Does everyone get searched when they cross into Canada? (Paris, airports, passport)
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I am a US Citizen who drove into Canada last month.
After being asked dozens of questions about why I'm entering the country, the Customs Agent in the booth told me to pull to the side and then about four men thoroughly searched my car while we waited outside of the car (the whole process took about 25 minutes).
Does this happen to everybody or do they just do it randomly?
I entered Canada over 200 times over the years, usually at the Detroit, MI- Windsor, ON crossing either at the tunnel or the Ambassador Bridge. I have never been detained although I was questioned for 15 minutes at the North Dakota - Manitoba border.
Old white guys driving pick-up trucks and RVs do get pulled over more often. Why? Because that is a demographic that tends to ignore Canada's laws on bringing weapons into the country. And happens despite the fact that there are signs warning people not to do with it. No Canadian customs officer cares that you have a right to carry a weapon in the US. It is irrelevant. They are there to enforce Canada's laws.
By the way, there are hours of Canada Border patrol videos on the internet:
When you cross an international border, you are consenting to a search of your vehicle and goods.
By the way, Canada will exclude anyone who is convicted of a felony in the United States as well as people with a serious criminal traffic offense like a DUI on their records. PERIOD. If you fall into these categories, I would STRONGLY recommend that you take the time to contact the Canadian authorities to see that you are eligible for admissions.
Another reason people get referred to secondary inspection is their failure to be honest with the Canadian border agents. If you are crossing into Canada at 6 am Monday in a business suit and claim that you are going fishing and the like, you will be spending a long time in secondary inspection. I always warned my employees to be entirely truthful at the border. Unfortunately, one idiot lied, was detained and it cost me quite a bit in legal fees to get him out of the situation.
My ONLY complaint about Canada's border patrol staff is that they are highly unionized and stage "slow downs" during contract negotiations. During these periods, they will spend 10 minutes on every single car which bring border traffic to a stop.
As for the US people, I have also had very few problems crossing back into the US.
Last August, I drove into (and out of) Canada with my two sons, one of whom is Latino, without my husband. We had no issues, were barely asked anything, and weren't asked to get out of the car nor were we or the car searched.
I'm curious how they would know you had a DUI -- do they do some kind of computer search based on a passport? The agents on both sides when we drove through Canada last year looked at our passports, but I don't recall them taking them anywhere or doing anything related to a computer where they would pull up anything.
I'm curious how they would know you had a DUI -- do they do some kind of computer search based on a passport? The agents on both sides when we drove through Canada last year looked at our passports, but I don't recall them taking them anywhere or doing anything related to a computer where they would pull up anything.
Your passport has a RFID chip inside so they just need to be near the reader for the computers to pull up your information while they are still holding it in their hands. Canada and the USA share national criminal databases. What's in the USA's NCIC is available to Canadian authorities, so they know if you were naughty or nice.
I have crossed the border scores of times, as a kid with my parents, by myself, with "the boys", with my wife and kids, with other people's kids in the car, and have never been pulled aside for a search by officers from either country.
One thing I don't believe has been mentioned is "visible minority" people tend to be searched much more systematically at the border. Almost all friends of mine report this - from both Canadian and American officers BTW.
Even the most innocuous looking people like one of my friends and his family. His parents were both university professors (French literature) but Middle Eastern...
Never have been but then 90% of the time, we were doing day trips into Canada to grab a meal or see a museum of such. I've even run through a border checkpoint.
Runners in the marathon, half-marathon and ultra-marathon must have passports or other travel documents — but are pre-cleared by the border agencies during the registration process (you must arrive in Lubec by Saturday 6:00pm ET / 7:00pm AT) and can run through the borders without stopping using just their chipped bibs during the event.
We were in Maine traveling to Eastport when our GPS made a wrong turn and we wound up at the Canadian border. They wanted to know why we were at their border without our passports. We had to go into the office and be interrogated. We showed them the GPS and explained that it was a wrong turn. They let us go and then we had to explain to American customs why we are coming back from Canada without our passports. DOH!
It was inconvenient but we were not searched. People were just doing a good job of trying to keep their borders safe on both sides.
The good news is that the delay put us at the perfect time to see this magnificent sunset as we were driving over the causeway into Eastport. We were house hunting there and Cool Change by The Little River Band was playing on the radio as we drove into Eastport. Some moments are just too perfect
Unless you are a Canadian citizen, or hold a Permanent Resident status in Canada, you don't have a 'right to enter Canada ". Period. We DO allow people ( from all over the world ) to visit our country, provided that they have proper documentation to prove their identity, and their nationality to the CBSA agent at the entry point. The CBSA agent has a WIDE range of discretion, regarding visitors eligibility to enter our country.
At most busy ports of entry, the primary agent in the booth has about 3 minutes to speak to the occupants of EACH vehicle. They are doing a number of things at the same time....scanning Passports, reading the licence plate camera, to see if the plate is wanted, or stolen, or is a criminal "pointer vehicle " put out by the FBI checking NCIC for warrants and of course asking questions of the passengers in the vehicle. Now multiply that by about 300 cars per shift....per officer.
Sending a car to "secondary inspection " is because something doesn't add up. It can be that the same plate was denied entry 5 months ago, at a different port, or the registered owner is a convicted felon, or the person says " I am going fishing " but the car is full to the roof with clothing and boxes of personal stuff. That's a good reason for secondary inspection.
In short, entering a different country means.....your US rights mean nothing. The US Constitution does NOT extend outside of the territory of the USA. Our country, our rules. Just like the US enforces it's immigration and customs regulations, so do we.
Source. I crossed into the USA on a almost daily basis as a commercial driver, for 7 years. I dealt with hundreds of CBSA agents when I was bringing US goods into Canada. I also dealt with US Customs and Border Patrol going into the States. Yes sir, no sir, and only answer the questions that you have been asked.
Any type of drunk driving offense I think are felonies there, even if you only get charged here with a misdemeanor. It's serious enough to keep you out of the country for a long time.
We don't use the term felonies, and there may be some legal differences in what is the closest thing to what you call a felony and we call a Federal Criminal Offence. So yes, DUI is a serious offence here in Canada. It doesn't matter where the DUI happened or if the country where it happened doesn't put the same weight on the offence, that we do. It's been a Federal Criminal Offence since 1921. So it isn't new.
The US will deny entry if you have more than one DUI.
I think high taxes are only on liquor. You have buy liquor at state run stores. Beer and wine is cheap
Each province runs their own Liquor boards, so there is a lot of variation.
Here in BC private stores abound, but most do tend to stick to wine, ciders and beers, but they don't have to, many sell hard liquor as well.
In Quebec, wine and beer have been sold in grocery stores for years. The rest of the country is a bit behind in that. Here in BC, they are allowed to sell wine in grocery stores, but it's up to each city or town to decide if they want it. For instance, in Maple Ridge I've seen wine in grocery stores. In Vancouver, no. However that doesn't mean there is lack of liquor stores. It's VERY common to see a provincial liquor stores attached, or right next to a grocery store.
Pubs also have " off sales ". Meaning you can buy wine or beer to take home. It's a bit more expensive than a liquor store, private or provincial.
Also some who are unfamiliar with BC government liquor stores may be surprised at the selection. It's massive and the stores are set up nicely and have tastings for example and issue a seasonal magazine that is free in stores.
This isn't a great video, but it shows a medium sized BC government liquor store. Another poster in another thread said that the wine selection in Canada was poor. Total falsehood. There are literally thousands of wines of all types from all over the world available.
Anyone carrying liquor into Canada or the US must declare it.
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