At Least Immigration is Dumb on Both Sides of the Border Lol

[bowflex 0]

Went to Canada this weekend to visit my wife's family for the first of our Thanksgivings and to my surprise we didn't get called in when coming back on the American side, even with my wife's permanent resident card stating country of birth as 'Unknown.' We did, however, get called in on our way into Canada. After seeing the poor guard read the 1,300 pages or whatever of my wife's case on her computer, she called over another guard and called us up. They asked if my wife had removed herself from her family's case (they are permanent residents in Canada now, soon to be citizens next year ). My wife said yes and verified that she had gone to downtown Windsor and filled out the paperwork with her mom when she received the American visa in the mail, blah blah blah. The guard then stated if she had done the Verification of Depature, and being unsure of what that was, I asked. The guard then said that it's a requirement to go into the Canadian side of the border, go into the immigration office, and get a guard to watch you drive over the border.

My wife let them know that she was never instructed of this, even when filling out the paperwork, to which the guard said under his breath something along the lines of "if you even went and filled out the paperwork." Being a little annoyed with the new attitude I told him that we have her passport with us and it shows the date that we activated the visa as it's stamped on there and he responded by asking me if it was a Canadian document. I said nope and he said "well that won't help us then will it?"

I laughed and said if you're going to deny us entry go ahead and do it now otherwise feel free to speed this up. First time I actually got snippy with a guard but he just had us sit down for 15 more minutes and then gave us our info back. On our way out I asked him if I should come in and ask for anyone to watch us drive over the bridge or if we're good to go. He smirked and walked away and within 20 minutes we were hanging with her family Lol.

[Malrothien 6]

What a jerk.

[bowflex 0]

What a jerk.

Standard though, he was a younger guy. Whenever we see a younger guard I just gear up to get ####### as they're all on power trips lol.

[Krikit 1,164]

I agree. What a jerk. I just love when power-trippers make asses of themselves...... Because you're laughing at them and they don't even know it.

[antda 13]

Hi Bowflex,

Sorry that you and your wife ahd problems going over the border for Thanksgiving. It's "hit or miss", as to whether one gets a bad experience or not, I suppose. But nevertheless, I'm glad that after that interrogation, you were both good to go.

Lol..next time, maybe try a different border crossing bridge (which bridge did you use this time)? Try crossing at a time when it's not busy too. Oh yeah, holidays can be a nightmare at the border, with wait times, delays, and whatever else...

Interesting too, that your wife's card said "unknown" (sigh, I would love for my green card to say "unknown", as my card with my birth country (not Canada even though I'm a Canadian citizen) on it has caused me problems before...oh well....I'll give that card up when I get US Citizenship). Maybe because of that that they were searching your wife's records? Wow...1300 pages..I wonder what the border guards do with all that information?

Anyways, hope that despite that, you and your family had a happy thanksgiving. Yeah, it sucks to be pulled over and hassled like that. But don't worry, next time it will be better...

Good luck on your journey and good luck on your border travels too.

Ant

Went to Canada this weekend to visit my wife's family for the first of our Thanksgivings and to my surprise we didn't get called in when coming back on the American side, even with my wife's permanent resident card stating country of birth as 'Unknown.' We did, however, get called in on our way into Canada. After seeing the poor guard read the 1,300 pages or whatever of my wife's case on her computer, she called over another guard and called us up. They asked if my wife had removed herself from her family's case (they are permanent residents in Canada now, soon to be citizens next year ). My wife said yes and verified that she had gone to downtown Windsor and filled out the paperwork with her mom when she received the American visa in the mail, blah blah blah. The guard then stated if she had done the Verification of Depature, and being unsure of what that was, I asked. The guard then said that it's a requirement to go into the Canadian side of the border, go into the immigration office, and get a guard to watch you drive over the border.

My wife let them know that she was never instructed of this, even when filling out the paperwork, to which the guard said under his breath something along the lines of "if you even went and filled out the paperwork." Being a little annoyed with the new attitude I told him that we have her passport with us and it shows the date that we activated the visa as it's stamped on there and he responded by asking me if it was a Canadian document. I said nope and he said "well that won't help us then will it?"

I laughed and said if you're going to deny us entry go ahead and do it now otherwise feel free to speed this up. First time I actually got snippy with a guard but he just had us sit down for 15 more minutes and then gave us our info back. On our way out I asked him if I should come in and ask for anyone to watch us drive over the bridge or if we're good to go. He smirked and walked away and within 20 minutes we were hanging with her family Lol.

[bowflex 0]

Wow that was just about the nicest post I've ever seen, thanks Lol

When going over the border from Detroit to Windsor I usually take the tunnel, then coming back we usually take the Ambassador Bridge since it's slower there. We're always sure to leave around 9:30 or 10pm as any later and we may run into the drunk crowd leaving all the bars and clubs.

As long as it's only going to Canada that we get garbage I'm okay with that. The worst they'll do is deny us entry and then we'd just have to go home. I'd get nervous if they were going to deny us entry back to the States though, as I'm kind of attached to our house and ferrets lol.

[Wyatt's Torch 45]

Yes, my experience over the past few years has been that the border guards on the U.S. side are generally friendly, while the ones on the Canadian side are sullen and aloof. I don't get nervous in the least when I go down to the States.

I've never had to deal with the hassle you have coming back though, Bowflex. Sorry to hear it!

[Peachey 10]

I've had both Canadian and American border guards yell at me.

[bowflex 0]

I've had both Canadian and American border guards yell at me.

Oh same here, it's just never really been as odd as this time. He also felt it appropriate to keep mentioning that since she removed herself from her family's case that my wife would never be able to file for a status in Canada. We told him right away we understood and actually took that into account before removing her, then he just shook his head. I just wanted to look at him and ask him what his problem was but we hadn't seen her family in a few months and it wouldn't have been fair to them to get denied.

Eventually I couldn't hold back anymore but man it's rough to get disrespected when we probably know more about immigration than some kid who went through a training course and probably saw three visas in his entire life haha.

[Sam and Ben 2]

I've had both Canadian and American border guards yell at me.

Agreed!

I've had some young ones on the American side want to make me jump through hoops before letting me through, all the while being absolute asses to me.

I've also had a real mean younger-ish woman on the Canadian side who asked me if I was on any drugs, prescription or otherwise, because my eyes were all red and I was yawning a lot... I pointed to my trip itinerary to show that I'd just returned on a 36hr Greyhound ride and hadn't slept once through the entire trip. She got snippy and handed back my paperwork and let me through.

My own experiences to the US on the Ambassador have been with fairly mean patrols, ranging from simply grumpy to out-and-out rude.

On the Canadian side I either have extremely nice or extremely angry guards.

[HisGirl 0]

I get nervous at the border going both ways. Some of the border guards are just awful

[Hugglebuggles 60]

Sorry to hear about the bad experience Bowflex, but glad to hear everything turned out well!

I have yet to be yelled at or even really questioned at the border... Hopefully I just don't get a turn... (unlikely)

[frenzyheart 2]

Aww, such a bad experience; I'm so sorry! Glad you were able to get through, though.

As for experiences... I've crossed in Detroit twice (on a bus) so I can't really say. My fiance pretty much refuses to drive through Detroit, so we cross at Sarnia/Port Huron, and we've never really had too many issues. We've gotten the same nearly bald-headed guy quite a number of times going into the States -- his favorite (and usually ONLY) question is "Do you have any food?", so we came to the conclusion that the poor guy is just hungry. We crossed pretty late one night, and we think that the guard was testing our alertness, because he goes "Didn't you get denied entry a few weeks ago?" Both of our heads snapped up like "WUT?!" because we had been in Canada for several months... and thus, couldn't have been denied entry to either country 'a few weeks ago'. We've been pulled in for "additional questioning" 3 times - 2 times going into the States, and once going to Canada (my student visa -- that doesn't really count lol). The first time getting pulled in was my fault -- I tossed a blanket over into the backseat, and it looked like we were hiding something (we weren't), so we assumed that was it. The second time was random. The guard even said so -- "Well, everything checks out, and as much as I'd like to say have a nice day, you've been randomly selected for additional questioning. Sorry. Please pull ahead." and he genuinely looked sorry, and we quickly knew why. We stood there for 2 hours for them to ask Matt "When are you planning to return to Canada?"... Yes. that was it. :x

I always get so nervous at the borders, even though I have nothing to be worried of. We're both good people and we don't lie... but it's still enough to put me on edge, lol.

... Sorry for typing so much..

[DeadPoolX 9]

What a jerk.

Standard though, he was a younger guy. Whenever we see a younger guard I just gear up to get ####### as they're all on power trips lol.

Same here. The first time I went through YVR, there was a young guard who went bat$hit insane after I told him I was there to "visit my fiancee." Judging by his actions, I was as dangerous as cocaine dealer carrying an AK-47.

I've also had problems with female border guards. I don't know what it is, but it seems that 9 times out 10, a female guard will be more trouble than a male guard. Maybe that sounds sexist, but that's my experience.

[Malrothien 6]

What a jerk.

Standard though, he was a younger guy. Whenever we see a younger guard I just gear up to get ####### as they're all on power trips lol.

Same here. The first time I went through YVR, there was a young guard who went bat$hit insane after I told him I was there to "visit my fiancee." Judging by his actions, I was as dangerous as cocaine dealer carrying an AK-47.

I've also had problems with female border guards. I don't know what it is, but it seems that 9 times out 10, a female guard will be more trouble than a male guard. Maybe that sounds sexist, but that's my experience.

I've had this discussion with my husband's coworkers as they deal with RCMP a lot. The majority of the female cops have a chip on their shoulder and are complete b1tches for no reason. I think they feel as though they have to come across as a tough b1tch in order to get the respect a cop deserves. Who knows.