So I was returning to DC from Saskatoon on Wed. So was my turn to go to the next stall for USA Immigration. Lucky me gets this crusty chick, and I just knew she was a grump,lol and I probably didnt help myself. So I get to her booth, hand her just my Greencard. NEVER have they asked for my passport, so I didnt hand it over. Of course this time she wanted it. So she takes the passport and looks it over with a fine tooth comb, looked at every page. Then she asked where I was coming from?? I explained Canada. She asked why i was in Canada? I stated "I'm Canadian" lol which wasnt the answer she wanted,lol She in a very bitchy tone stated "now that doesnt answer my question, does it? lol, I said I guess not, sorry, I was visiting my folks!,lol Again she looked over my passport and greencard, taking her time, then stamped the boarding pass, and I was on my way.

Where do they get these people from? I can't stand it. I often wonder if and how they train them to be such jackasses to us. I don't expect top notch customer service, but just in comparison to the guards at the montreal embassy who do their jobs with straight faces, but still treat people decently...it makes me sick that we have to deal with those attitudes every time we want to visit jer's family.

I admit I was incorrect to say "Im Canadian" lol I was in a bit of a grumpy mood as well. Guess she was just doing her job.

I actually remember in 2000 November (day prior to US Thanksgiving) entering at Ambassador Bridge, and being asked why I'd visited Canada (gee, I always thought people were allowed to visit their "own" country; at that time I had held a GC for 50 weeks). The guard nearly hit the sky when I said that I'd made a visit to Calgary and voted in Canadian election (not sure whether Boaracle's FL shenanigan played any part in that detail).

Maybe they were always the ones picked last at recess for games and this is their twisted form of payback?

Seriously, one time I came through Boston on my way HOME...yes HOME...and the Kojak wannabe questioned me pretty heavily. Wanted to know where I had been (NS), why was I there (to see BF), whom did I visit (again, to see BF), where did I live (GA), so I have proof of where I live (um..address is on my passport?), what do I do for a living (I teach), can I prove it (what???? still, I hand him my photo ID). Not sure what all this had to do with me coming home, but I figured it was better to let him live out his fantasy rather than argue.

I think some of them are on some kind of "power trip". Almost everytime I cross into the States (I am from Canada, BF's in US), I have another story to tell everyone. It's almost like "Guess what happened THIS time...". But Knock on wood...they're nothing bad, sometimes amusing.

I've been asked to show proof of where I work...I'm self-employed, luckily I had left over business cards that day! She took it and sent me on my way.

I wish I would've wrote the "stories" down......something to laugh at in the future, lol.

At least you didn't stand there and recite the entire "Joe Canadian" bit

yeah almost every time my hubby came up to visit me he got "interrogated" at the Vancouver Airport...

one time they sent him over to secondary inspection and the lady asked him why he was there and hubby said i don't really know.. the lady checked over his things and just sent him on his way...

I've been sent to secondary before, I'm canadian and fiance is in US and i was going down to visit, they didn't let me go through and sent me home, we had not applied for k-1 yet but did right after that

what are you confused about, Charles??

Never go through YVR if you're looking to visit your Canadian boyfriend/girlfriend, fiance(e) or spouse. They go absolutely crazy there. I've heard YYZ is just as bad or even sometimes worse. I suppose that makes sense, though. Both Vancouver and Toronto probably receive the most people and therefore, the highest number of foreign visitors.

Overall, YVR is given 3-stars by Globe & Mail Magazine (includes domestic section), while YYZ has been consistently given 0 for the past 19 years.

I've never really had a problem with Pearson....just American Airlines!

I've always had very nice officers at the airport. The only problem I had one time was because I have a very very common last name and I was put into secondary because of it...They thought I was on the no fly list...

Luckily, after 5 minutes they realized I wasn't a terrorist or a fugitive and sent me on my way.

Oh Flames, I'm glad you got through okay, although obviously not pleasant.

I used to have such fun with the checkpoint (driving across) guards my whole life, until last year.
Since then I have become traumatized (I do not use that word lightly), and really would rather not put myself through that; it is necessary though and has been done and will continue to be done. Bleh!

As the welcoming face to a country, cross border guards need to to keep that in mind.

Unfortunately the guards don't perceive of themselves as the 'welcoming face to a country' - and I don't get the impression they are very interested in creating that image, either. They want to appear as the big bad tough guys who protect the country from horrible dangerous illegal immigrants or terrorists in disguise -- and everyone is either one or the other. They would probably view the incident you refer to as a 'job well done'.

I'm a USC, was visiting my hubby in Canada frequently. The U.S. border guards would always ask me why I was in Canada, and I would reply, "Visiting my husband," to which they ALWAYS replied, "What is HE doing in Canada?"

I always, without missing a beat would say, "He's Canadian." Which always got a strange look, but no more questions. . .it doesn't strike me as their business why HE'S there, aren't they supposed to be worried about me?

Haha, so what's wrong with your answer??

On an off-topic note, my husband was born in Pakistan, and immigrated to Canada, where he got citizenship. . .so his visa gets issued, after months of Admin. Processing, and security checks and we get to the border with his immigrant visa, and what do they spend all their time questioning him about?? WHY HE LEFT PAKISTAN 10 YEARS AGO! If he carries a passport for Pakistan, and if he ever visits. . . don't we think this might have been covered in the original processing?

*sigh*

yeah it got kind of annoying when he would get questioned almost every time he went through there but he really didn't have any other choice.. he knew how to handle himself though because of the numerous times he crossed back and forth into Mexico...

Ok, after all these posts and the one Texanadian made about Blaine...I'm skeered.
P flies into Vancouver in 11 days and then we have to deal with the land crossing.
Come to think of it, on his first visit to the US, we took the ferry to Victoria and they asked questions there. Were we
engaged or planning to get married (we'd only just decided to try the long distance dating thing at that time). At
the time I thought it was odd, now, not so much.

I traveleld monthly to DC from Halifax when I was going through the CR-1 process and never had a problem. Of course I didnt try to agitate them back then,lol

This past weekend when my bf was on his way back to NY going through YYZ, the U.S. Border person didn't ask him any questions... hahaha... he just looked at his passport and said "Have a nice day".

The time before that, he said he was visiting his gf and the border guard asked "When are you going to make an honest woman out of her" hahahah.

He always has the funniest experiences.

I've had a few funny experiences too. One guy kept joking and asking me why I would ever want to date an American, he had finished all his questioning and then at the very end was like, "So, you're SURE you want to date an American??" and laughed. It was kinda nice not to get the third degree for once.

I hope I get someone nice next time I go through. It'll be my first time visiting after filing for the K1.

I've been through secondary searching at YYZ. I've had a couple of uncomfortable experiences, but I came through them all okay I guess. The worst was taking the greyhound through from Montreal to New York. It wasn't me I was worried about, it was the other 50 people. There were always a few surprise guests that took the bus without a passport, or without proper paper work. There were times that I would be at the border for 6 to 8 hours.

That reminds me of one time I was heading back to the U.S. from YYC, a U.S. Customs Officer decided to ask me a number of questions, including, "How much money do you have on you" and "What did you do in Canada?" I momentarily toyed with responding in a sarcastic manner, since he couldn't keep me from entering the United States; however, I wisely decided against it.

While I knew he couldn't legally stop me from going home, he could detain me, have me searched, arrested and probably make my life a living hell before letting me go. I'm sure I would've missed my plane too, which would've been a real hassle as well.

But honestly... what did it matter to him what I did in Canada when I was coming back to my home country? Asking me questions like that just seemed like a formality at best and at worst, a complete waste of time (both his and mine).

One time going into Canada, I was the passenger in the car and I was on the phone with my mother and I told her to hold on because we were at the border and the guy demanded I hang up and told me it was rude.

Note: I wasn't talking to her while we were talking to him. I went to say: "Mom hang on" and put the phone on my lap.

The guy was such a douche.

I've visited US four times prior to meeting D. And there were absolutelly no issues. But it just seems to me that problems arise when one utters words "boyfriend" or "girlfriend" in relation to USC. For instance, when we were coming back from a vacation in Jamaica and I presented my J1 with all support documentation for re-entry (I still had 3 months to go on my internship) everything seemed fine untill the guy asked me if I was travelling alone. As soon as I mentioned I was with my boyfriend who is a USC and already passed through the citizen line, I was taken to a sad lil room and interrogated about my plans and our future. I had to explain several times that I am on J1 and do know immigration laws and do not plan to stay after visa expiration. They finally let me go. But wait, it got better. When I finally found D and we proceeded to customs an officer caught up with us and started asking the same questions all over again, seriously harrasing D for dating me!!!

I think I was sixteen when I first went to Canada to see my now-hubby. Definitely got the third degree. Did I meet him on the internet? (No! But they kept referring to him as my "internet boyfriend.") Did my parents know where I was? Did his parents know that I was coming? Where were we staying? I sat in secondary for an hour while they met up with the boy and called his parents. But I never got hassled again. Makes me wonder what kind of notes they keep in their files about you?

The boy and I got caught trying to sneak booze across the Winnipeg/ND border. (From Canada to the US.) They made us dump it out. He said there was a huge dumpster full of empty bottles. They also searched our car and luggage, but actually left things CLEANER. Can't complain there.

wow you crossed the border by yourself at 16? My parents would have killed me. In fact, I'd still be chained to my bed right now if that was the case. hah

Well, they knew about it/paid for my ticket! We'd already been dating for about six months, with him coming down from ND (where he was going to uni) every other weekend. My dad was like "Well, just don't get knocked up."

I want to be a Customs agent! I know I can and would do a better job then the idiots that they have working, lol.

The first time I returned to the US after getting my GC was in Seattle from Victoria in 2004. I handed him both my GC and passport (GC on top). He opens my passport, does something on the computer and then looks at me and askes how long I intend on visiting? Inside I'm saying "What is your malfunction that you didn't see my GC"?!?!?! Outwardly I say that I'm a GC holder and I live in Nevada. He then stamps my passport and says welcome home, LMAO. What an idiot.

This year in April I traveled again to Victoria and on my way back did the same thing, this time they had someone that knew their business and didn't ask me any stupid questions.

Joanne

I have to say my hubby (USC) has always had a harder time going through the US side.. Now that I have my GC they don't even bat an eye most of the time, but hubby always gets more questions than I! When crossing into Canada of course neither one of us gets any issues.. In fact one time we crossed over at Houlton the guard was actually in the flower beds weeding (with her gun strapped on of course for safety)

They actually had a sign posted on the land crossing this time in Houlton (into the US) that listed the "code of conduct" for the agents - i wish I would have read it closer, but i remember #1 is that they would "warmly welcome you to the USA".. I never noticed signage like this before - so perhaps they are trying a new "niceness blitz"?

And since you don't need a passport to travel over land, what would she have done if you didn't have a passport? Did she see it and then want to look at it, or how did she know you had one?

On another note, I was once comming to Canada on a visit for a week and they asked me (since I was on a Green Card at the time) how long I was away. I looked at the customs guy and said, "I'm comming to visit Canada for a week". Think he just automatically was thinking all Canadians were visiting the US and the standard question is how long was your trip. It was kind of amusing when I told the guy how long I was visiting rather then how long I was away, he had kind of that embarrased look and then just let me through...

Never had too much problems either with the border officers, except when we actually activated my Visa.

1- My hubby got pulled into secondary at Sarnia because they thought it was weird that everytime he was visiting Canada he was taking a plane, but this time he was broder crossing in a car. So they searched his car and asked many questions about who it belonged to. Also he didn't have a luggage at the time and for a joke for me he grabbed one of the kid's with Hulk on it, so they looked at it a bit confused... I guess he looked more like a child molestor or something

2- When we crossed back to the US at Port Huron, they asked him if we had any food, then he mentionned about the chicken sandwiches my mom had prepared for me, then still looking at hin they asked if there was any beef in it, to which he answered no. Then the officer told him to shut up that he was talking to the lady (me). I was like WTF. So I said no there is no beef in my CHICKEN sandwiches. He asked me if I was sure, so I was like " Yes thank you my mom made them so I know what's in it" If I would want to smuggle beef accross the border I would be more imaginative than a fake chicken sandwich. And with the car packed and my list, the officers into secondary never actually bothered about the car, just that guy that freaked out about my sandwich.

When I was in college in Western New York, we would frequently go to Canada b/c of the drinking age etc. I would always have my passport and say I was Australian but all but twice they didn't even care. OK so it was pre Sept 11 but still. Now when I enter the country I'm sure I am as nervous as a smuggler even though I'm not smuggling anything!!!

Mephys. I guess the "Warm welcome" code of conduct Emancipation mentioned hasn't made it to Port Huron yet. Maybe it's just a suggestion.

Well my mom's sandwich didn't feel welcome at all!

Gal you crack me up

I was flying. No, she never saw it, I left it in my back pack. I was interested in seeing if she would ask for it, as in the past I have handed over my passport and they never even open it up.

Oh man, I love the agent stories. My husband visited me back in 2002, then in 2007 to propose. On his 2007 visit, they asked him "Have you been to Canada before?" "Yes." Then proceeded to ask that same question three more times till the guy said, "Ok, I'm not dealing with this" and sent him to secondary. What had happened was that when he visited before, they hadn't stamped his passport, but apparently there was record of it on the computer or something. Matt said the secondary agent look absolutely baffled as to why he was there.

"No Beef in your CHICKEN sandwiches"

Hulk and chicken sandwiches... You've made my night... Thanks for sharing

One time I was driving across the Peace Bridge on my way to see a Bruce Springsteen concert at Giants Stadium.

Border Dude: Where are you going?
Me: NJ
Border Dude: For what purpose?
Me: I'm going to see Bruce Springsteen.
Border Dude: (eyes get big) Does he know you're coming?
Me: Um .... I don't think so (picturing myself in the crowd at Giants Stadium with 50k other people)

I guess he thought he'd caught a stalker, but I clarified I was going to a concert. I tried not to laugh because I didn't want him to feel too foolish and thus punish me.

This made me laugh ferrr sureee. I feel so sorry for your mom's sandwich.



How do some people get so dumb? hahha

Maybe it's pre-requisite for a Border Dude job

I HATE YVR!!! That is where hubby (fiance then) was denied entry to the U.S. The border guard told us that K-1 applicants cannot visit while the application is processing. Obviously incorrect as I now know, but didn't have a clue at the time. That and inability to show ties to Canada caused the denial. Hubster NEVER had any problems crossing anywhere else, even when we were still in the K-1 process.

Oh I'm so glad I found this thread! lol

My first trip down to see Bo, the CO (Montreal) asked me what the purpose of my trip was, I said vacation. He asked me what state I was going to, I said "North Carolina". He looked at me for a good 15 seconds, blinked and said "you're going on VACATION in NC? Have you seen the place before?" I laughed and said I had someone I was staying with...he said "thank god you have someone to entertain you at least". LOL

2nd trip through pre-clearance in Halifax, I had THE NICEST CO...asked me about my work, and was so interested in it, we talked for like...5 mins.

3rd trip...(May)...J-A-C-K-A-S-S! Asked me:
Where are you from? NB
Where are you going? NC
How long? a week - I work next weekend
Why? see my fiance
When are you getting married? not sure..we've applied for a K-1 - just recieved our first notice..
ARE YOU COMING BACK?....?!!?!? uh yeah, I have to WORK NEXT WEEKEND *show letter* and I have bills and a huge student loan *shows papers*
*stare, stare, stare* "you know, if you don't come back, you're gonna REALLY screw things up for yourself
....DUH!?

So, I'm going back down on the 19th (next Sat), and again going through Hali. I figure, if for SOME reason they won't let me in the country, I'd rather be safe in my own than stuck at some POE far from home. I really hope I get that lad from my 2nd trip

<3 Jen

2 weeks ago my daughter and myself were crossing back into the states at the peace bridge(Buffalo)
We were running a bit late because the traffic from Toronto to buffalo was BAD!!(it was a holdiay..I thought it might be ok ANYWAY..the very first question the border guy asks..right after I had him BOTH our green cards is

Border guy: who rented this car?

Me: Me..

Border guy: are you sure?

Me: uh..YEAH

border guy:(looks at my daughter..**did your mom rent this car?

daughter: yeah

Border guy: are you sure?(to daughter)

daughter (now with a 16 year olds attitude) UH..YEAH)

me: would you like to see the rental papers?(he ignored me!)

Border guy: are you both residents?

Me: yes

Border guy: I was asking her..points at daughter

daughter..yeah

Me: you are holding both our green cards

border guy: your point?

Me: well..that we both have cards that say we're residents

border guy: whens your flt?

Me: 5:31

border guy: don't you think you're running a bit behind schedule?

its 4:00..

Me: There was an accident on the highway..and I thought crossing would be quick..

border guy: well, next time have your green cards ready..
and dismissed us..

BUT..the VERY first thing I did was hand him our cards!!! what an ###!! I guess he just wanted someone to pick on!

^

"Permanent residents - welcome to the JerkStore - where jerks are our speciality. In aisle 6 you will find a wide assortment of borders officers. If you would like extra jerk with your purchase, please stop in aisle 7 where you will find the Buffalo Crossing Border Officer"

I've had that guy, Shawna! I just find people like that amusing. Sad, but amusing.

So much hate. I no longer feel welcome here. I wish you all the best border crossing Karma.

My intention of this thread was not to "bring on the hate" to the POE officers. They do have a very serious job, and oen can't expect them to be buddy buddy with ya.