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:
She then looks at the clock on the wall for several seconds. It was 10:30 in the morning.
She types something in her computer from our passports and hands them back to us. Then I decide to make her life harder:
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!
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.
- 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
- [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.
- 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.
- 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.