Know Your Rights While Traveling: What You Need to Know
Understanding your rights while traveling is essential to staying safe and protecting yourself. This blog offers important information to help you respond confidently in any situation. This is not legal advice — for legal advice, we recommend talking to a lawyer — but we want to share some needed tips.
WHAT CAN THEY ASK YOU WHEN CROSSING THE BORDER?
Only answer questions about your identity, your time abroad, and any customs-related questions. For example:
Full name
How long were you outside the U.S.
Purpose of your trip
Who you are traveling with
Goods being transported
Officers cannot single you out for questioning based on religion, race, national origin, gender, ethnicity, or political beliefs. If you suspect that is the case, you can ask to speak to a supervisor.
Authorized Permanent Residents
Can you be denied entry when returning to the U.S.? Yes, under the following circumstances:
If you have any pending criminal charges
If your documents have expired
If you have been outside the U.S. for more than 180 days
Not answering may cause delays or additional inspections for citizens and authorized residents. For visa holders or those with other visitor documents, it may result in being denied entry to the U.S.
What happens if you cannot enter the U.S. and are afraid to return to your country of origin?
If you are told that you cannot enter the U.S. and you fear being persecuted or tortured if sent back to your country of origin, you can inform the officer about your fear and request asylum. This may extend your detention, but it also means you will not be sent back to your country right away.
Do You Have to Give Your Password for Your Devices?
Customs agents have the authority to search and confiscate laptops, mobile phones, digital cameras, and other electronic devices when entering the U.S., without any suspicion of wrongdoing.
Whether you are a citizen or not, you should enter your password yourself instead of giving it to an agent. They may still demand that you share it. If you do share your password, it is likely it will end up in a government database, so change it as soon as you can and make sure not to use it for any other accounts.
Entry to the United States cannot be denied to citizens or authorized residents for refusing to provide passwords or unlock devices. For authorized residents, your residency card cannot be revoked without a hearing before an immigration judge. So do not hand over your card voluntarily.
REQUIRED DOCUMENTS FOR DOMESTIC TRAVEL
To travel within the United States: Starting May 7, 2025, a REAL ID will be required to board domestic flights within the U.S.
If you don’t have a real ID?
If you don't have a REAL ID, TSA accepts other valid forms of identification, such as:
Permanent Resident Card (Green Card)
Employment Authorization
Military ID
Identification from a Native American tribal association
U.S. Passport or U.S. Passport Card
Other documents issued by a federal government agency
If you are traveling with a minor:
(Make sure to bring the documents for each minor)
Birth certificate
U.S. passport
Notarized authorization letter (if the minor is not traveling with their parents)
TIPS!
Travel with as few data and electronic devices as possible.
Protect your electronic devices with strong, unique passwords and turn them off when crossing the border.
Store sensitive data in a secure cloud storage account and delete any sensitive data from your device.
Upload confidential photos from your camera to your password-protected laptop or to a cloud storage account.
Keep devices turned off. If you need to turn them on, make sure they are in airplane mode with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth disabled before crossing a checkpoint.
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