r/uscanadaborder

My family and I are planning a trip to Canada this weekend by car, crossing at the Peace Bridge border.

My sister (19) is a US citizen as she was born here but we did not realize her passport has been expired for 2 years. My parents and I are permanent residents with all of our documents valid.

This isn’t our first trip and border officers have been very nice us to in the past, but we haven’t made this trip in 2 years. I see online that US citizens can enter Canada with a valid ID and birth certificate and they can’t be denied entry back into the US, but does it matter at all if the rest of people in the car aren’t citizens? My understanding is that we’d be okay as long as we can prove my sister’s citizenship but I am worried that even though we have all our documents, our status as noncitizens might prevent her from being able to get across the border.

American citizen with passport and license, license will expire while in Canada, but will renew it online and have it sent to my friends place where I’m staying. My hope is with him and there house as a homemade to go touring and camping around Canada for 6 months. (I’m hoping they will grant the six month visitor visa at the border). All of my expenses will be paid so food gas and anything else aswell as housing is covered.

Small car with fishing poles and packed up with camping supplies and essentials, dry food that’s canned (Mac n cheese, noodles, crackers. , clothes in suit cases, and maybe some electronics/ game systems.

I’ll have 4,000 usd in my pack account

And two Notorized notes from our county’s clerkship stating my permission to use the vehicle (it’s in my fathers name) and my intent to return to the United States aswell as ties there and that I have financial support if need be.

I plan to go to Alberta and BC but to stay with my friend as my main source of contact.

I am wondering if I will be held up at all.

Does anyone anticipate any problems at the border or tips for me to have a smoother crossing? Anything at all? I am 20 and this will be my first time doing anything like this after a 20 hour drive north to the border

I have heard I just need to have the visitor visa issued at the border and don’t know of anything else I need to do / should do in terms of documents before hand.

From Arkansas through Manitoba then drive left through Canada to BC.

I'm crossing the border soon to pick up my boyfriend from the Washington State Airport... I am of legal vaping age in BC, but the legal vaping age in Washington is 21. If I am only crossing for around 4-5 hours just to pick him up and bring him into BC, is it legal to carry my vape with me there and back since I'm a BC resident and it's legal there? Or is it a "my state my rules" type situation? Thanks!

Airline only gives the option to use passport information when booking the ticket so I’m wondering if Nexus is allowed to use when you presented at the port of entry? INDIAN origin OCI holder. Canadian permanent residency holder.

If a foreign citizen with Canadian permanent residency wants to enter the US at a port of entry such as Tampa Bay Florida Cruise terminal or cape Canaveral or Fort Lauderdale, Miami, etc. on a cruise from Mexico/Bahamas to America. can they be denied entry by CBP. and then what? like do they get placed into a holding cell at the port of entry and then kept overnight? Like it’s not an airport where they can fly back if they came by cruise ship.

my girlfriend is American, she was up in my city in the interior of bc from Washington for 6 months and we started dating. unfortunately, her time in canada was up and had to go home. its only a 6hr drive from me which isn't horrible, but obviously, the main problem is I have to cross a border.

ive gone down twice now, friday to Monday, every third week, on my days off. how sustainable is this?

I have a lease (though its now month to month), car loan, hydro bill, job in alberta and have no intention of moving to the United States at this time.

should I skip a set of days off every now and then or can I keep doing this so long as my work schedule allows it

Through various circumstances not of my own design I ended up falling for an American and we've been seeing each other for a few months now.

I'm aware of the laws and wish to respect them and my own personal career circumstances require me to remain in Canada for a couple years anyway. That being said I'd like to keep seeing her. So far what I've been doing is crossing over every other week or once a week for a couple days on the weekends.

But the job I'm training for in Canada is actually located very close to the US border. So my question is this can I extend the time I spend with her as a visitor in the US to about 3 days a week?

It would look something like this:

Cross over Friday Evening, spend the night.

Return to Canada Saturday Morning - do my work related training, come back to the US 3 hours later, spend the night.

Sunday - Repeat same as above.

Monday Morning - Return to Canada and stay in Canada until the following friday.

Would this cause a problem or raise any alarms? I have NEXUS and there will be some weeks where I probably won't cross because she will come see me in Canada.

Hi, how many giant buzzballs can I bring back legally in my checked bag?

Ive had a Colombian passport with USA tourists visa for 10 years which ive used many times.I recently became a Canadian citizen. Question is, should I still bring my Colombian passport with the visa stamp? Or am i okay just to present the new Canadian passport?

n the Canadian customs site, it says you get a CAN$800 personal exemption if you’ve been gone 48 hours or longer. My question is: is the limit of 50 cigars per person separate from that CAN$800 exemption, or does the cigar allowance have to fit within the CAN$800 total

My fiancée is an American Citizen and I am on an Open Work Permit in Canada. Once we get married can she apply for her Spousal Open Work Permit at the Port of Entry?

I am aware that US Citizens can apply for open work permits at the Border provided they have all the documents. Does anyone have any information on this issue?

question! As my parents don't have US visa and brother don't have Canada visa and he is coming to Niagara falls, USA and me and my parents are visiting Niagara falls, Canada. And they both want to meet on Rainbow bridge is it possible? can we walk in the middle without crossing respective borders?

(Some of y'all are getting cranky about me asking questions and expecting me to have my trip fully fleshed out NOW when it's not for many months, and all upset because I'm asking specifics when you give me broad terms or don't think about many other questions something you say can bring up. Also, many of you give some conflicting info. Some make it seem like I can have a normal fun vacation there like I'm hoping and some of y'all are making it out like I can't unless I'm some rich mogal and have to have everything super strictly planned and scheduled.

Downvote my questions and concerns all you want but it doesn't make your anger or crankiness valid to me or my situation.)

I want to note that this is my first trip out of the US and I'm trying to do something big for myself, for once, as I'm almost 40 and have always heavily focused others in my life and put myself last, so I am planning a big long trip to Canada by the end of the year.

So, I want to make a trip up to Canada, from the US (by vehicle) near the end of the year, for a few months.

I was wanting to bring a good many outfits with me and such, because I'd like to do fun TFP (both parties trade skills and no one is paid. It's a creative collab) stuff with any Canadian photographers along the way, when I have a major stop for a week or two.

My friend, who lives up there, told me to be careful about telling Canadian border patrol why I have so many outfits (other than me wanting to be up there for a couple months), since my answer involves collaborating with photographers and they could see it as 'work' and get petty and require me to get a work visa.

I wanna know what wording to use because it's not gonna be paid work. It's just creative collabs I'll be doing because I really enjoy it and so do the people on my page.

I'm also not a big content creator. I only have about 3k people following my page so it's not like it'd be for 'work' even though I'll be posting my photos for 'content'.

Is this something I'm going to have to worry about?

Has anyone been in a similar situation? Would love advice, even from content creators.

I'm also going to be bringing a few electronic items so I can do my digital art orders while I'm traveling. Even though my customers are mostly in the US and they're digital, as well as me having done them well before trying to cross, will they try and say that I need a work visa since I'd be bringing my co.puter and tablet setup for my hotel room?

I'll be in an SUV and the things I'll have packed into the back will pretty much all be clothes, some bathroom/makeup items in a large rolling makeup case, a couple of comfort/sensory items, a few art supplies/electronics, and some camping stuff to camp out the back of my SUV if I find a nice spot and it isn't too horribly cold by the time I can make my trip.

I know that it will likely seem like a lot to border patrol but, for 2-3 months and to be able to have some fun hobby stuff I love to do while there, since it's not like I'm gonna be doing tourist stuff constantly and will have plenty of down time.

Some of the time I intend to drive around and camp out the back of my SUV and such to save money, and some I will be staying somewhere for a bit, for a month at one location and anywhere from a week or two at whatever other place I'd like to stop that long, along the way. I'll at least be able to provide the month long stay place, on my itinerary, for border patrol if they need it. Cause it'll be my first stop.

I feel like it'll be reasonable, as long as I explain properly? Or do they expect you to bring barely anything even if you're gonna be road tripping for 2-3 months?

I'm also wondering if bringing a couple of extra things as surprise gifts for my friend up there, is gonna be an issue? Like my old desktop computer, cause his is dying and the main way we hang out is video games.

Should I not bring the desktop? Would it, with my clothes and such, look too weird to them? I really want him to have it if able but also don't want to ruin the surprise.

Any tips on wording or anything in general, so I can make my trip the way I'd like (or as close to it as I'd like) and get to have lots of fun for myself for once, would be great appreciated.

I want to make sure I get to make my trip because I worked so hard for it this year and have always worked so hard for others around me all my life. I just want to go up on my trip and live my best life while on it, taking beautiful photos all dressed up in fantasy looks, eating yummy new food, and getting to chill and play my games and do my art while I'm just chilling in my hotel in the evenings. 🖤

Thanks!

I have Canadian and Mexican citizenship. I met a woman online a few years ago and we've met up each other a few times. And were thinking about seeing what it's like living together to see if were compatible.

Im 30Yo M. I can operate some fork machines. I did some welding training but I have nearly no real experience.

Hi my GF is going to be coming to visit me in the US for 3 weeks in June. She is flying from Vancouver YVR to Newark EWR. It’s my understanding that she should preclear in Canada. She currently deals with mental health disabilities. Mainly DID and ADHD. She’s currently unemployed while she works on healing from her trauma. She definitely has ties to Canada. She depends on the free medical care she gets as well as her PWD income assistance she gets in Canada. Because of that she’s actually not allowed to be out of the country for more than 30 days so definitely has a reason to return plus medical appointments booked in July.

Financially I am covering most of the trip as I’m employed remotely but she has saved a little bit to cover some expenses. I’m disabled myself a physical disability plus severe anxiety I don’t receive any assistance myself since I have a completely remote job as a software engineer with a good income.

My anxiety is just getting to me and I need some help figuring out how to make this as smooth as possible minimize her chances of being denied.

What documents should she bring?
Her lease agreement?
Is showing her income that she receives a red flag since it is assistance?
She is trans HOWEVER she hasn’t updated her name or anything so she’s planning to come in as male she can because she’s not that far into her medical transition so we were just planning on not mentioning that because everything is completely in her dead name. We were hoping this would honestly be a good thing and would make it a non-issue going in as male rather than a trans woman who does not pass. Do I need to worry about it or will that actually help?

EDIT: I forgot to mention it, but her return flight is already booked

Hi All,

I am a Canadian permanent resident and will be moving to the USA on an H-1B visa. I will be traveling through the land border and would like to know whether I can take a one-way rented SUV from Toronto to Seattle.

If yes, which rental companies allow one-way cross-border car rentals, and which rental car companies provide or allow cross-border insurance coverage?

Do I need to inform the CRA and ServiceOntario about this temporary move?

I would like to avail Canadian citizenship in the future . Any other suggestions will be helpful apart from this.

Please note:
I moved to Canada in 2023 from the USA and will be going back to the USA on a h1b visa

Thank you in advance

So I had a 12 hr layover at yvr before taking the connecting flight to seattle. I was denied entry to the US preclearance due to my connecting flight would be the following day. The agent said it should be same day. Told me I can only stay at level 3 or get a hotel. Basically I had to go through canada customs immigration and get my luggage which were supposed to be checked thru to sea. Is this a new rule?

considering a role in montréal but live just over the border on the VT side. if we moved closer to montréal, my partner would have to do the cross-border commute (his job isn’t in QC)

he’s extremely nervous about the cross-border commute, daily. if you have NEXUS, i imagine it’s smoother? how often are you stuck waiting there? give me the run down of your commuting experience!

thanks so much :)

So I am writing this because I only ever see advice on people who qualify for the exemptions to duties/taxes. I am super anxious after this realization.

My husband became a PR (I am Canadian) in 2022 and we work a job that basically means we live an entirely nomadic lifestyle. When he got the PR we didnt have time to move because we were in between contracts. It has been like this since the PR was issued, in and out and going to do contracts abroad, knowing full well that at some point we will move his items over. Despite barely spending much time in Canada we maintain our tax residency there because its the only place that I technically have ties to and a place to stay and I dont have status in the US where hes from. What I didnt know is that we were supposed to file a goods to follow form and I had no idea. We massively screwed up with this one.

So while I would have loved to try and have my husband bring his items as a settler or returning resident, I dont want it to stir up issues with the CRA and our registered investment accounts.. so it looks like we will have to pay taxes on all his old and used belongings.

For doing this, what is a way to not piss off the agents? we will literally be moving with a whole 15ft uhaul truck full of his stuff and I just want to do everything super correct and by the books. Does anyone have general advice for this situation? The best way we can go about dealing with this very expensive mistake we made?

Hello.

~15 years ago I received a conditional discharge for a shoplifting charge. After the conditions were met and the 3 year waiting period was over I drove to the US. I talked to the border agent and showed him my court documents/police record. I don’t remember exactly how much he looked at the documents, I recall it being a pretty quick process. I told him I should apply under the petty offence exception. (I remember him saying I shouldn’t be doing his job for him and I said I was just being prepared haha)

Petty Offence Exception

1. Only one conviction CIMT (just 1)
2. Jail less than 6m (no jail)
3. Max jail less than 1y (6m at the time)

Regarding #3. At the time the max sentence for the summary conviction for theft under 5000 was 6 months. I have recently found out that it is now 2 years. Meaning now I should not apply.

My question is, does it matter what the maximum charge is now or when it occurred? If I continue to carry the printout I made ~12 years ago showing the maximum as 6 months, will they accept that still? Has anyone else been in the same situation?

I have crossed 6 times since this all happened and no one has ever brought anything up. I carry all those documents with me each time just in case .