Crossing into Canada - couple of questions caught us off guard
Camper Chronicles said
05:16 PM Aug 6, 2015
last weekend we went into Canada for he first time since passports were required and I was surprised by a few things so thought I would share it here. Plus maybe others who have crossed recently can add their experiences.
1. Lee left the magnetic sign for Rv repair on the truck and we got grilled on "whose RV we were going to repair." Lesson learned next time we'll take the sign off the truck
2. We went into Canada with wood in the truck which they didn't see and then coming back into the US they almost made us throw it out. Honestly we didn't even think of it but when she heard the story (lee was charming ) she let us back in with it. We would have had to turn around or lose the $40 or so though so it's a good thing to keep I mind.
Anyone else been suprised by a border crossing question or event??
Trace
-- Edited by Lee and Trace on Monday 10th of August 2015 07:58:58 AM
BiggarView said
06:22 PM Aug 6, 2015
Canadian Customs guy... pointing at our Josie sitting quietly curled up in the back seat surrounded by padding... "That's not one of those ferocious attack Beagle's I've been reading about is it? ... he said that very dead pan, but I called his bluff, "yep, eats and poops a Great Dane every day. We both laughed. Our Josie is 27lbs soaking wet and gentle as can be. BTW, the customs guy had 2 Beagles of his own.
Seriously, never had a problem at the Canadian border.
Sunseekers said
07:09 PM Aug 6, 2015
Have only been to Canada twice, both times on motorcycles. Border patrol was nice, but they did go through all our bags and luggage. It was not fun trying to get it all packed back in the same way :)
Hope you're having an awesome time traveling. Be safe!
Doris and Bob
nomorsno said
07:35 PM Aug 6, 2015
Hasn't happened to us yet but some friends were told to throw out the dog food? Something to do with what it may contain. Course our dogs are only 12 lbs so they don't drop a great dane everyday but I assumed a bag of dogfood was not subject to seizure!
2 years ago while on a solo motorcycle trip my wife and i crossed into Montana and the guard asked the standard "do you have any warrants for arrest" then he leaned out a little and repeated the question with a stern look " are you sure you have never been arrested sir?" I chuckled a bit and said "no, I have never been arrested" he didn't like the laugh and let me know he was very serious. He let us carry on without a search and told him to have a great day but man that fella needed a break or something. A black touring Harley and black leathers maybe we did look arrestable. Hahahaha.
Second Chance said
07:40 PM Aug 6, 2015
I visited Canada for the first time in 2008 just before the passport requirement went into effect. I made sure I had my original early '50s vintage New Mexico birth certificate with me (it's so old, it has white print on a black background). On the way in, the Canadian customs official looked at it the longest time... perhaps trying to decide if, despite the fact that the certificate was in English, New Mexico is part of the U.S. On the way back, the U.S. BP agent was a Latino from El Paso (45 miles from my home town). He had been sent up there TDY to fill in for a few months and was homesick - let traffic back up wanting to talk about home and how recently I had been there. Rather a humorous contrast.
BiggarView said
07:46 PM Aug 6, 2015
We were able to bring our 5lb bag of dog food and treats. They consider large bags as commercial quantities as they cannot normally be consumed within a typical visit. Or so we were told. It occurs to me that individual agents have some latitude to make judgements as to what is acceptable or not. Many dogs have sensitive digestive systems and changing dog food brands or types suddenly, can be dangerous to their health. If challenged at the border, you can explain this to the agent. Our Beagle friendly agent told us this tidbit as an FYI to deflect a challenge.
Brian
-- Edited by biggaRView on Thursday 6th of August 2015 07:56:25 PM
Ron and Karen said
08:30 PM Aug 6, 2015
U.S. Customs & Border Protection has a section on line called "know before you go" this will answer many of your questions. The concern with items coming into the U.S. such as your fire woods is the pest that make their home in the wood, that can do harm to the resources. The same for produce and meats. Dog food many times has pork as one of the ingredients. The items that are permissible for entry can very by season or location. I would be surprised if you get anywhere by challenging the officer especially if it is an agriculture officer, however there is always some officer discretion. I have never crossed into Canada at a land border. and Canada does have their own Customs officers.
NWescapee said
09:03 PM Aug 6, 2015
When we lived in Western WA we crossed into BC many times, various checkpoints and the only time we had a problem was bringing produce into Canada, turns out they don't like WA state apples crossing their border. They were fine with grapes, lettuce, etc, but apples? Nope, not allowed.
Coming back into the US we're always asked if we have firewood, but other than that no issues. We took one trip to the Okanogon region, loved their wineries enough to be bringing enough back that we expected to have to pay some tariff, but late evening on a Saturday night the border guard waved us through with more than the stated legal limit and told us to have a safe drive the rest of the way home.
A friend of ours who had a juvenile misdemeanor on his record (40++ years ago) was stopped and questioned for a bit going into Canada. Really? From when he was a juvenile, 40++ years later? Seemed a little silly, but was a good reason to always remind our daughter, nieces and nephews to stay out of trouble at any age!!
BiggarView said
09:07 PM Aug 6, 2015
I would never suggest you challenge the agent, US or Canadian. If they challenge you, politely explain the issue (petfood in this case). Get belligerent and all bets are off. Bringing wood in and out is an obvious prohibition, what with Ash Borer Beetle problem among others. The "know before you go" guidelines are excellent reading for any traveller.
Barbaraok said
09:58 PM Aug 6, 2015
Try going across with Texas plates. Never thought of all of the ways they could ask if we have guns. The question that almost got us inspected was "Do you have $10,000 or more in cash" to which Dave said "I wish" - UGH. The reply was an ICY "I'll take that as a no" and a sigh of relief from me.
Of course they asked about a sign on your rig - one of those "what are you thinking" type of things that should have been taken care of during your walk around your rig before you head out the morning you are going to cross the border. As far as carrying wood - we've gotten asked about wood going into California - - that is a real problem all over the country. Lots of state parks (and some federal ones as well) have big signs up saying no fires allowed with any wood not bought at the park - that is if fires are allowed at all.
Barb
Ron and Karen said
09:58 PM Aug 6, 2015
Sorry, Brian & Cindi, did not mean to imply that you suggested any negative actions. As an officer at the border it is appreciated when travelers are prepared to make entry. 95% of travelers are just what you would expect. I do not post often, my poor choice of words.
Someday said
12:00 AM Aug 7, 2015
Always find these border crossing questions entertaining on how different folks, including ourselves get a different result whether crossing North to South or South to North.
Everyone seems to have different experiences based on whom the officer is on the day and the mood/disposition they are in. Ironically we've never ever in almost two decades been questioned about carrying wood or not in over two decades going back and forth. But we are cognizant of the spread of dutch elm disease and others so don't irrespective. We've only been questioned at the airports on occasion about how much money we are carrying, never at the land borders. We are always asked coming back into Canada what we are bringing back in gift wise and any repairs done to the rig. We have always minus once told "welcome home" with a smile when crossing back into Canada.
Going South without failure we are asked how long we are staying in the USA and our intended destination. Almost every time we are always questioned by the USA about what foods we have on board, and every time it appears there's something new to confiscate. One year it was raw eggs "you can pull over there and hard boil them and keep them or they need to be confiscated", another time it was chicken in any shape or form, another time it was a frozen beef lasagne, another time it was grapes that apparently came from Chile into Canada and might have a Chile fly on them, he threw them in his border garbage can and those possible flies that had been on a round the world trip, must have had the commonsense to know not to fly out of his garbage can. The best one was last time we went south they confiscated our two whole tomatoes = made us pull over and take them into the office and just threw them in their cans, then after the fact informed us if they had been sliced they would have been fine. Head shakes from us and we have great knives we could have sliced them with had we known. The grapes and tomatoes personally we found were the most ridiculous of all confiscation but what can ya do?
We've only had our rig searched once coming through a very remote Sask' border crossing into Canada, as did the motorbikes in front of us = we think the guard was lonely. We have been searched going into the USA from BC and been directed to leave our rig and head into an office while they put a dog through our rig and never found anything, refused when we asked to stay outside to observe what they were doing.
We truly do understand that our borders going either way need protecting, but whenever we head south we always feel guilty criminals until proven innocent and most often not very welcomed which is sad as we love the country we are entering.
As for dog food, going either way we were told it needs to be in its original packaging so they can ensure it's contents don't contain any banned products.
FWIW, our best experiences crossing into the USA has always been at the Montana Coutts/Sweetgrass border. Same coming back into Canada and also coming back in through Montreal has been wonderful.
Appreciate everyone has a job to do, but there are certainly ways of doing it!
TheHarveys said
07:07 AM Aug 12, 2015
We were crossing into Canada one time during the Christmas season and we had some wrapped Christmas presents that we were bringing to friends and family in B.C.. Even though we had a comprehensive list of what was in the presents, the Border patrol made us unwrap every one so they could check the contents, before they would let us cross. Other than that, we have never had any issue crossing into Canada.
BiggarView said
07:56 AM Aug 12, 2015
Someday, I'll have to agree with you on the entry into the USA. As a Canadian living in the US, I have crossed many times, and going north is has definitely been more pleasant than the return trip, if I can use that word to describe what amounts to an interrogation. 99% of the time it's over in less than 30 seconds, kinda like a needle jab. Seriously, I have chalked it up ..."it is, what it is". I understand everybody has a job to do, and instructions they have to follow, I get it. Could they be less heavy-handed at times, sure. Again, meh.
I'm sure they have reports on how much of this or that they impound etc and some bureaucrat somewhere says, "heh, the amount of uncooked eggs, or raw tomatoes or whatever is below an expected norm" that month and a memo gets put out to watch for that item. For us, the travelling public, if you have one of those hit list items on that particular day, well, you're given the once over. They get their pound of flesh and you get a great campfire story that you can tell over and over again, because it never gets tiring to rant about such comedy.
Brian
jayc said
02:51 PM Aug 12, 2015
We crossed the border into Canada last year with another Texas couple. The border guard saw the Texas plates and the questions about guns began... We answered the questions truthfully, that we did own guns, but no, none were with us. Long story short, after the many questions we still had pull into the inspection station for a search of the truck. There was absolutely nothing to fear from the inspection as there was nothing in the truck, and after abut 15 minutes, we were again on our way.
We crossed at a different location and learned our lesson and went in with no problems.
AZbillsfan said
09:42 AM Aug 13, 2015
I was born and raised in Niagara Falls NY and spent summers going back and forth across the border to summer cottages on Lake Erie. The questions were always pretty much the typical, "where were you born" or" Where are you going" and all the crossings involved going across a bridge. My wife and took a trip years later through Maine to Quebec with another couple in the car. Border crossing was in the middle of a forest, and the questions threw me for a loop for a minute. "Who are you" and "Who are these people". Didn't know if he wanted names, relationships or whatever. I must have stumbled on the right answers, because they let us in, but it was a very different experience for me.
soos said
10:02 PM Aug 15, 2015
With TX plates on our truck, we also got asked 3-4 different ways not IF we have guns but WHERE are our guns. one guy asked us incredulously " you live in TX and you have NO GUNS?
yeesh.
And we learned the firewood issue the hard way. We tried to cross at Waterton just for the day, but we had a pick up bed full of firewood. When they asked And we showed it to them we said we'd rather turn around rather than give it up. Canada was fine with that, but the US side made us dump it all anyway and gave us a hard time about traveling "so far" with firewood. She literally said "shame on you". I think she thought we toted it all the way from TX when in reality we had gotten it in nearby St. Mary's.
last weekend we went into Canada for he first time since passports were required and I was surprised by a few things so thought I would share it here. Plus maybe others who have crossed recently can add their experiences.
1. Lee left the magnetic sign for Rv repair on the truck and we got grilled on "whose RV we were going to repair." Lesson learned next time we'll take the sign off the truck
2. We went into Canada with wood in the truck which they didn't see and then coming back into the US they almost made us throw it out. Honestly we didn't even think of it but when she heard the story (lee was charming ) she let us back in with it. We would have had to turn around or lose the $40 or so though so it's a good thing to keep I mind.
Anyone else been suprised by a border crossing question or event??
Trace
-- Edited by Lee and Trace on Monday 10th of August 2015 07:58:58 AM
Canadian Customs guy... pointing at our Josie sitting quietly curled up in the back seat surrounded by padding... "That's not one of those ferocious attack Beagle's I've been reading about is it? ... he said that very dead pan, but I called his bluff, "yep, eats and poops a Great Dane every day. We both laughed. Our Josie is 27lbs soaking wet and gentle as can be. BTW, the customs guy had 2 Beagles of his own.
Seriously, never had a problem at the Canadian border.
Hope you're having an awesome time traveling. Be safe!
Doris and Bob
Hasn't happened to us yet but some friends were told to throw out the dog food? Something to do with what it may contain. Course our dogs are only 12 lbs so they don't drop a great dane everyday but I assumed a bag of dogfood was not subject to seizure!
2 years ago while on a solo motorcycle trip my wife and i crossed into Montana and the guard asked the standard "do you have any warrants for arrest" then he leaned out a little and repeated the question with a stern look " are you sure you have never been arrested sir?" I chuckled a bit and said "no, I have never been arrested" he didn't like the laugh and let me know he was very serious. He let us carry on without a search and told him to have a great day but man that fella needed a break or something. A black touring Harley and black leathers maybe we did look arrestable. Hahahaha.
We were able to bring our 5lb bag of dog food and treats. They consider large bags as commercial quantities as they cannot normally be consumed within a typical visit. Or so we were told. It occurs to me that individual agents have some latitude to make judgements as to what is acceptable or not. Many dogs have sensitive digestive systems and changing dog food brands or types suddenly, can be dangerous to their health. If challenged at the border, you can explain this to the agent. Our Beagle friendly agent told us this tidbit as an FYI to deflect a challenge.
Brian
-- Edited by biggaRView on Thursday 6th of August 2015 07:56:25 PM
U.S. Customs & Border Protection has a section on line called "know before you go" this will answer many of your questions. The concern with items coming into the U.S. such as your fire woods is the pest that make their home in the wood, that can do harm to the resources. The same for produce and meats. Dog food many times has pork as one of the ingredients. The items that are permissible for entry can very by season or location. I would be surprised if you get anywhere by challenging the officer especially if it is an agriculture officer, however there is always some officer discretion. I have never crossed into Canada at a land border. and Canada does have their own Customs officers.
Coming back into the US we're always asked if we have firewood, but other than that no issues. We took one trip to the Okanogon region, loved their wineries enough to be bringing enough back that we expected to have to pay some tariff, but late evening on a Saturday night the border guard waved us through with more than the stated legal limit and told us to have a safe drive the rest of the way home.
A friend of ours who had a juvenile misdemeanor on his record (40++ years ago) was stopped and questioned for a bit going into Canada. Really? From when he was a juvenile, 40++ years later? Seemed a little silly, but was a good reason to always remind our daughter, nieces and nephews to stay out of trouble at any age!!
I would never suggest you challenge the agent, US or Canadian. If they challenge you, politely explain the issue (petfood in this case). Get belligerent and all bets are off. Bringing wood in and out is an obvious prohibition, what with Ash Borer Beetle problem among others. The "know before you go" guidelines are excellent reading for any traveller.
Of course they asked about a sign on your rig - one of those "what are you thinking" type of things that should have been taken care of during your walk around your rig before you head out the morning you are going to cross the border. As far as carrying wood - we've gotten asked about wood going into California - - that is a real problem all over the country. Lots of state parks (and some federal ones as well) have big signs up saying no fires allowed with any wood not bought at the park - that is if fires are allowed at all.
Barb
Sorry, Brian & Cindi, did not mean to imply that you suggested any negative actions. As an officer at the border it is appreciated when travelers are prepared to make entry. 95% of travelers are just what you would expect. I do not post often, my poor choice of words.
Everyone seems to have different experiences based on whom the officer is on the day and the mood/disposition they are in. Ironically we've never ever in almost two decades been questioned about carrying wood or not in over two decades going back and forth. But we are cognizant of the spread of dutch elm disease and others so don't irrespective. We've only been questioned at the airports on occasion about how much money we are carrying, never at the land borders. We are always asked coming back into Canada what we are bringing back in gift wise and any repairs done to the rig. We have always minus once told "welcome home" with a smile when crossing back into Canada.
Going South without failure we are asked how long we are staying in the USA and our intended destination. Almost every time we are always questioned by the USA about what foods we have on board, and every time it appears there's something new to confiscate. One year it was raw eggs "you can pull over there and hard boil them and keep them or they need to be confiscated", another time it was chicken in any shape or form, another time it was a frozen beef lasagne, another time it was grapes that apparently came from Chile into Canada and might have a Chile fly on them, he threw them in his border garbage can and those possible flies that had been on a round the world trip, must have had the commonsense to know not to fly out of his garbage can. The best one was last time we went south they confiscated our two whole tomatoes = made us pull over and take them into the office and just threw them in their cans, then after the fact informed us if they had been sliced they would have been fine. Head shakes from us and we have great knives we could have sliced them with had we known. The grapes and tomatoes personally we found were the most ridiculous of all confiscation but what can ya do?
We've only had our rig searched once coming through a very remote Sask' border crossing into Canada, as did the motorbikes in front of us = we think the guard was lonely. We have been searched going into the USA from BC and been directed to leave our rig and head into an office while they put a dog through our rig and never found anything, refused when we asked to stay outside to observe what they were doing.
We truly do understand that our borders going either way need protecting, but whenever we head south we always feel guilty criminals until proven innocent and most often not very welcomed which is sad as we love the country we are entering.
As for dog food, going either way we were told it needs to be in its original packaging so they can ensure it's contents don't contain any banned products.
FWIW, our best experiences crossing into the USA has always been at the Montana Coutts/Sweetgrass border. Same coming back into Canada and also coming back in through Montreal has been wonderful.
Appreciate everyone has a job to do, but there are certainly ways of doing it!
Someday, I'll have to agree with you on the entry into the USA. As a Canadian living in the US, I have crossed many times, and going north is has definitely been more pleasant than the return trip, if I can use that word to describe what amounts to an interrogation.
99% of the time it's over in less than 30 seconds, kinda like a needle jab. Seriously, I have chalked it up ..."it is, what it is". I understand everybody has a job to do, and instructions they have to follow, I get it. Could they be less heavy-handed at times, sure. Again, meh.
I'm sure they have reports on how much of this or that they impound etc and some bureaucrat somewhere says, "heh, the amount of uncooked eggs, or raw tomatoes or whatever is below an expected norm" that month and a memo gets put out to watch for that item. For us, the travelling public, if you have one of those hit list items on that particular day, well, you're given the once over. They get their pound of flesh and you get a great campfire story that you can tell over and over again, because it never gets tiring to rant about such comedy.
Brian
We crossed the border into Canada last year with another Texas couple. The border guard saw the Texas plates and the questions about guns began... We answered the questions truthfully, that we did own guns, but no, none were with us. Long story short, after the many questions we still had pull into the inspection station for a search of the truck. There was absolutely nothing to fear from the inspection as there was nothing in the truck, and after abut 15 minutes, we were again on our way.
We crossed at a different location and learned our lesson and went in with no problems.
I was born and raised in Niagara Falls NY and spent summers going back and forth across the border to summer cottages on Lake Erie. The questions were always pretty much the typical, "where were you born" or" Where are you going" and all the crossings involved going across a bridge. My wife and took a trip years later through Maine to Quebec with another couple in the car. Border crossing was in the middle of a forest, and the questions threw me for a loop for a minute. "Who are you" and "Who are these people". Didn't know if he wanted names, relationships or whatever. I must have stumbled on the right answers, because they let us in, but it was a very different experience for me.
yeesh.
And we learned the firewood issue the hard way. We tried to cross at Waterton just for the day, but we had a pick up bed full of firewood. When they asked And we showed it to them we said we'd rather turn around rather than give it up. Canada was fine with that, but the US side made us dump it all anyway and gave us a hard time about traveling "so far" with firewood. She literally said "shame on you". I think she thought we toted it all the way from TX when in reality we had gotten it in nearby St. Mary's.