Yesterday I spoke about the type of ID needed to cross the border or how much money can be spent shopping before duty charges kick in or your alcohol allowance coming back to Canada. Well today we will talk about what you can expect to happen upon arriving to the USA/Canada border crossing.

USA Border

Going into the USA is not as bad as everyone makes it out to be as long as you have your proper documents in order and no legal issues at home in Canada like a criminal record or behind in child support payments.

Once we arrive, everyone must exit the bus with their passport and personal belongings. Hats (or head gear of any kind), sunglasses and ear phones must be removed. Your cell phone is either left on the bus or you put it on airplane mode so it doesn’t go off while getting processed. Only speak when spoken to and do not offer any information. The reason is if you accidentally say something that peaks the interest of the border agent, more questions can follow and with more questions comes the possibility of being denied entry. No citrus fruits or raw meat can cross. (there are exceptions to this rule, but for the purposes of this blog let’s keep this simple)

You must know where you are going and if it is an overnight trip then you must have the address to where you will be staying. Also if you are carrying a passport that is not Canadian or United States then you may need a temporary visa to enter the USA called an I94. This is a form that gets filled out about where you are from and where you are going. It will cost $6 USD to process and will be good for 3 months after which you must return to customs and immigration upon leaving the USA unless you think you will be returning before the expiry date. This allows the U.S. government to confirm that you have left the country.

Canadian Border

Returning to Canada can be a toss up as to whether it will be easy or hard (at least for the driver). Meaning the bus could get searched having all the luggage removed from inside and underneath luggage bins. If this type of inspection happens, it could be 2-3 hours before we can be on our way especially if there are buses in line in front of us. Now this is not a common occurrence for most groups and usually happens when someone runs their mouth and says the wrong thing. With every word that comes out of your mouth is just one word closer to holding up the entire group.

Other situations that could take time is random searches which involves waiting for them to get a sniffer dog from another border to check for drugs being smuggled in or when you arrived at the border it is 15 mins from shift change so they will not process you until the next group of officers arrive as they don’t want to take the chance of running over their time as they can’t leave until the bus is processed. We have had agents not want to clear a bus that they had us waiting 30 mins for the next group of officers to arrive.

So no matter which border you cross at, the best course of action is to stick to the truth. The moment you start lying to save yourself a few dollars it is all downhill from there. If you are caught you pay duty along with additional fines for lying which quickly makes your purchase not worth it and time wasted at the border waiting. The other thing you can do to keep things smooth at either border is to keep your mouth shut and only speak when spoken to. Border agents don’t like doing more than they have to and when you open your mouth you just open yourself up to scrutiny and if they have to work more as a result then they will go through every last thing that you own.

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