How to prove Canadian residency at the border

and desire to ask again "are you going to stay 6 months like before".

I don't know how US border folks would have in front of them how long you stayed before. You don't check out with them when you leave.

I agree with the plan to "not tell any lies, but offer up no more information than necessary". To the officials at entry, my plans would always be "not sure yet, maybe a month or so".

Telling border agents "we intend to tour throughout the U.S." followed with an answer of how long do you intend to stay with "oh probably four or more months" would be a very, very wrong answer. People might not have any definite plans, but everybody has some camp in mind for the first night at least. Telling that you are going to this - or any other camp that you might stop at later - would not be a lie, and would less likely cause the question "for how long". They would of course have a record that you've spent last few winters in the US, but it doesn't mean they will check this record or have a time and desire to ask again "are you going to stay 6 months like before".

Provide as little info as possible, but be prepared to show that you do reside in Canada.

My opinion would be this:

Your priority must be to avoid the "possibility" of being rejected.

Should that happen, you are then faced with a whole new set of stressors to face when arriving at that U.S. kiosk the next time you attempt to cross as your prior refusal will factor greatly.

RV'ers, especially fulltimers, are of special consideration for border agents. You are demonstrating that you have no ties by merely being fulltimers and your ability to fudge the system is less problematic for you.

When arriving at the border the likely questions will begin with your destination and should you offer up the "we intend to tour throughout the U.S." followed with an answer of how long do you intend to stay with "oh probably four or more months". GUESS WHATS COMING NEXT?

Maintaining records to establish the "closer connection" is your goal and this should include everything from current income tax forms/receipts, IRS form 8840 (important), to ANY type of utility or maintenance receipts be they license or tag renewals, prescriptions for medications, on going payments for purely Canadian services, to your optional 'out of country' health insurance forms.

The desire to mainatain confidentiality in all things must be weighed very carefully against your desire to enter a foreign country while carrying the suspicion with you that you could be intending never to exit.

How important to your life style choice is the ability to tour the U.S.? Weigh this against the baring your soul and sharing all of your financial dealings with some faceless entity in a kiosk.

Sounds like you need to carry credit card statements with purchases in Canada over your periods in Canada highlighted. You probably don't have anything else to prove residency.

I thought this was an RV myth until some close friends of ours got a really hard time at the border last winter. We're going to carry our municipal tax bills and other Canadian bills from now on. We'll add them to the envelope with cats' vaccination certificates and RV weigh slips.

I have never been asked by the US for how long I am going or to show any proof of my Canadian residential ties. But the could, of course. Normally, DL is the proof enough. It is an offense not to change the address on DL and on vehicle papers when you change your physical address permanently - it has to be changed within 2 weeks. You may also keep the copy of your tax papers with the same address.

It is Canadian medical plan and GIS social pension that you should worry about. Your annual absence should not exceed 7 months for medical plan, and uninterrupted absence should not exceed 6 months for GIS. Additionally - and they do check this from time to time - you have to satisfy CRA that you have "significant residential ties to Canada", check their Circular SS-F1-C1, par. 1.10-1.17.

As you will see, it's not just a matter of renting a mailbox in Canada. Things like mailbox or safety deposit box CRA considers to be "of limited importance" in determining your residency status - see par. 1.15 in the above Circular.

rvingprincess wrote:
The problem is we won't have tax bills/mortgage papers as we are selling the house, and we won't have any lease papers, hydro bills etc. because it will all be in our daughters name. We will be changing our address on everything to my daughters place for all the stuff like income tax, insurance, drivers license etc. I just hope it will be enough.

Why not change your daughters utility bills into your name. That would at least give you a utility bill which seems to carry a lot of weight together with your Tax assessment documentation, drivers licence and insurance.

Keep your driver's licence-plate renewal form with you,it'll have your home address on it.

rvingprincess wrote:
The problem is we won't have tax bills/mortgage papers as we are selling the house, and we won't have any lease papers, hydro bills etc. because it will all be in our daughters name. We will be changing our address on everything to my daughters place for all the stuff like income tax, insurance, drivers license etc. I just hope it will be enough.

Eh, no phone-bill? no sat-tv bill? no taxes on the vehicles? nothing? Except you said you are having the federal income tax statements sent to your daughter. Obviously there is not "nothing"

Rent some things, get a private mail-box, get a safety deposit box, you do have to demonstrate a strong connection to Canada, the US "ICE" folk to do not have to let you in. If there is any doubt you will be returning, they will not let you in.

The problem is we won't have tax bills/mortgage papers as we are selling the house, and we won't have any lease papers, hydro bills etc. because it will all be in our daughters name. We will be changing our address on everything to my daughters place for all the stuff like income tax, insurance, drivers license etc. I just hope it will be enough.

michelb wrote:
The OP is correct to have some concerns. If you can't show proof of Canadian Residency, you can be denied entry in the US. I can't imagine you'd have any issues with the place being a one bedroom apartment but you do want your DL, insurance, etc all using that address. Unless you really look suspicious (in which case they could just refuse entry because they felt like it anyway so it's a moot point), I don't think they would (or even could) check what kind of place it is.

X2; you most DEFINITELY need to be able to prove a closer connection to Canada than the US. From experience and advice from the US customs supervisor always be prepared to show documentation such as copies of Property Tax Bill, Utility Bill, Telephone bill, Income Tax Notice Of Assessment, property insurance. The Canadian Passport has NO relevance to them when they want you to show them your closer connection to Canada. We ALWAYS carry these documents with us in an envelope and update the envelope once a year with current information. You never want to get into a situation where entry is denied because then the fun really begins.