Travel Tips

Passport & visas

Document requirements for travellers

An Air Canada flight arriving at YYJ Victoria International Airport in Victoria, BC

Travelling by air

If you are travelling by air between the United States and Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean and Bermuda, you must present a valid passport.

Read More on Air Travel to and from the United States.

Air Travel from the United States

Passengers take in the view while sailing on Black Ball Ferry Lines' MV Coho

Travelling by land or sea

If you are travelling by land or sea (including cruises and ferries) between the United States and Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean and Bermuda, and you are a U.S. or Canadian citizen age 19 and older, you must present a passport or other approved secure document denoting citizenship and identity for all land and sea travel into the United States (effective June 1, 2009).

Enhanced Driver's Licences (EDLs) have been formally identified as acceptable documentation requirements for land and sea crossings. If you are a U.S. citizen and a Washington State resident, you are eligible to purchase an Enhanced Driver Licence (EDL), which will meet the requirements for proof of citizenship to re-enter the U.S. from Canada and Mexico by land or sea. Further information for Washington residents is available at the Department of Licensing website.

If you are a Canadian citizen and a British Columbia resident, further information on Canada's first Enhanced Driver's Licence for British Columbia residents is available on the ICBC website.

Read More on Land and Sea Travel from the United States.

Washington Department of Licensing Land & Sea travel from the United States

More information on international travel to Victoria, BC

A woman in a pink top and a man in a blue sweater walk behind a flower bed filled with yellow flowers on the lower causeway of the Inner Harbour in Victoria, BC

Visa requirements

Find out if you need a visa to enter Canada, and if you do, find more information on applying for a visa to enter Canada.

Visit Canada Visitor Visa

A mother and father walk hand-in-hand with their two young children down a path at The Butchart Gardens, a National Historic Site of Canada, in Victoria, BC

Travelling with minors

Travelling with children under the age of 18? Find more information for what you need to bring.

Travelling with children and minors

A couple disembarks a Harbour Air Seaplanes flight on a dock in Victoria's Inner Harbour

Traveller program cards

Trusted traveller program cards will continue to be accepted for cross-border travel. For more information on NEXUS, FAST, or CANPASS, visit the links below.

NEXUS - Canadian residents NEXUS - U.S. residents FAST - For commercial truck drivers only CANPASS - For private and corporate aircraft

A family sits atop PKOLS (formerly Mount Douglas) regional park, after a hike, in Victoria, BC

Passports

You need a valid passport or enhanced driver's license (Washington State only) to enter Canada. Find information here on how to apply for your passport.

Canadian citizens U.S. citizens Canada Border Services Agency U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Download Victoria's Vacation Guide

Download PDF The cover of the 2026 Destination Greater Victoria Vacation Guide depicts a woman wearing a red life jacket and paddling a blue kayak looks back at her partner who is taking a photo of her.

The cover of the 2026 Destination Greater Victoria Vacation Guide depicts a woman wearing a red life jacket and paddling a blue kayak looks back at her partner who is taking a photo of her.

Navigate our map of Greater Victoria

Download PDF A map of Greater Victoria.

Destination Greater Victoria is honoured to be based on the traditional territory of the Lekwungen-speaking peoples of the Songhees Nation and Xwsepsum Nation, whose historical relationships with the land continue to this day.