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Timatic states:

All nationals departing the USA will be required to hold a (valid) passport (booklet only, US Passport Card not accepted). Exempt are holders of:
- US Permanent Resident/Resident Alien Card (Form I-551);
- US Military ID Cards when traveling on official orders;
- US Merchant Mariner Card;
- NEXUS Card;
- US Travel Document:
- Refugee Travel Document (Form I-571); OR Permit to Re-Enter (Form I-327); - Emergency Travel Document (e.g. Consular Letter) issued by a Foreign Embassy or Consulate specifically for the purpose of travel to the bearers home country.

Given that the US does not have exit border control, who actually enforces this? The TSA checkpoint, the staff at the boarding gate, or both? (assuming you check in online with only hand baggage)?

The person in question does hold ID valid for the destination, but it's not any of the above listed documents, and she was robbed of her passport

Crazydre
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    I have often seen checks being done at the gate on international flights by the INS and customs; but these appear to be random. The ultimate responsibility lies with the passenger, and secondary with the airline who agree to board the passenger. This is (partly why) you have to supply API (Advanced Passenger Information). – Burhan Khalid Oct 31 '16 at 04:57
  • @BurhanKhalid what consequences does the passenger face for failing to comply? – phoog Oct 31 '16 at 05:03
  • Well assuming that they are not stopped from boarding by the airline? It depends on where they are going. Normally if you arrive at an international border and don't have a means to identify yourself; you are subject to detention and then (once your identity is determined) deportation and a possible ban. – Burhan Khalid Oct 31 '16 at 05:05
  • Who says the rule is strictly enforced? We have thousands and thousands of laws and regulations that aren't enforced by a uniformed agent strictly checking everyone 100%. There's no great big systemic check (though there can be random checks, and the TSA might catch you) to make sure you don't carry $10K in cash out of the country without declaring it or that you don't carry a Galaxy Note 7 on a plane or even that a Class I railroad doesn't operate a locomotive without an operative restroom for the engineer, yet these are all federal regulations. – Zach Lipton Oct 31 '16 at 06:08
  • If you don't have any ID, how do you plan to enter your destination? – JonathanReez Oct 31 '16 at 10:48
  • @JonathanReez The person in question has ID valid for the destination, but it's not an accepted departure document according to Timatic – Crazydre Oct 31 '16 at 10:49
  • Oh, I see, so the question is about flying to Europe with an EU ID card? Maybe edit that into your question to make it more clear. – JonathanReez Oct 31 '16 at 10:52
  • @JonathanReez The question concerns the same person as this one http://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/81729/documents-required-at-us-border-patrol-checkpoint – Crazydre Oct 31 '16 at 10:52
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    Would she be able to get an emergency travel document from the Finnish Consulate in Los Angeles? – Giorgio Oct 31 '16 at 14:11
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    @BurhanKhalid the question is about US requirement for departing passengers to carry a passport. If the destination country refuses entry, that is not a consequence of failing to comply with US law. As an example, consider a British citizen flying to Britain without a passport, but with proof of citizenship. Such a person would not be deported or refused entry. My bigger point, though, is that there is no negative consequence for a traveler (I assume there is one for the airline, but I don't know what it is or where it is specified). – phoog Oct 31 '16 at 14:39
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    I don't know where Timatic is getting this rule from. AFAIK there is only a law that US citizens have a US passport to leave the US. I am not aware of any regulation that non-citizens have to have a passport to leave, except perhaps for the purpose of providing the APIS information to the carrier when departing by air or sea. – user102008 Oct 31 '16 at 18:23
  • @user102008 there is information online that the WHTI requires all air passengers to have a compliant document both in and out. This may be overgeneralization of the actual requirements. For example, United: "U.S. law requires all customers, regardless of citizenship, age or destination, to hold a secure document to depart the United States by air (one-way or roundtrip itinerary)." https://www.united.com/web/en-US/content/travel/destination/international/passport.aspx. – phoog Nov 01 '16 at 14:51
  • @user102008 Then they link to https://www.cbp.gov/travel/us-citizens/whti-program-background/docs-air-travel which concerns only US citizens and nonimmigrants from Canada, Bermuda, and Mexico. I looked a bit for a relevant regulation but couldn't find anything other than regs concerning entry. – phoog Nov 01 '16 at 14:52
  • Related: http://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/79636/for-uk-usa-bound-flights-are-check-in-details-such-as-date-of-birth-or-passport – JonathanReez Nov 01 '16 at 16:15
  • Re-reading this now, I suspect that the requirement applies only to nationals of the US, which is reflected by the subject of the sentence being "all nationals...." – phoog Sep 04 '19 at 15:47
  • @phoog Nah, that's just IATA's US sources (some "program liaison" in the CBP, I was told by the TTP director who also engages with them) being terrible at expressing stuff. If it was only for US citizens it wouldn't list Green cards as valid substitutes – Crazydre Sep 04 '19 at 16:04
  • @Crazydre Perhaps. AFAICT, the WHTI regulations apply only to entry requirements. But see part 2 of the carrier guide (pdf), which is terribly unclear and could easily be the source of the text you quote. I cannot find any basis for this section in the CFR, but the info box at the top appears to be a poorly worded attempt to apply the requirements to flights to/from the northern hemisphere, misinterpreted as applying to all flights from the US. – phoog Sep 04 '19 at 16:48
  • @phoog IATA consults actual people within the CBP, and would never blindly copy a guidance. But yeah, the CBP sucks at communication, and has a lot of people (even in high departments) ignorant about entry requirements - including but not limited to a Canadian acquaintance being told on Amtrak from Montreal that her Ontario EDL was NOT valid for entry to the US – Crazydre Sep 04 '19 at 16:57
  • @Crazydre that guide was produced by actual people in CBP. I don't mean to suggest that the guide is the direct source of IATA's information but that the liason may have used the guide as a source. If not, the liaison and the guide probably have a common source. The bigger point is that CBP is very disorganized and routinely misinterprets and misapplies the law. The problem is that nobody is going to go to court to challenge CBP's assertion that they can't fly from the US to (e.g.) Germany with only an ID card. It's easier and less costly to get a new passport. – phoog Sep 04 '19 at 17:07
  • @user102008 in response to "I don't know where Timatic is getting this rule from": see the carrier guide linked in my earlier comment. This would obviously be the source of the United page I linked to earlier. This may be a case of "summary creep" similar to CBP's incorrect assertion that 8 USC 1304(e) requires all aliens to carry proof of immigration status. – phoog Sep 04 '19 at 17:22

2 Answers2

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Turns out it's mainly in order that the exit of nonimmigrant aliens can be recorded properly by the carrier. Airline staff are supposed to verify the travel document, though this is apparently not always done.

While officially, the only accepted ID by the TSA for non-North Americans/permanent residents is a passport even for domestic travel, the Website also says:

In the event you arrive at the airport without valid identification, because it is lost or at home, you may still be allowed to fly. The TSA officer may ask you to complete a form to include your name and current address, and may ask additional questions to confirm your identity. If your identity is confirmed, you will be allowed to enter the screening checkpoint. You may be subject to additional screening.

This is also what happened: the person in question had to fill out a form with some personal details, including her street address back home in Finland

At the boarding gate, the staff didn't care about anything but the boarding pass. This has also happened to me. When I flew JFK-ZRH on Delta, I had to show my passport, but not when flying LAX-ZRH on Swiss

Since the concerned person already had her passport number in the web check-in system, and she went on the flight, the exit from the US was also properly recorded (it appeared on the I-94 Website)

Crazydre
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    There's actually ~5 things going on here, not all related. – DTRT Nov 01 '16 at 16:05
  • Amazing! So it's technically possible for EU citizens to fly out of the US by just showing their ID card. – JonathanReez Nov 01 '16 at 16:18
  • Fwiw I've had my passport checked at the gate every time I've flown out of the US – Urbana Nov 01 '16 at 18:24
  • If your flight out of US is international, in almost every case the staff will check your passport at the gate (and ensure it matches the name on the ticket). Note that this almost never happens on domestic flights, and in theory you can fly on someone else's ticket IF you also got another boarding pass (or have a connecting flight with no checkpoint in between); with modern check-in systems you can even check in a bag :) – George Y. Nov 02 '16 at 02:19
  • @JonathanReez It varies. When I flew JFK-ZRH on Delta, I had to show my passport, but not when flying LAX-ZRH on Swiss – Crazydre Nov 02 '16 at 02:40
  • That LAX-ZRH was remiss on Swiss' side. I have flown out of the US more times than I want to count and I always needed to show passport. I have never tried showing another photo ID. Considering how easy it is to get hold of someone else's boarding pass, this was downright dangerous from Swiss... –  Nov 08 '16 at 20:11
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Airlines are subject to substantial fines for bringing in a passenger they should have known would be inadmissible. Thus they are going to verify that you have a passport, that it is not expired and that you have a visa for your destination if one is required. (And, yes, they do check. I've had an agent do an incomplete search and try to deny me boarding.)

In practice this means it's all but impossible to get on an international flight without a passport even though the US has no formal outgoing passport control.

Loren Pechtel
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    "Airlines are subject to substantial fines for bringing in a passenger they should have known would be inadmissible" You're missing the fact that the destination does not require a passport in this case – Crazydre Nov 02 '16 at 06:39