As American citizens, do we need passports to visit Aruba?

Yes you do as of April 1st

Jim,

Go to the Aruba.com home page. Go to "Select A Topic" and click on General Information. Go to "Select A Category" and click on Entry Requirements. That way you will not be misinformed.

We go to Aruba every year and have always used original (raised seal) birth certificates. We go as far as bringing our marriage certificate showing my maiden name which is on my birth certificate and married name which is on my license.

Susan - where did you get that information as we just got back and were told by an American Immigration Officer that there were no plans to require passports in the near future?

Go to the links I described above. That is the official Aruban position on documents required for entry. I'm sure if a passport for United States citizens were going to be a requirement starting April 1st it would be noted.

A birth certificate (government-issued with raised seal) and a photo ID is fine for entry. A passport is preferred, but not required, for US and Canadian residents. I had emailed the Aruba Tourism Authority just to make sure there were no plans on changing their entry requirements - as of this point there are not.

THE TRAVEL AGENT STATED THAT AS OF 4/1/05 PASSPORTS WHERE NEEDED

Susan,

You may want to consider changing to a more knowledgable agent.

Actually, we were told as of October 2004, we should get passports, as this would happen any day. So, it is certainly coming, and you may as well get your passports ready. Delta Airlines has been saying it is a requirement already, and it is just a matter of time. The rules are changing, we have gone to Aruba for years with just birth certificates, I know, but with all the security changes, thats to be expected. So just prepare yourself. Its not that big of a deal, and a passport is good for 10 years. So, get ready, its definitely coming, we called some government offices from Aruba, etc, and they dont know when, but they said yes!! M. Oring