hughe

Hi everyone

Our Visas are through and we were hoping to land in October. To make it a bit more of an adventure (we don't do things by halves )we were wanting to travel on the Queen Mary, spend a few days in New York before flying onto to Calgary. Our consultant had told us this wouldn't be a problem but now Cunard reckon we might need full US Visas for the sake of 3 or 4 days as we aren't actually landed Canadian immigrants yet. I'm trying to contact the US Embassy to clarify but in the meantime, has anyone gone by ship via America when landing or am I asking for trouble?

many thanks

Notiaink...honest

If you have a british PP I dont see why you would need a visa to visit the US, and you wouldnt be landing by ship, you would be landing in calgary by air, surely?

hughe

Yes, I'll be landing in Canada by air but first arrival in US on the way to Canada will be by ship. Sorry, I should have made it more clear.

Notiaink...honest

I dont see why its a problem, other than Im guessing you have booked one way only, which tends to set the US immigration people off into a frenzy. As you have passage on to Calgary booked, and visas for that I dont see why you would need a distinct entry visa to the US too. But Im not a consultant, so what do I know. Maybe ask in the immigration forum, soomeone there might know for sure.

Biiiiink

US questions are probably better answered in the US Visa forum, but there was a discussion on this recently - see http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=467056

I still am not certain that the OP of that thread got the right information from the right embassy, but take from it what you will.

hughe

[QUOTE=Notiaink...honest;5113539]I dont see why its a problem, other than Im guessing you have booked one way only, which tends to set the US immigration people off into a frenzy. As you have passage on to Calgary booked, and visas for that I dont see why you would need a distinct entry visa to the US too. But Im not a consultant, so what do I know. Maybe ask in the immigration forum, soomeone there might know for sure.[/QUOTE

That's exactly what I thought too but it seems I may have jumped the gun a bit!. Thanks again.

hughe

Thanks so much, that was really helpful.

To be on the safe side it looks like I might have to fly but I'm not sure what my wife will say, the Queen Mary trip was a brilliant excuse for shopping

Biiiiink

I don't see how flying makes a difference, it's whether the US officers accept that you have an onward ticket to somewhere you're not (yet) resident.

Notiaink...honest

If you have the canadian PR visa in your passport, I dont see what grounds they would have to refuse entry to the US, unless they were having a particularly bad day.

hughe

Sorry, I meant flying straight to Calgary from the UK and missing the US out altogether. Bear with me it's been a really long day!

Biiiiink

I guess you've a fair chance, but would the US not be within their rights to refuse you on the VWP? You're not yet a legal resident of Canada, and the visa in your passport is no guarantee that you'll become one.

If Cunard won't let you travel without a full visa it's probably a moot point Are the airlines asking for proof of residency in Canada too? Dunno.

Hughe: After posting I realised what you meant. Maybe the US forum knows for sure and you can still get that trip on the QM

Piff Poff

Just wanted to say WHAT A COOL WAY TO GET HERE! Hope you do it sounds fab to me!

hughe

Thanks everyone.

I'm mad at our consultant as if we had known we would have applied for US visas ages ago. As it is I'm not sure if there is enough time as we were booked on an October sailing and I think it takes quite a few weeks for visas. It means that we will lose our deposit but I suppose at least we have found out now and not at New York!

I guess there is a moral to this story but I'm too fed up to think about it

Notiaink...honest

There is always the chance the any VWP passport holder can be rejected at the point of entry anyway, but holding onward flight tickets to Calgary and a canadian pr visa to validate would be quite convincing enough I suspect.

As you say, if Cunard require it, then they require it, but other than that I wouldn't bother short of irrefutable advice to the contrary.

Oakvillian

This and the other similar thread about flying via Seattle seem desperately unfair. If the US and Canada are both subscribed to the US VWP then it's jolly mean of the US to deny passage for somebody emigrating/immigrating from one to the other.

Hughe could always try telling the US immigration officials that he would have gone all the way to Calgary on the Queen Mary if somebody hadn't inconveniently left a continent in the way, but this might not help his cause any.