U.S. Territories that Dont Require a Passport By Nancy St.Francis Being a U.S. citizen has many benefits. Not only is there a vast continent with a practically limitless number of choices when it comes to climate and geography, the U.S. has acquired lands and territories throughout the world that any citizen can visit with nothing more than a driver’s license to gain entry. Even though several of these territories are located in far-away areas like the southern Pacific Ocean, an American will never need to bring a visa or passport, because for purposes of gaining entry every U.S. territory is treated as if they were one of the fifty states. What Exactly is a Territory Anyway? Ask anyone to name a U.S. territory or explain what a territory is and most likely you’ll get nothing but silence in return. It’s normal, really - most people don’t understand the concept of a territory and what it really is. Some may even wonder why we even have territories at all…. Further complicating an understanding of what a territory is are the different kinds of territories: some may be incorporated (meaning, they are under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Constitution) or others unincorporated, with only a signed agreement binding them to the U.S. Some U.S territories have representation in Congress, while others do not. So it’s easy to understand why people have so much trouble understanding a concept like a territory when the definition changes from one place to another. U.S. Territories You Can Visit Without a Passport There are a total of five U.S. territories, none of which require anything more than a visa or passport to gain entry. Chances are most people have already heard of or been to them already: U.S. Virgin Islands – This group of 81 islands and cays located in the Caribbean consists of the main islands of St. Croix, St. Thomas and St. John. The United States took possession of the Virgin Islands in 1917 after hundreds of years of Dutch rule, but it wasn’t until 1927 when Congress granted U.S. citizenship rights to Virgin Islands inhabitants. One of the oddities about this U.S. territory is that U.S. Virgin Islands residents cannot vote in U.S. presidential elections, but they send an elected representative to the U.S. House of Representatives. The Virgin Islands are a popular tourist destination for millions of Americans, and are just a short plane ride from the continental United States. They’re known for their beautiful beaches, turquoise blue water, and warm tropical climate year-round. Puerto Rico – Located two and a half hours southeast of Miami in the Caribbean, Puerto Rico is another unincorporated U.S. territory, including the main island of Puerto Rico and a number of smaller islands, the largest of which are Vieques, Culebra, and Mona. Settled by the Spanish in the 1500’s, Puerto Rico remained under Spanish control until 1898, when the U.S. invaded Puerto Rico during the Spanish-American War and acquired it under terms of the peace treaty. Puerto Rico residents gained citizenship in 1917 when Congress passed the Jones-Shafroth Act. Like the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico is classified as a marine tropical climate, with average temperatures in the 80s all year long. Puerto Rico has over 300 miles of gorgeous Caribbean coastline to enjoy, as well as numerous historical sites to visit and some of the best snorkeling and scuba diving in the Caribbean. It also offers thousands of restaurants and nightclubs for visitors to enjoy, including several casinos in San Juan. Guam – The largest island in the Micronesia island chain in the south Pacific, Guam’s strategic location propelled it to the forefront in World War II as the United States and Japan battled for control of the Pacific. On July 21, 1944 the United States fought and won the Battle of Guam, recapturing the island from a brutal Japanese military occupation. In 1950 Congress passed the Guam Organic Act of 1950, establishing Guam as an unincorporated, organized territory of the United States. To this day the U.S. has several bases it operates in Guam, including: the U.S. Naval Base and Coast Guard Sector, Andersen Air Force Base, the Naval Computer and Telecommunications Station, and the Joint Force Headquarters. Although on the opposite side of the globe and the other side of the equator, Guam enjoys the same marine tropical climate as Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, with average annual temperatures around 86 degrees. Guam’s distant location may be one of the reasons it’s not considered a popular destination for U.S. tourists, but it still gets many visitors from Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and the Philippines each year, who come to enjoy Guam’s world-renowned public golf courses. American Samoa – American Samoa is a small archipelago of islands in the South Pacific that occupies only 76 square miles of land. Five of its main islands are volcanic, with rugged peaks, narrow coastal plains and fringing coral reefs that are great for snorkeling and scuba diving. American Samoa was partitioned into halves by the U.S. and Germany in 1899, and remains divided today. The U.S. built a naval station on the eastern half of the island in the early 1900s, still operating today as a Coast Guard station. In 1949 Congress attempted to pass an Organic Act similar to the one for Guam, but it was defeated. To this day, American Samoa remains an unincorporated and unorganized territory of the United States. Although American Samoa enjoys a marine temperate climate and beautiful tropical beaches, it has never been well known as a popular tourist destination. The local government is trying to change that however, by advertising it as a peaceful Polynesian paradise. Northern Mariana Islands –The Mariana Islands consist of fifteen islands in the western Pacific Ocean, located about three-quarters of the way between Hawaii and the Philippines. Although it enjoys a tropical marine climate and geography, the Marianas sit atop the edge of the Pacific Plate and the most volcanically active plate boundary on the planet. As a result, the Mariana Islands experience a significant number of strong earthquakes and tsunamis on a fairly frequent basis. This may explain why the Mariana Islands tourism numbers have dropped so significantly since 2005. The Northern Mariana Islands is one of two commonwealths belonging to the United States (the other being Puerto Rico), acquired as part of the United Nations plan for governing Japanese-held territories after World War II. In 1975 the residents of the Mariana Islands voted to form a political union (commonwealth) with the United States. Like the Virgin Islands, Mariana Islands citizens cannot vote in a presidential election, but have representation in the U.S. House of Representatives by a single delegate. With perhaps the exception of the volcanically active Mariana Islands, these five U.S. territories offer Americans a rare opportunity to enjoy a tropical vacation paradise with no more than a driver’s license to gain entry. Who can argue with that?
Posted on: Fri, 16 May 2014 00:50:40 +0000
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