Day Trip to Canada

[Redro 4,611]

We live in Detroit and are planning to go to Windsor for the day. 
Want to confirm LPRs do not need to apply for a visa. we can just enter with GC and passport.

Second question, if I don’t stay overnight would I need to count this as time outside the US for my eventual N400 application? 

[W199 333]

39 minutes ago, Redro said:

We live in Detroit and are planning to go to Windsor for the day. 
Want to confirm LPRs do not need to apply for a visa. we can just enter with GC and passport.

Second question, if I don’t stay overnight would I need to count this as time outside the US for my eventual N400 application? 

Canada has a tool to find out what you need, here  https://www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/visas.asp

 

I just ran it for a LPR with a passport from South Africa, and it said you just need passport and GC.

 

Not sure about the N400 .. 

 

Edited August 23, 2023 by W199

[Redro 4,611]

27 minutes ago, W199 said:

Canada has a tool to find out what you need, here  https://www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/visas.asp

 

I just ran it for a LPR with a passport from South Africa, and it said you just need passport and GC.

 

Not sure about the N400 .. 

 

Used the same tool. And read the article indicating things changed in April 2022. Just looking for real life experiences from people who have recently visited Canada as US LPRs. I don’t always trust online sources    and the process for South Africans without LPR status is fairly annoying so I don’t want to be turned away at the border. 

[Mike E 11,739]

2 hours ago, Redro said:

We live in Detroit and are planning to go to Windsor for the day. 
Want to confirm LPRs do not need to apply for a visa. we can just enter with GC and passport.

 

 

2 hours ago, Redro said:

Second question, if I don’t stay overnight would I need to count this as time outside the US for my eventual N400 application? 

 

It does not count as an absence.

 

Even if you stay just one night, it does not count because the day you depart the U.S. and the day you return to the U.S.  count as days in the U.S. Days counted in the U.S. cannot count as days absent from the U.S.  

 

day trip  : 1 day of presence :  0 days of absence

1 night  away : 2 days of presence :  0 days of absence

2 nights away :  2 days of presence: 1 day  of absence

3 nights away : 2 days of presence : 2 days of absence

…

 

 

Edited August 23, 2023 by Mike E

[W199 333]

Just be prepared to answer their questions about your trip, gifts, weapons, tear gas, (they asked me all those)...    I have been driving back and forth across the border, to rendezvous with my fiancee there while waiting for the K-1.   As a USC driving my own car, etc.. I was really shocked at how many probing questions they kept asking me in both directions.  All the other cars seemed to be there for a while due to with many questions. 

 

Oh, after my 5th or so trip, they finally calmed down and  just asked me a couple of normal questions and let me pass.

 

My fiancee also said whe she arrived on her toursit visa, there was a huge line at secondary for first time visitors, about 4 hours wait, and most of the people got sent back (Nigeria, India, Pakistan, etc..) including one guy in a wheelchair and the 2 people he was with because they said they were his sons, and CBP replied that it was an obvious lie 

Edited August 23, 2023 by W199

[OldUser 6,650]

I travelled to Canada in late 2022 with conditional GC and passport. I didn't need visa or eTA, even though my passport required getting eTA otherwise (if I wasn't a US LPR).

[Redro 4,611]

8 hours ago, W199 said:

Just be prepared to answer their questions about your trip, gifts, weapons, tear gas, (they asked me all those)...    I have been driving back and forth across the border, to rendezvous with my fiancee there while waiting for the K-1.   As a USC driving my own car, etc.. I was really shocked at how many probing questions they kept asking me in both directions.  All the other cars seemed to be there for a while due to with many questions. 

 

Oh, after my 5th or so trip, they finally calmed down and  just asked me a couple of normal questions and let me pass.

 

My fiancee also said whe she arrived on her toursit visa, there was a huge line at secondary for first time visitors, about 4 hours wait, and most of the people got sent back (Nigeria, India, Pakistan, etc..) including one guy in a wheelchair and the 2 people he was with because they said they were his sons, and CBP replied that it was an obvious lie 

Thanks! I'll probably report back after we return. Coworkers today were telling me some great stories about how they used to cross the border with just a driver's license and how most people go over because the drinking age is lower.