What are the places I can go to without AP?

[Shub 78]

My fiancée and I are kinda pre-planning our honeymoon and the issue was raised last night that I'm essentially not allowed to travel outside of the USA before getting AP. I will be getting AP, but of course I cannot get that anytime soon so that we can have a nice honeymoon after getting married.

So what I'm wondering is if there are any places I can go to without having problems, such as the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico or who knows what.

As far as I know, I can travel anywhere within the 48 continental states, Hawaii and Alaska, but nothing else. Is this correct?

I know the US mainland has beautiful spots we can honeymoon to, but we were thinking of a cruise around the Caribbean, which I expect will not be possible (am I right?).

[Dr_LHA 3]

Puerto Rico and the US Virgin islands would be OK I believe. Everywhere else in the Caribbean would involve leaving the USA, so a cruise would not work (as you would have to go through immigration on returning to "USA" part of the trip).

I highly recommend Hawai'i if you want to vist some islands (just got back from 10 days there myself), which you can travel to no problem without a passport even (although you are supposed to keep that on you until you have your Green Card).

[Shub 78]

Well, we like the Puerto Rico idea but obviously we can't afford to take the risk of leaving the US in any way... what official source could we contact to find out if Puerto Rico is really really ok?

[Dr_LHA 3]

Puerto Rico is part of the USA. As long as you fly straight there and back, you'll be fine. You don't even need to take a passport with you, if you have a drivers license.

[Shub 78]

Alright, thank you. We'll look into it. We're also looking at the Great Lakes or upstate NY by the St-Lawrence, we'll see what happens!