Travel to Toronto on Advanced Parole by bus this weekend

[fafabb 0]

Hello. I received my Advanced Parole and plan to visit home this weekend by Greyhound. I'm a Canadian Citizen and I didn't declare non-residence when I left Canada. Did anyone try to cross the boarder by bus on Advanced Parole? This is my first time travelling with Greyhound and I have couple questions/worries...

1. Will Canada POE give me a hard time when I return?

2. When I return to US using Advanced Parole, how long would it take? I think Greyhound will only give 40 minutes for passengers at POE, is that correct?

3. What questions will they ask at the borders?

4. What documents do I have to bring with me except passport and the AP document?

Thanks,

Floria

[zyggy 9]

Hello. I received my Advanced Parole and plan to visit home this weekend by Greyhound. I'm a Canadian Citizen and I didn't declare non-residence when I left Canada. Did anyone try to cross the boarder by bus on Advanced Parole? This is my first time travelling with Greyhound and I have couple questions/worries...

1. Will Canada POE give me a hard time when I return?

2. When I return to US using Advanced Parole, how long would it take? I think Greyhound will only give 40 minutes for passengers at POE, is that correct?

3. What questions will they ask at the borders?

4. What documents do I have to bring with me except passport and the AP document?

Thanks,

Floria

1) Nope... your a Canadian Citizen returning home... No problems there. They may ask you where you live and what your status in the US is though. But the rules for duty is for a US Resident... NOT a Canadian resident.

2) It won't take long... No more than 10 to 20 minutes depending on how many people are waiting to get through secondary. Be sure to bring $10.00 cash for the I-94.

3) The typical fare... why were you there, where are you going, where do you live. Be sure to present the I-512 (AP) to the officer as soon as you get there. After that, they'll have you wait in secondary for an officer to proces your AP. They'll stamp the I-512, your passport, and issue you an I-94.

4) If your passport is in your maiden name, you should bring your marriage certificate as well.

[daisy16 0]

$10 for I-94? never heard that before. Where are you crossing? When I crossed by car it went fast.

Have fun!

[fafabb 0]

Thank you so much for your help... I feel calm now. I just worried I may miss my bus if it takes too long for them to process my AP. I will travel tomorrow and will post later about my experience. Thank you!

[zyggy 9]

$10 for I-94? never heard that before. Where are you crossing? When I crossed by car it went fast.

Have fun!

When you enter the US on AP at a land crossing, you have to pay for another I-94. It's actually $8. You got lucky, the CBP guy probably didn't feel like collecting it... Actually, sometimes they don't issue an I-94 at all. But make sure that they give it to you. It's pretty important when you go to your AOS interview.

Edited February 20, 2006 by zyggy

[fafabb 0]

I would like to share my experience here in case anyone want to know exactly what will happen when crossing by bus.

It's relatively simple when crossing from US to Canada. They just asked questions like why did you go to US, where do you live, where are you going to Canada, did you bring alcohol/tobacco. I was stucked for couple seconds thinking the answer of "where do you live". I answered NJ but my family is in toronto. They treated me like a non-resident already.

It's more complicated when crossing from Canada to US. When I get off the bus at the border, we have to line up and get all the carry-on bags on the floor. An office will take a dog to sniff the bags one by one. Then, we will go through an interview. I handed in my Advanced Parole forms, passport and marriage certificate. The guy asked me many questions like "Who did you married to?", "Where did you meet him?", "What was your purpose going to Canada", " How long did you go?", "How come that long? (I was there only for 3 weeks)", "How come your husband is not travelling with you?", "What is the biggest city close to where you live?", "Which USCIS local office do you go to?" He mentioned that he couldn't find my information. He went away from his desk for about 5-10 minutes and came back with my I-94A and both AP copies. They didn't charge me $6. It took approximately 25 minutes for the office to process my AP.

Then, we have to claim the big luggage and go through the custom. I saw somebody was being searched like crazy. I was so lucky that they didn't search mine. There was several people on my bus couldn't pass the border because they couldn't show ties to Canada.

My advice is get off the bus ASAP and try to line up at the front because it takes longer to process. The bus will not wait for you if majority people get back onto the bus.

[Saddle Bronc 124]

$10 for I-94? never heard that before. Where are you crossing? When I crossed by car it went fast.

Have fun!

zyggy may have meant C$10 (last I checked I-94 fee is US$6), a level it was set at in 1998/9.

[zyggy 9]

$10 for I-94? never heard that before. Where are you crossing? When I crossed by car it went fast.

Have fun!

zyggy may have meant C$10 (last I checked I-94 fee is US$6), a level it was set at in 1998/9.

Heh.. you got lucky.. they were supposed to charge you the $6 for the I-94... Oh well.. no big deal...

[Autumnal 25]

No one charged me for my I-94 when I entered into Canada, and I'm a Canadian citizen with an AP. We went through the border crossing into Canada by bus and returned to the US by the Amtrak running from Vancouver to Seattle.

Going up into Canada was very easy -- I was with my husband, a USC. They basically asked us a few questions about where we were going, how long we were staying, where we were from. Canadian border entry has usually been the issue for us, not the American side.

Returning to the US was a bit more complicated because I was the AP holder and the Border Security people at the train station hadn't been trained in finding the AP details. So they were running through in about 30 minutes (glad we got there early) and apologized for the delays, explaining they were not familiar with this part of the system. When I got through, though, after keeping a smile plastered to my face, they wished me well on my trip and were thoroughly apologetic that things took so long.

So not too hard.

[zyggy 9]

No one charged me for my I-94 when I entered into Canada, and I'm a Canadian citizen with an AP. We went through the border crossing into Canada by bus and returned to the US by the Amtrak running from Vancouver to Seattle.

Going up into Canada was very easy -- I was with my husband, a USC. They basically asked us a few questions about where we were going, how long we were staying, where we were from. Canadian border entry has usually been the issue for us, not the American side.

Returning to the US was a bit more complicated because I was the AP holder and the Border Security people at the train station hadn't been trained in finding the AP details. So they were running through in about 30 minutes (glad we got there early) and apologized for the delays, explaining they were not familiar with this part of the system. When I got through, though, after keeping a smile plastered to my face, they wished me well on my trip and were thoroughly apologetic that things took so long.

So not too hard.

Like I said, they're supposed to charge you $6 for the I-94... but in reality it rarely happens...

I would rather tip you off to the fact that they're supposed to charge it and you have the money, then if I didn't and they got you for it and you didn't have the money.

We got charged the $6 for the I-94 when we crossed with the K1... But weren't when we crossed with the AP, but the officer mentioned that he was supposed to, but didn't want to go through the paperwork for only $6.

Edited March 13, 2006 by zyggy

[silverbutterfly228 0]

I take the greyhound on a regualr bases to visit finace. They count how many heads before everyone is allowed off the bus and they count everyones head when they get back on so no ones get left behind. Going back into Canada is easy. They never check begs. USA is different. They check everything, but it depends on who it is. Nice officer asks if only clothes and I didnt have to open my bags. Mean officer looked at EVERYTHING three times over. Other times its a very quick look. It is best to sit at front so u get through quicker and back on the bus.

[chocolaterie 0]

hey fafabb,

thanks for letting us know. I'm going to travel back to Canada in August! Yippeee!