# Place of birth on Canadian passport



## Guest (Nov 8, 2011)

A word to those who might be interested (you know who you are):

You do have the right to ask for a Canadian passport that doesn't show place of birth. However, Passport Canada just informed me per an email query that in that case the "place of birth" header will still appear (in both languages) on your passport, with a big blank under it. Can you say "red flag?"

Better option, depending on where you were born and how well-versed in US and Canadian geography is the person inspecting your passport, is to opt for the name of the city/town where you were born only, with no state/province/country designation at all. This is also an option open to you from Passport Canada (and doesn't require a separate form, as does the no-place-of-birth option). It also isn't quite as much of a red flag. If a border guard asks "what country is that" you'd probably better tell the truth; if a banker asks, a politer form of "none of your d*** business" might be appropriate. Especially in Canada where we have Article 15 of the Charter.

Consider it anyway


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## Vangrrl (Aug 23, 2011)

LOL I'm glad you looked into it. 

I was born in San Francisco....there's one of those in Venezuela and Argentina! What are the chances I can get by on that?

I think if people want to travel to the US without drawing attention to citizenship, the enhanced drivers license seems to be the way to go.


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## Guest (Nov 8, 2011)

Vangrrl said:


> I was born in San Francisco.....


Lucky you! My absolute favourite city in the US (in fact the only one I ever feel even slightly comfortable in).:clap2:


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## Vangrrl (Aug 23, 2011)

Schubert said:


> Lucky you! My absolute favourite city in the US (in fact the only one I ever feel even slightly comfortable in).:clap2:


Probably why I don't share a lot of the anti-US sentiment around here - my parents went to Berkeley, and the Bay Area is the only part of the US I've really spent a lot of time in. Not really representative of the entire country is it?


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## Guest (Nov 8, 2011)

Vangrrl said:


> Probably why I don't share a lot of the anti-US sentiment around here - my parents went to Berkeley, and the Bay Area is the only part of the US I've really spent a lot of time in. Not really representative of the entire country is it?


No, sadly it isn't, and I don't just mean geographically. The social, cultural and just plain "people" climate there is quite special. I grew up in the Prairies and spent four years at Stanford, and boy did that open my eyes and widen my horizons! Once I could afford a car I spent one day every weekend in The City, just walking around with my mouth agape.


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## Peg (Sep 22, 2011)

And for those of us born in a US city that has the same name as a Canadian city it may not even be noticed!

I spent some of my teenage years in the Bay area


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## CanadianHoosier (Sep 10, 2011)

Thanx for the update. 

I think I will stand pat with my Cdn passport that shows I was born stateside.


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## Peg (Sep 22, 2011)

Peg said:


> And for those of us born in a US city that has the same name as a Canadian city it may not even be noticed!


Actually, my first Canadian passport erroneously listed me as born in Canada but the correct city name :canada:


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## Cafreeb12 (Oct 12, 2011)

Peg said:


> Actually, my first Canadian passport erroneously listed me as born in Canada but the correct city name :canada:


Lucky you! I may just let them put it on there, my birth city wouldn't be easily recognizable unless you think "Enid" is famous...lol. Not exactly like putting New York City on there is it? I have no doubt at some point I'll be questioned about such a thing but, what can they really do about it? I mean CAN they turn you away?


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## Guest (Nov 9, 2011)

Schubert said:


> A word to those who might be interested (you know who you are):
> 
> You do have the right to ask for a Canadian passport that doesn't show place of birth. However, Passport Canada just informed me per an email query that in that case the "place of birth" header will still appear (in both languages) on your passport, with a big blank under it. Can you say "red flag?"
> 
> ...


Exactly. I mentioned this in another post somewhere as well - I was born in a city that has a duplicate in Italy, and people routinely write my birth city as being in Italy. In some EU countries I have only been asked for the city name and nationality, so most of my official documents mention only this city and my nationality (ITA). 

Vangrrl - If you born in San Francisco you could try writing down the city and then adopting a Spanish-sounding name and affecting an accent if you want to claim that you were really, in fact, born in San Francisco, Argentina :tongue1:. Or you could probably just opt to have your passport say San Francisco without the USA suffix code for overseas travel and then just use an Enhanced Licence for travelling to the US, which as I understand does not mention birth place at all. I think very few people will react negatively to seeing San Francisco as your birth place since most people hold that city in a very positive light and are able to view it outside of the context of "USA". Just my thoughts.

By the way though, all of you should be really grateful for the EDL, because one thing that I absolutely do not like is that all EU driving licences list your country of birth on them with no mention of citizenship, so I would never use them as an ID (they're only accepted as such in the UK, but I would rather show my Italian ID Card at all times).

Have a look at Boris Johnson's account (the Mayor of London) of travelling to the US with his family back in 2006 and being denied entry for using a British passport which listed his place of birth as "New York": 

American Passport | Mayor Boris Johnson


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## Canuck_Sens (Nov 16, 2010)

Vangrrl said:


> LOL I'm glad you looked into it.
> 
> I was born in San Francisco....there's one of those in Venezuela and Argentina! What are the chances I can get by on that?
> 
> I think if people want to travel to the US without drawing attention to citizenship, the enhanced drivers license seems to be the way to go.


Canada and US share a great deal of information about their immigrants specially Canada. When I used to have my PR Card, that very same card was swiped in the US border or at the airport (if international hub). They knew absolutely everything about me.

Now that I have a passport, I do believe that the same data in the PR Card just goes into the passport. I really do not see a reason for someone not to share his/hers place of birth...they know, if they say they don't...they are testing you.


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## Guest (Nov 9, 2011)

Cafreeb12 said:


> my birth city wouldn't be easily recognizable unless you think "Enid" is famous...lol.


Actually it is, if you do crossword puzzles. 

BTW, hope your "day off" from the forum wasn't due to any relatives being injured due to the earthquake or tornadoes.


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## Cafreeb12 (Oct 12, 2011)

nobledreamer said:


> Actually it is, if you do crossword puzzles.
> 
> BTW, hope your "day off" from the forum wasn't due to any relatives being injured due to the earthquake or tornadoes.


My sis had some damage from the earthquake but, the tornadoes went a little northeast of them "just" by a little but, that's okay. Thanks for asking! I always follow the livestream for their weather when it gets bad there.


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## Guest (Nov 9, 2011)

Cafreeb12 said:


> My sis had some damage from the earthquake but, the tornadoes went a little northeast of them "just" by a little but, that's okay. Thanks for asking! I always follow the livestream for their weather when it gets bad there.


I always watch for Ohio too, since most my relatives are there.......I LOVE storms, am fascinated by them..tho I think it's no longer the record for the most in one day, I lived thru the Apr 3-4/74 outbreak......something like 150+ even coming up as far as Windsor.....I was listening to an orchestra rehearsel and suddenly noticed all this banging but none of the percussion folks were playing...we all ran outside and could see 3-4 storms with the funnel starting to come down, then go back up and so on.........an F4 in Cincy and F5 that destroyed Xenia....we pretty much spent the rest of the day/nite in the stairwells of our dorms.....even now, I watch for all the signs of a storm becoming more, they are not to be messed with...:focus:


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## Cafreeb12 (Oct 12, 2011)

nobledreamer said:


> I always watch for Ohio too, since most my relatives are there.......I LOVE storms, am fascinated by them..tho I think it's no longer the record for the most in one day, I lived thru the Apr 3-4/74 outbreak......something like 150+ even coming up as far as Windsor.....I was listening to an orchestra rehearsel and suddenly noticed all this banging but none of the percussion folks were playing...we all ran outside and could see 3-4 storms with the funnel starting to come down, then go back up and so on.........an F4 in Cincy and F5 that destroyed Xenia....we pretty much spent the rest of the day/nite in the stairwells of our dorms.....even now, I watch for all the signs of a storm becoming more, they are not to be messed with...:focus:


Another thing we have in common. I actually MISS the storms and am thankful when I'm visiting when we get a really good one as long as no one is hurt. The last two times I've been there we DID have tornadoes...for me it was fun.  I just grew up on them and that feeling right before the weather "turns" that way is not replicated anywhere else. Also the lightening is awe inspiring. OH, yes, I miss it! Guess I'm just a prairie Dorothy at heart. I can spot a wall cloud from miles away, learned it as a child thank god. I once had to get my Ontario neighbors to get inside when I saw a wall cloud coming. For about a second no one believed me then it hit...they joked about my weather "powers" for years after that. That outbreak you are talking about was in 99, it wiped Moore off the map. I'm not fond of those F4 or 5's ...nobody is.


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## Guest (Nov 10, 2011)

Cafreeb12 said:


> Another thing we have in common. I actually MISS the storms and am thankful when I'm visiting when we get a really good one as long as no one is hurt. The last two times I've been there we DID have tornadoes...for me it was fun.  I just grew up on them and that feeling right before the weather "turns" that way is not replicated anywhere else. Also the lightening is awe inspiring. OH, yes, I miss it! Guess I'm just a prairie Dorothy at heart. I can spot a wall cloud from miles away, learned it as a child thank god. I once had to get my Ontario neighbors to get inside when I saw a wall cloud coming. For about a second no one believed me then it hit...they joked about my weather "powers" for years after that. That outbreak you are talking about was in 99, it wiped Moore off the map. I'm not fond of those F4 or 5's ...nobody is.


Yes, my husband, neighbors and friends think I am nuts. However, we _have_ had tornadoes in the region (an F4 in Barrie in '85) and with all the changes in climate, etc, I would not be at all surprised to see stronger ones here in the future. Gosh, they've even started coming down in the middle of cities (Salt Lake, Miami, Nashville) - that was unheard of in years past. If I see a wall, or clouds I don't like, the basement is ready! 

I once saw funnels forming over Lake Ontario (we are on a hill) and phoned the emergency folks at City of Toronto because I wanted to know if there were sirens (didn't expect so but thought it was worth asking). The lady there said "Gee, I don't know" and went off to check. :confused2: 
She came back and said "no" and I asked her what people do here when the weather gets serious and she said to watch the weather station. 
I would never trust that, because I don't get the sense that people take it seriously nor know what to do. I always keep a watch on it myself. And yes, I remember Moore in '99 but I am referring to an entirely different outbreak (there are some really fantastic sites about it) 

Super Outbreak - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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