Originally Posted by Steve_

I didn't say it was going away, I said it would be a moot point, what I meant was you're going to be subject to the same degree of checking, so you won't just be able to show up at a POE with some BS story as to why you're coming into Canada and if you're not Canadian or American you'll also have to be pre-approved for entry. I.e. it won't be any easier.

CBP and CBSA do check with each other now, for example if you're denied entry then that is automatically reported back to the other side so they can deal with it if you're a fugitive or whatever.

In the future though the entry records will be available without request, so if you're spinning one story on one side and another on the other, they'll know you're trying to game it.

E.g. you tell one side you're just visiting, you tell the other side all the tools in your car are from your job that you were doing and so they're exempt from duty. So you show up again and say you're visiting - er... says here you were working, where's your work authorization?

The whole idea of the agreement is to have a common standard for border controls, so you can't be a terrorist and enter Canada and then try and get into the US at a land border. So the US becomes more trusting and places less restrictions on movement of goods and people because they're pre-checked. For example cargo won't have to be inspected twice.

However I personally think it will become a bit of a double-edged sword because the border people will have more information they can make peoples lives a misery with. I suspect I will be reading a lot more stories like this: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/britis...erblocked.html

Originally Posted by markwm

Seriously? If you're planning to come here and ghost across the border to start your life in the dark underbelly of society with all of the other 'undocumented aliens' are you really going to be that bothered about a one way ticket and crappy airlines?

On the other hand, sounds like you have direct experience of the process. Where is the number for the border patrol when you need it?

Originally Posted by crg

I would not expect that Canada would deny someone a "CETA" just because the person was denied an ESTA. A criminal, perhaps but not a 214(b).

Also, how would you define a "flagpole"?

Originally Posted by Steve_

Flagpole means to leave and re-enter for whatever purpose, obviously the more information the border people have there is a greater potential for difficulties in dealing with them. Or not, it's a double-edged sword. If you as a third country national need to be approved to enter either country and they can see each others entry records that will make flagpoling more difficult, I assume.