Nearly never made it back into Canada!
Mar 4th 2011 | 3:29 am
#16
Binned by Muderators
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 11,708
From: White Rock BC
Re: Nearly never made it back into Canada!
Maybe the inconsistency is deliberate. If bad guys know what to expect they can prepare for it. It is oddball questions or procedures that catch out the liars.
Mar 4th 2011 | 3:31 am
#17
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 13,402
From: South of Calgary
Re: Nearly never made it back into Canada!
I had a little shock on returning Wednesday as the immigration officer asked where my letter was from my wife stating her permission to take my son out of the country ! We were away for 2 weeks watching sport , and immigration mentioned i should have a signed letter from wife and or doctor giving me authorization to take my son with me . I mentioned we are not divorced have been married for 25 years but then got the horror stories of parents abducting their own kids ! I understand the situation but didn't realise it was such a big deal. Immigration mentioned we will be put on a register to check this doesn't happen again. Seems weird that we travel to the US regularly and it has never been mentioned before !
Last edited by Almost Canadian; Mar 4th 2011 at 5:20 am.
Mar 4th 2011 | 3:56 am
#18
Professional Cat herder
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 5,709
From: TORONTO- yay!!!
Re: Nearly never made it back into Canada!
doesn't need to involve lawyers at all. I seem to spend half my life at work typing up letters for students travelling abroad with faculty. We just get the parents to sign.
If the faculty member is felling particularly fastidious , we get them notarized.
If the faculty member is felling particularly fastidious , we get them notarized.
Mar 4th 2011 | 6:52 am
#19
Slob
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 6,345
From: Ottineau
Re: Nearly never made it back into Canada!
I had a well-odd question thrown at my by a credit card company security bod a couple of years ago.
"What's your star sign"?
I thought that quite clever.
Mar 4th 2011 | 5:09 pm
#20
Account Closed
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 0
Re: Nearly never made it back into Canada!
It is deliberate, consistency would make it far too easy for those up to no good to figure out the system, with security of any sort the best thing to do, is be inconsistent.
Mar 6th 2011 | 8:41 pm
#21
Forum Regular
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 249
From: virgil ,niagara on the lake
Re: Nearly never made it back into Canada!
Hi jaqui
Bet ya didnt have the same problem getting into the U/K nobody does.
Bet ya didnt have the same problem getting into the U/K nobody does.
Mar 8th 2011 | 9:11 am
#22
Forum Regular
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 181
Re: Nearly never made it back into Canada!
It is so easy to enter Canada.
Decades ago I arrived at Calgary Int. airport-I had just returned from a vacation in N.Z. When I passed thru the Auckland Airport I was told that my carry-on bag was too big-it had to go in the hold. My passport was in that bag.
Arriving at Calgary, standing in line, I wondered what I would tell immigration. I told the truth, that my passport was in my checked baggage. So, immigration asked for i.d. that I was a Canadian citizen. Produced my driver's licence, and a couple of other things-not good enough said immigration-anybody can get those i.d.s. So I got out my Chargex card-yes, it was that long ago. "O.K." said the immigration lady-"credit card companies are far better at checking out residency status that we are," and that is how I entered Canada on a Chargex card for i.d.
Decades ago I arrived at Calgary Int. airport-I had just returned from a vacation in N.Z. When I passed thru the Auckland Airport I was told that my carry-on bag was too big-it had to go in the hold. My passport was in that bag.
Arriving at Calgary, standing in line, I wondered what I would tell immigration. I told the truth, that my passport was in my checked baggage. So, immigration asked for i.d. that I was a Canadian citizen. Produced my driver's licence, and a couple of other things-not good enough said immigration-anybody can get those i.d.s. So I got out my Chargex card-yes, it was that long ago. "O.K." said the immigration lady-"credit card companies are far better at checking out residency status that we are," and that is how I entered Canada on a Chargex card for i.d.
Mar 8th 2011 | 9:54 am
#23
Professional Cat herder
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 5,709
From: TORONTO- yay!!!
Re: Nearly never made it back into Canada!
May have been true decades ago, doubt it would be the case now
Mar 8th 2011 | 11:04 am
#24
Forum Regular
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 245
Re: Nearly never made it back into Canada!
I'm glad you got back in. It must have been a hairy experience.
On another note, I'm fairly sure most of the immigration officers actually don't know what the hell they're talking about. Every single one of them has a different story.
On another note, I'm fairly sure most of the immigration officers actually don't know what the hell they're talking about. Every single one of them has a different story.
Mar 9th 2011 | 12:42 am
#25
Assimilated Pauper
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 40,070
From: Ontario
Re: Nearly never made it back into Canada!
It is so easy to enter Canada.
Decades ago I arrived at Calgary Int. airport-I had just returned from a vacation in N.Z. When I passed thru the Auckland Airport I was told that my carry-on bag was too big-it had to go in the hold. My passport was in that bag.
Arriving at Calgary, standing in line, I wondered what I would tell immigration. I told the truth, that my passport was in my checked baggage. So, immigration asked for i.d. that I was a Canadian citizen. Produced my driver's licence, and a couple of other things-not good enough said immigration-anybody can get those i.d.s. So I got out my Chargex card-yes, it was that long ago. "O.K." said the immigration lady-"credit card companies are far better at checking out residency status that we are," and that is how I entered Canada on a Chargex card for i.d.
Decades ago I arrived at Calgary Int. airport-I had just returned from a vacation in N.Z. When I passed thru the Auckland Airport I was told that my carry-on bag was too big-it had to go in the hold. My passport was in that bag.
Arriving at Calgary, standing in line, I wondered what I would tell immigration. I told the truth, that my passport was in my checked baggage. So, immigration asked for i.d. that I was a Canadian citizen. Produced my driver's licence, and a couple of other things-not good enough said immigration-anybody can get those i.d.s. So I got out my Chargex card-yes, it was that long ago. "O.K." said the immigration lady-"credit card companies are far better at checking out residency status that we are," and that is how I entered Canada on a Chargex card for i.d.
Now that I think of it, there was another time when I lost my documents to unexpected checking. "You must know I live here" I said to the officer "you must be able to see my unpaid traffic tickets". They let me in after much muttering about arrest and demands for immediate payment.
Last edited by dbd33; Mar 9th 2011 at 12:44 am.
Mar 9th 2011 | 3:15 am
#26
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 2,159
Re: Nearly never made it back into Canada!
[QUOTE=dbd33;9227947]When that happened to me, all my id was in the coat that they checked. I got in on the strength of describing the route to my house. Another time the queue for immigration looked unbearably long so I walked out through the in door, trusting that my bag would eventually turn up as lost and I'd get a call to collect it, which in due course I did.
Now that I think of it, there was another time when I lost my documents to unexpected checking. "You must know I live here" I said to the officer "you must be able to see my unpaid traffic tickets". They let me in after much muttering about arrest and demands for immediate payment.[/QUOTE]
You paid those traffic tickets yet, or is the arrest warrant still out on you?
Now that I think of it, there was another time when I lost my documents to unexpected checking. "You must know I live here" I said to the officer "you must be able to see my unpaid traffic tickets". They let me in after much muttering about arrest and demands for immediate payment.[/QUOTE]
You paid those traffic tickets yet, or is the arrest warrant still out on you?
Mar 11th 2011 | 1:05 pm
#28
Just Joined
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 1
From: The Badlands of Alberdy
Re: Nearly never made it back into Canada!
Arrived at Pearson yesterday afternoon, the usual 300 + people in line at passport control. I snaked around the line tapes for about 1hr 15mins. When it was my turn the IO officer asked all the normal questions, where have you been? why did you go? what did you do there? what did you spend $157 on in duty free? then she looked at my work permitt and noticed it runs out on March 30th. She asked what my status was in Canada I wanted to say you are looking at it, but refrained. She asked if we had renewed our LMO and if we had applied for PR. I said yes to both questions, she asked to see proof! I said I dont have any with me, she said she couldnt let me back in, as she has no proof that we have applied for a new LMO or PR and we may not leave at the end of March. She said when there is less than 6 months left on a work permitt then you need to carry proof with you. She said she should send me into the immigration office, and the only reason she wasnt was because the line was really long at the minute and on this occassion she would stamp my passport.Strange thing is, my husband arrived back a week before me and had no problems at all.
Do they not realise that Brits are not exactly economic refugees from....erm, hang on, well, y'know?
As an aside and this being me first post, I'll take this opportunity to present myself as a 2 year lurker and say hello to everyone. Hello. Everyone.
Mar 11th 2011 | 3:16 pm
#29
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 1,986
Re: Nearly never made it back into Canada!
I was once visiting family in LA from the UK (on my way back to Canada while trying to pretend I had never left). Anyway, we decided to go to TJ for the day. Drove there in my in-laws F150 (obviously). Parked and wandered over the border into Mexico. After a few hours of drinking in a bar called Buckets in TJ I realised I had no ID (except for an expired BC Health Card). No photo ID at all. Luckily by this point I was ten drinks in and the proud owner of a large sombrero (see attached pic). Somehow (pre 9-11) I was allowed back into the US by explaining "I'm with them, I'm Canadian". In retrospect I kind of wish I had been denied entry....
Mar 11th 2011 | 3:23 pm
#30
.
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 20,188
Re: Nearly never made it back into Canada!
I was once visiting family in LA from the UK (on my way back to Canada while trying to pretend I had never left). Anyway, we decided to go to TJ for the day. Drove there in my in-laws F150 (obviously). Parked and wandered over the border into Mexico. After a few hours of drinking in a bar called Buckets in TJ I realised I had no ID (except for an expired BC Health Card). No photo ID at all. Luckily by this point I was ten drinks in and the proud owner of a large sombrero (see attached pic). Somehow (pre 9-11) I was allowed back into the US by explaining "I'm with them, I'm Canadian". In retrospect I kind of wish I had been denied entry....
