Border Crossing Question

Hat off, sun glasses off and straight brief answers to their questions. Had the refer checked a few times and the US took the tomatoes and green onions one year.

Only real delay was going into Victoria on the ferry. I in the MH was waved through while DW in the car was questioned for 30 minutes. She had no luggage, no hotel reservations and no destination - never mind that she kept telling them the car was towed by the MH that they just let go through. Maybe it was a 30 minute Canadian training video. :B We got a good laugh over that incident. Canadians are some of the nicest people we've ever met.

One very common exception: If you have anything to do with law enforcement expect to go through extensive questions by the Canadians if not a search.

And after swiping your passport if not before from the license plate they know a lot more about you then you think.

We cross the border a LOT year round. We are minutes from the border and is easy for us. We got NEXUS cards 4 or so years ago. Best thing ever. You not only get through waaay faster, because you are pre-screened for security concerns, you don't get harassed. You are held to a higher standard and YOU are expected to be up to date on all the regulations. It's a fairly easy process to get NEXUS and it's also good at airports and cruise ship terminals and can be used at non-NEXUS crossings. Have only been pulled over once (had our TT too) and it was on a random computer generated basis.

A NEXUS card is highly recommended.

Some basic things to know that we've learned: Never volunteer info. and just answer the questions as asked. Maintain eye contact and don't make jokes. Don't take fruit, vegetables, meat or dairy products across the border unless you are 100 percent on top of the latest rules - we always buy it after crossing. Don't take dog food across in unopened packages and make sure it is on their approved list.

The US CBP border guards are just plain mean & nasty if you get pulled over - expect to feel like you are about to be shipped off to Guantanamo Bay... :E When I got pulled over with our TT, the mean & nasty CBP dude inside asked me where I was going and I pointed to our TT outside and said "going camping". He replies, NO, you are not! Then he says "camping is when you pitch a tent on the ground". Trying not to appear rattled, I revise my answer "we are taking our RV to an RV park in Birch Bay". He accepts that and moves onto the next question.

Coming back into Canada is always a breeze and have never been pulled over or harassed. They never ask what we have for food. If returning with purchases from the US, we have all of our receipts in hand for them to see along with totals. I've only been asked once to pass them over to the officer to look at.

My pet peeve with the border crossings is with the duty free store locations. Many people drive past long lineups into the duty free stores and buy something just to be able to cut back into the lines way ahead of everyone else. It can be really annoying, esp. on busy long weekends.

The good news is that once you're into the US, it's a great country full of great people. We camp exclusively in the US and do nearly 60 nights each year and love every minute of it.

Had a Canadian officer spend over 30 minutes going through the 5er.

I'd sure like to know what she did in that time because the basement got a quick look then the rest of the time she was inside, slides in, where you cannot access any of the drawers, the big washer drier/pantry cupboard or get to the fwd closet.

The only areas accessible are one side of the fridge, the shower & the head. We figure she laid off on the bed & had a 1/2 hour nap.

I crossed at Sweetgrass, MT. on my way to Alaska. I had the full passport with me. The guard asked me if I'd ever been fingerprinted and I said "Maybe when I joined the Navy, but I don't remember". He waved me on through, after returning my passport - with my fingerprints in it. He must have thought I was too stupid to be a smuggler. :)

Hi,

I had gone just over the board to buy fuel as it was 15 cents a liter cheaper. The Canadian border guy said "I didn't see you cross". And I said that I had done so.

My wife's clothes were in the back of the RV and a cheap tripod with no camera. When he did his search he asked me where the camera was. I said it was for binoculars--which was the truth.

He then thought I was creating porn in the RV and that's when the fun started. He had me there for 2.5 hours. He found nothing and then asked me if I had been to any porn sites. I said I do not know as I am not the only user of this computer. It was not at all fun. He also forgot to give me back my passport--so I had to turn around and go and retrieve it.

There were nice clothes in the RV as we were on our way to a funeral.

fulltimecanada wrote:

pianotuna wrote:
Mostly quick and painless. US customs will want to enter and will look in the fridge and possibly the cupboards.

I've had one brush with Canadian customs checking my hard drive and taking their time.

I've had one brush with US customs where they were considering removing the tires on my RV.

Turn your cell phone off. If you must use it for some reason, then ask permission before you do so.

Did they say that what they were looking for on your hard drive? I'm likely going to be traveling with a hard drive that has a bunch of movies I ripped from my personal collection of dvd's/blu rays and wonder if they'd ever give me a hard time about something like that assuming that they might be pirated? I cant assume that's something border security care about though.

fulltimecanada wrote:

pianotuna wrote:
Mostly quick and painless. US customs will want to enter and will look in the fridge and possibly the cupboards.

I've had one brush with Canadian customs checking my hard drive and taking their time.

I've had one brush with US customs where they were considering removing the tires on my RV.

Turn your cell phone off. If you must use it for some reason, then ask permission before you do so.

Did they say that what they were looking for on your hard drive? I'm likely going to be traveling with a hard drive that has a bunch of movies I ripped from my personal collection of dvd's/blu rays and wonder if they'd ever give me a hard time about something like that assuming that they might be pirated? I cant assume that's something border security care about though.

I'll deal with the computer question first. Clean off you computer hard drive. Keep what is there basic and easy to locate. This area is new enough to be lacking in precedents and the border guards are more apt to question or keep the computer if they can't clear the 'machine' easily.

Now, on to others. Border guards will question if its the time of the day to 'be very thorough'. I have two Chesapeake Bay Retrievers are friendly beauties, though hunting dogs. Having papers covering all the bases kept a Skagway border guard from pushing his rudeness in that direction.

Instead he took the info on my passport saying 'born in North Carolina' to push me on being an 'expatriate' "in our definition". I just kept saying, I am Canadian, not even expanding that one to say my father grew up in Canada and that I'm 7th generation Canadian from the Battle of the Plains of Abraham on. I didn't give him details to pick on. It was some contrast from East Coast border guards who would have guessed right off that I have ancestors who've birthed on both sides of the border in varying generations and would have politely fished for yarns of diverse generations.

I've also had the experience of getting caught with 'time for us to do a thorough search', which I dealt with 'in conversation with a passenger' saying, "this reminds me of Mary Ruth's powdered milk story', which the chief searcher understood as soon as said. (driver's relaxed and telling powdered drug stories ........)

Experience will give you brief to the point answers to clear customs quickly. My shortest crossing....... back into Canada via 3 quick questions in maybe 30 seconds, ending in "Have a good day".

;)

pianotuna wrote:
Mostly quick and painless. US customs will want to enter and will look in the fridge and possibly the cupboards.

I've had one brush with Canadian customs checking my hard drive and taking their time.

I've had one brush with US customs where they were considering removing the tires on my RV.

Turn your cell phone off. If you must use it for some reason, then ask permission before you do so.

Did they say that what they were looking for on your hard drive? I'm likely going to be traveling with a hard drive that has a bunch of movies I ripped from my personal collection of dvd's/blu rays and wonder if they'd ever give me a hard time about something like that assuming that they might be pirated? I cant assume that's something border security care about though.

I've gone in and out of the US perhaps 100 times in the last few years, maybe half to Canada. Never had anything more than routine questions in either direction. I'm convinced that their systems show that I'm a frequent traveler old codger, and they don't waste time with me.

That said, next month I'll probably hear the snap of the latex glove!

fulltimecanada wrote:
Becoming a full-time RVer this spring. I dont plan on crossing the border from Canada to the US often but in the case that I do, I'm just wondering what the typical cross is like for an RVer? Is it quick and painless? Do you get pulled over and searched often? Is it easier to cross if you have a Nexus card? Also, I've seen on some Border Security shows where agents search computers/hard drives. Is this common?

Nowadays all travelers must have their passport with them.
No drugs,no guns,swords or dangerous weapons allowed..
If you smoke herbs..
Even though medical marijuana is legal in Canada in US it may not be,,
Not really sure..call customs and ask..
If you have large amount of money,declare it or else they may confiscate it..

My wife and I only carry our NYS Enhanced driver's licenses, and have never had any issues with them in over a 100 US/Canada border crossings with our RV and/or toad. We have been directed to a secondary inspection area when entering Canada just once, and that was only due to a random computer pick. The officers were polite and really not very thorough. They had me unlock our toad, for instance, but never opened a door and never looked in any of the exterior bins. The interior walk through took all of 5 minutes while another officer checked our documents and asked a few simple questions about our destination. One of the officers even showed my wife where she could pass through a fence to walk our dog in the grass while we waited. The entire operation held us up no more than 20 minutes. We've waited a lot longer than that in traffic backups at busy entry points...