Boarder crossing insanity - CBP gone crazy...
We've been taking a TT across the US/Canada border for years. We have Nexus and are "pre-cleared" for higher security. We always use the Pacific Highway crossing in south Surrey, BC. because it's th...
Forum Discussion
myredracer wrote:
Grit dog wrote:Yes, real rule. If you have Nexus, you cannot take spouse's clothes into the US if the spouse isn't with you. I have no idea what that rule is for.
Lol, really? Not the x-dressing part, the spouses clothes part, haha. Real rule or flavor of the week rule?
It has nothing to do with the Nexus card, or the “trusted traveler” program, it applies to everyone regardless of citizenship and direction of travel, North or south.
Clothes, as well as any other personal possessions including vehicles, are exempt from import duties if they are being imported temporarily during a visit as a tourist. If the owner of the clothes is not with the importer, even if a spouse, then they fail the ‘personal use’ exemption.
BTW, even though people scream like a hungry eagle when you mention it, this is exactly the reason why things like a Canadian leaving a Canadian registered RV in the US and returning to Canada without it is illegal. If the RV was imported “temporarily” for the owners vacation but then left behind it’s no longer ‘baggage’.
I heard from someone just recently who got stuck this way. The US & Canadian gov’s now share border crossing info. They headed south with a 5’er in the fall, upon trying to re-enter Canada this spring (without the 5’er which was then in the storage yard of their C/G) the CBSA agent asked them if they’d forgotten something? They knew they had left with an RV but weren’t bringing it back home and it hadn’t been imported either. They were offered the opportunity to return and retrieve their ‘forgotten’ RV or import it into the US legally.
