend some money for peace of mind or not. For both, you don't need it, until you need it.....

Yes, they see a lot of situations but it must remembered that these situations represent a small percentage of cruisers, especially those on closed loop cruises. You can do all of the math tricks you want to, but the fact is passports costs are due and payable up front, they can't be paid over the course of their validity. 

 

When my family started cruising it would have cost around $850 for passports for the 7 of us for a 4 day cruise that cost around $1800. I didn't even get to affordability in the decision making process. DW and I both knew that we wanted to travel internationally by air one day and decided to wait to get passports until that day came. We started cruising in 2009 and our first international air trip was in 2015 and that is when we got our passports. If we had gotten them when we first started cruising they would have been over halfway to expiration before we used them for a trip that we actually needed them for. That, to me, would have been wasteful. Every traveler's travel needs are different and many of them have choices that they can make for travel documentation. The passport is of course king, but some travelers can get by with a queen or a jack. I personally don't need to spend extra money for peace of mind, but again, everyone is different. Cruising with something other than a passport is a viable option for some and what you decide to do doesn't affect them just as what they decide to do doesn't affect you.