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Can a US citizen enter Canada by road and return to the US with just a US driver's license?

My uncle wants to drive to Vancouver, Canada, from Seattle, Washington. He forgot his US passport but has a valid US driver's license. Can he drive to Vancouver and back to the USA?

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  • Which state issued the drivers license? Is it an Enhanced Drivers License?
    – xngtng
    Commented Jun 15 at 20:47
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    Until 2009 it was possible to cross the US/Canada border with only a driver's license. We visited Windsor without passports in 2004.
    – bjmc
    Commented Jun 16 at 16:37
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    I drove through Canada in transit from Maine to Indiana in 1993 with only a US driver's license and a verbal statement that I had been born in the US. The Canadian border officer seemed slightly miffed but said nothing explicit. The US officer seemed slightly surprised but didn't hesitate to admit me. Obviously, things have changed considerably since then.
    – phoog
    Commented Jun 17 at 9:19

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A US drivers license is NOT sufficient for a US citizen to enter Canada, as it does not show citizenship. Whilst US Citizens can enter Canada without a Visa, citizens of most other countries - including people who are present in the US and have a US drivers license - can not, so the Canadian government requires you to be able to prove citizenship before entering.

The only documents that are valid for a US Citizen entering Canada over land are a Passport (book or card), a NEXUS/FAST card, or an Enhanced Drivers License. Enhanced Drivers Licenses are a special form of drivers licenses that are issued by a small number of states (or at least, used to be - I think most have stopped issuing them now) that does state your citizenship on it. It is extremely unlikely that your uncle has such a drivers license.

IF your uncle was able to enter Canada (which he will not be able to!), then he WOULD be able to re-enter the US using his drivers license. Or at least, with no documentation other than his drivers license. As a US Citizen he can not be denied entry to the US, even without proper documentation, such as passport. If he was to present himself at the US border the staff there would use other means to confirm his identity and citizenship, and once they confirmed he was a US citizen he would be allowed enter the US. This will take additional time, and is not a path that should be attempted except as a last resort - but it will work.

So no, your uncle can not travel to Vancouver.

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    Washington is one of the states that issues EDLs, so it's not impossible that uncle might have one. Though if he did, he'd probably already know that he could use it instead of a passport.
    – Nate Eldredge
    Commented Jun 16 at 2:29
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    According to Wikipedia article en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enhanced_driver%27s_license, 5 US states continue to issue EDL, but Canada is retiring theirs.
    – Dimitri Vulis
    Commented Jun 16 at 15:18
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    "The only documents that are valid for a US Citizen entering Canada over land are a Passport (book or card), a NEXUS/FAST card, or an Enhanced Drivers License." There is no rule that says a US citizen must have one of these documents to enter Canada.
    – user102008
    Commented Jun 16 at 23:30
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    @NateEldredge: "Though if he did, he'd probably already know that he could use it instead of a passport." An EDL is the only type of Washington state DL that can be used for airport security checkpoints once REAL ID enforcement starts in My 2025, so I would expect a large fraction of US citizens in Washington state to get EDLs, and many of them would just get it for air travel, and may not know that it can be used to cross the border.
    – user102008
    Commented Jun 16 at 23:32

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