Hi

I am currently working in Vancouver (I have a Perm Resident status - UK passport) and my wife is visiting me from the UK in Nov. and wants to visit Seattle (Frasier fan!)

We will be driving over and staying only for 2/3 days max.

Question is - neither of us has been to the States before so unsure of what paperwork etc we need.

Any ideas on wht we should be doing?

Thanks

Colin

Assuming she has a UK passport too then all you need to do is turn up at the border and show your passports. You will be sent into secondary inpsection where they might photograph and fingerprint you. You complete a short form and they issue you with a visa waiver which they staple into your passport. The cost is $6 each - US currency only if it is a crossing that does not accept credit cards.

There is sometimes a lineup in secondary: 1 - 2 hours is not unusual but you may be lucky if you cross at a quite time.

The visa waiver is valid for three months but must be returned. If you don't expect to use it again ask the Canadian border people to return it for you when you come back to Canada.

Loads of threads on here already, you need your passports, PR cards (to prove non-immigrant intent, i.e. you live in Canada). When you get to the POE they will send you to secondary inspection and you have to fill in an I-94W (or the CBP inspector will do it for you) which they staple into your passports and you pay $6 (in US funds) and go through US-VISIT (fingerprints and photograph). You can stay for 90 days maximum on the visa waiver program.

If your wife doesn't have a PR card then she needs a reasonable explanation of non-immigrant intent.

One point worth making is that usually at secondary inspection there is no sign or line, you just sit down and wait to be called. It can be a bit disconcerting the first time you do it. Can take a long time to be called if they're busy.

One more thing.
I personally would not cross the border, even for a day trip, without appropriate accident and health insurance ! You can get a Blue Cross policy quite inexpensively. Because I live in the US half the year I have a policy that covers me year round. If you are considering making several crossings you may want to consider getting an annual one.

all of the above, yes.

Cheap travel/ health insurance is also available from BCAA (our RAC) and i would also highly recommend you get it whenever travelling in the US.

Secondly, having done the drive several times i would suggest you leave the car behind and get a bus. The drive to Seattle is dull, dull, dull and not scenic in the least. Once you get to Seattle you'll park the car and pay for parking for 3 days as you can walk just about anywhere or get public transport.

Quickcoach is pretty good and picks up in lots of places.
http://www.quickcoach.com/

With the money you save on gas and parking, check yourself into a nice downtown hotel.

Well, apart for the Cascades, the Chuckanut Mountains, the Skagit Valley, the Snohomish Delta and so on. I have driven it more times than I care to remember and haven't been bored yet. Fair point about the parking in Seattle though if they are staying downtown.

The train (Amtrak Cascades) is a nice way to travel, although more expensive than the bus.

Take the bus? ffs. Just drive down there if you have to go. Although if I were you I'd stay well clear of the place.

I personally don't think travel health insurance from anyone but Blue Cross is worth the paper it is written on, if you live in Canada. Unless you have a group plan from work that covers you abroad. If you've got to buy it, Blue Cross is the best way.

The reason why is that other companies are underwritten by a US health insurance company and there are so many get out clauses for pre-existing conditions, various types of accidents and so forth that it's meaningless. Blue Cross is underwritten by Blue Cross themselves, so you can actually use it.

The only snag I find is that if you want to use it you have to get pre-approval from Blue Cross in writing, which isn't much help if you're unconscious.

Maybe there are other travel plans that are directly underwritten by a Canadian insurer but I've never found one to date. When you read the small print it always comes back to some US company with loads of exclusions.

Mine is underwritten by The Cooperators, a Canadian company. What's wrong with that ?

oh, one more thing i wanted to add:

I stand by my opinion that the drive to Seattle is dull and uneventful. There's nothing that you would miss from the window of a coach.

HOWEVER!
There are some very beautiful places in NW Washington away from the I5 (motorway) that are worth visiting and for those you would need a car.

for example:
We had a lovely time on the Chuckanut Drive (very scenic) and stayed in a nice B&B for a night right by the water. The views were stunning.

If your wife likes shopping the Premium Outlet might interest her. Again, you would need a car.

If you fancy a slightly longer trip, drive down to Seattle, spend a day or two, then come back via the Olympic Peninsula which is amazing. You can get a ferry from Port Angeles to Victoria and then complete the loop back to Vancouver.

This is more than a 2 day trip but well worth it and you get to see Victoria as well.

Hope that gives you some ideas.

If this is a possibility then take the bus.

I enjoyed the train ride. I'd take the train again.

You are right, and that is why they are the insurer of choice for the Canadian Forces. Found ourselves in Chicago 2yrs ago with a sick child, we were in and out of the hospital under an hour

Have you ever tried using it? Like I said, it always seems to come back to some sort of agreement with a US healthcare company that has all sorts of exclusions, except with Blue Cross.

I can't remember if I've come across that one but I looked through the AMA (the Alberta equivalent) one that was offered and it did come back to some US company. There are several offered by travel companies (RBC is a common one) and on TV (e.g. Medi-Pac), they all come back to a US healthcare company eventually.

There was a thing on CBC news about it not long ago as well, they basically came to the same conclusion.