ravioli_21_99
Registered Users (C)
I recently used my AP for the first time at the Fort Erie/Buffalo (Canada/US) border crossing and thought I'd share my experience.
When we (my wife and I) pulled up to the US inspection booth, the guard took our passports and the copies of the AP. He asked us the usual questions, "how long have we been away" "where do we live" "what do I do for a living" etc. Oddly though, he wrote all of this down. (never happened before). We asked why and he said that when you use an AP, they keep track of how long you've been away to make sure that you don't violate your GC application by staying out of the US for too long. He then said that we were to pull over to the immigration building and go inside for secondary inspection. My wife asked a question about crossing the border again and he said that since we are using an AP, we would have to go through the same procedure every time we crossed the border. All of our papers were put into an envelope and kept by the border guard.
We pulled over and went into the building as instructed. (as a side note, I don't think the immigration building at the Peace Bridge has been updated since the 1950's). We took a seat inside the building and waited to be called. After about 10 minutes, we were called inside the processing room where the officer handed us back our papers and passports and explained that each time we crossed, one of the APs would be stamped and a stamp would also be placed in our passport. Oddly, he also handed back the second copy of the AP and told us to keep it as a spare. The officer looked like he was about 14 years old.
As we returned to our car, a guard in the parking lot said we were lucky that we go it done so fast. The day before, people were waiting in the immigration office for well over an hour before their name was called. (So leave yourself a lot of time when travelling as it's unpredictible. We crossed on a Sunday at 11:00am).
All in all it was an easy crossing and all of the immigration staff were quite nice.
I hope this helps anyone who is worrying about crossing. (just like I was).
Regards
Rav
PS. Oh yeah, I'm a Canadian citizen. Not sure if that made a difference.
When we (my wife and I) pulled up to the US inspection booth, the guard took our passports and the copies of the AP. He asked us the usual questions, "how long have we been away" "where do we live" "what do I do for a living" etc. Oddly though, he wrote all of this down. (never happened before). We asked why and he said that when you use an AP, they keep track of how long you've been away to make sure that you don't violate your GC application by staying out of the US for too long. He then said that we were to pull over to the immigration building and go inside for secondary inspection. My wife asked a question about crossing the border again and he said that since we are using an AP, we would have to go through the same procedure every time we crossed the border. All of our papers were put into an envelope and kept by the border guard.
We pulled over and went into the building as instructed. (as a side note, I don't think the immigration building at the Peace Bridge has been updated since the 1950's). We took a seat inside the building and waited to be called. After about 10 minutes, we were called inside the processing room where the officer handed us back our papers and passports and explained that each time we crossed, one of the APs would be stamped and a stamp would also be placed in our passport. Oddly, he also handed back the second copy of the AP and told us to keep it as a spare. The officer looked like he was about 14 years old.
As we returned to our car, a guard in the parking lot said we were lucky that we go it done so fast. The day before, people were waiting in the immigration office for well over an hour before their name was called. (So leave yourself a lot of time when travelling as it's unpredictible. We crossed on a Sunday at 11:00am).
All in all it was an easy crossing and all of the immigration staff were quite nice.
I hope this helps anyone who is worrying about crossing. (just like I was).
Regards
Rav
PS. Oh yeah, I'm a Canadian citizen. Not sure if that made a difference.