Travel to Canada with US passport

König

Registered Users (C)
I want to share my experience in travelling to Canada this weekend. I am planning to go to Germany in February, so being extremely cautious, I wanted to enter Canada on my US passport which has never been used before and see if it is working properly :) My final destination was Victoria, BC and all previous times I have travelled there via Seattle. However, it has long been my dream to try out Trans-Canada Highway for longer than just 50-60 km in urban areas. So, I chose a route through Spokane, WA, Grand Forks, BC and Hope, BC. Compared to Seattle way, this one would add good 4-4.5 hours to our travel time. Both me and my wife had our passports and not the passport cards like in the previous Canada trip. We pulled to a Canadian customs booth on US-395 and waited for about a minute until a border guard lady finally noticed us from inside the station. Apparently, we were the only Canada-bound travellers at that time. She took our passports and ordered us to roll down the rear tinted windows. Then the following conversation took place:

- Where are you from?
- [Our hometown]
- What's the purpose of your visit?
- To celebrate my Master Thesis defence :)
- What? I did not catch what you said!
- To celebrate my Master Thesis defence.
- Thesis in what?
- In Electrical Engineering
- How is that related to Canada?
- It is not
- What is your destination in Canada?
- Victoria
- How long are you planning to stay in Canada?
- Tuesday we are coming back
- Are you bringing firearms to Canada?
- No, we are not pro-gun people
- It's not a route you would chose to go to Victoria, you know
- Yes, but it has been my dream to drive on Trans-Canada Highway
- You have an understanding of the distance you need to cover before you get to Victoria, right?
- Yeah, it's a long way but we hope to catch a 7 o'clock ferry​

She then looks at the clock on the wall for several seconds. It was 10:30 in the morning.

- You know how to travel from here right?
- We will take highway 3B
- No, highway 3B heads east. You need to take highway 3 west.
- OK, thanks.​

She types something in her computer from our passports and hands them back to us. Then I decide to make her life harder:

- Madam, can you please stamp our passport? We decided to collect the stamps from all the places we visit, and Canada is the first.​

Visibly not very happy, she takes our passports back and goes inside the station from the booth. She then searches for a stamp and tries to put a stamp, but the ink is dry. Not too unusual given that mostly Canadians and Americans travel that route. She then finds a fresh ink and finally stamps our passports... with an expiration date! :(

- OK, here you go. I gave you a whole week. Have a safe trip.
- Thanks.​

Then we drive for another 570 kilometres before we reach our destination. The guard was a bit mean in the beginning but soften up at the end. I wanted the stamp to deflower my passport and I got one, but I did not want the expiration date because normally Americans can stay in Canada for 6 months. When we travelled to Canada using our GC, Canadian border guards did not type anything in their computer at all and never gave us any time limit on our stay in Canada. So, I was a bit disappointed and a bit worried as to how the US border guard will perceive this unusual stamp in the US passport (I have never been referred to secondary inspection before). But after all, I asked for it and I got it, so there was no one else to blame but myself.
 
Here is our experience coming back to US via Peace Arch on Tuesday. There was not a big line, so we waited only 10 minutes before pulling to the booth. We rolled down all our windows and handed our passports to a guard:

- What was the purpose of your trip to Canada?
- Visiting
- Visiting whom?
- No one. Just visiting Victoria
- How long was your trip?
- Since Saturday
- How you two know each other?
- We are married
- Where do you live?
- [Our hometown]
- What do you do for a living?
- We are students
- Are you bringing anything from Canada?
- No
- Have a nice day
- You too​

Before scanning our passports, he went through several visa pages and I am sure he saw a Canadian stamp with an expiration date, but he apparently did not care for that. He did not care for our answers either, but he wanted to make sure we answer confidently and there is no hesitation. This conversation took about a minute or two. Not too mean not too friendly - exactly as I like it ;) By the way, secondary inspection area was filled up with cars, so beware! :D
 
Good story. However, this could have been an alternate story.

- Where are you from?
- [Our hometown]
- What's the purpose of your visit?
- Tourism
- What is your destination in Canada?
- Victoria
- How long are you planning to stay in Canada?
- 4 days
- Are you bringing firearms to Canada?
- No
- It's not a route you would chose to go to Victoria, you know
- Yes, but it has been my dream to drive on Trans-Canada Highway
- You have an understanding of the distance you need to cover before you get to Victoria, right?
- Yeah, it's a long way but we hope to catch a 7 o'clock ferry​

In my experience,
a) do not bring un-ncessary topics into discussion - such as being pro or anti gun-control
b) Also related to your second posting - I said "visiting" and they said "what?". Tourism / Tourist is much better answer if that is the true reason.
c) Discussing your degree is again not necessary unless it is in response to a specific question
 
Oh, I know that being official and specific would make it easier for me to cross the border, and I have done it on numerous previous occasions (it was my 6th trip to Canada). It is just that on that day I was in a good mood and felt like being overly talkative ;)
 
Top