Passports scanned or recorded at the border?

[BriCar 0]

Does anyone know for a fact if passports are scanned or recorded at the Canada/US border?

If they are is that why they don't bother stamping them?

Is that information used to track how many days per year that person is out of the country?

[*julez* 124]

I live in Buffalo and travel to Canada fairly often. I've never had my passport scanned when entering Canada, but the US border agents do take them into their little booth and it seems like they are scanned. Not sure why they don't bother stamping.

[Hugglebuggles 60]

I have noticed the US side scan my passport several times. The last time I crossed with my passport and my GC and they scanned them both. I've been using my passport to cross since 2005, and found that whenever they would scan my passport they'd stop asking questions, so it makes me think they have some kind of record of information that lets them know who you are and when you've crossed. However, on the Canadian side I've never noticed them scan it. They normally open it, look at it, look at me, and let me go.

Logic would tell me that the US and Canada really doesn't coordinate their information in a way that would tell them you entered Canada on a certain day and then went back to the US on a certain day. The US knows when you came in, but probably not when you left.

[KnJ 0]

I also have seen US CBP scan the barcode, but Canada doesn't do that. They don't have one big system. I once said I was going for a few weeks and actually ended up staying for months. Of course, not only is the US hooked into when I crossed back to Canada, I don't think CBP records how long we say we're going to be staying in the US.

I figure they don't stamp passports at least in part because Canadians and Americans don't need a visa to travel as a tourist cross-border. And so many people travel between US and Canada so frequently, our passports would be filled with useless stamps.

[BriCar 0]

OK

Seems like the 180 day per year Canada/US visit is on the "honor system" then.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Does anyone know for a fact if passports are scanned or recorded at the Canada/US border?

If they are is that why they don't bother stamping them?

Is that information used to track how many days per year that person is out of the country?

In most cases, yes. I travel to Canada a lot, several times in a week often enough. They swipe my passport and Alla's green card through the reader nearly each time. I recall one time they could not possibly have. we came back late in the evening and a guard came out and checked our passport/green card before we got to the booth. He let us by and handed back the douments. Every other time I can recall, they did.