I am still a Canadian Citizen after being in USA about 50 years, and my
last few border crossings were interesting.
Last year, I was photographing (by car) at the north end of Lake Champlain,
took a wrong turn, and found myself in no-man's land between the US and
Canadian border stations. I made an illegal u-turn to avoid the Canada
station, and headed back to the US Station. I had only my driver's license
and nothing else. It took them an hour or so, but eventually they located
a record of my green card which was under my old New Jersey address, but I
was able to tell them that address when asked. So they let me continue on
into the US.
Some years ago, my best friend was receiving cancer treatment in Bahamas,
and it looked like his time was short, so I flew down there to see him. I
entered Bahamas customs with an expired Canadian passport, and a USA green
card with a picture of me when I was 10 years old. They got so
"enthusiastic" about my crappy paperwork that they never looked in my bags.
One bag had 20 pounds of pain meds for my friend, mostly morphine and
other nearly-Heroin items. Some very heavy-duty narcotics. Would have
been interesting if they'd looked in there eh?
That weekend, my friend got discharged and sent home, so the next day I
left and flew back to USA, and yepper, the USA customs got equally
enthusiastic about my paperwork. Eventually they let me go, and I got home
all OK. But in the excitement, they also failed to check my bags, which
now contained 400 hypodermic needles, for my friend who was on the next
plane after me.
When I finally did arrive back home, my new Canadian passport was in my
mailbox waiting, just a few days too late.
I think the moral of these stories, if you encounter customs officials who
are challenging you, the thing to do is tell them the truth and answer
every question exactly, however ridiculous your answers may sound. They
can generally confirm some of it via their computer systems, and soon as
that happens, they start to relax and eventually you will be on your way.
Fred
Tug 44
I am still a Canadian Citizen after being in USA about 50 years, and my
last few border crossings were interesting.
Last year, I was photographing (by car) at the north end of Lake Champlain,
took a wrong turn, and found myself in no-man's land between the US and
Canadian border stations. I made an illegal u-turn to avoid the Canada
station, and headed back to the US Station. I had only my driver's license
and nothing else. It took them an hour or so, but eventually they located
a record of my green card which was under my old New Jersey address, but I
was able to tell them that address when asked. So they let me continue on
into the US.
Some years ago, my best friend was receiving cancer treatment in Bahamas,
and it looked like his time was short, so I flew down there to see him. I
entered Bahamas customs with an expired Canadian passport, and a USA green
card with a picture of me when I was 10 years old. They got so
"enthusiastic" about my crappy paperwork that they never looked in my bags.
One bag had 20 pounds of pain meds for my friend, mostly morphine and
other nearly-Heroin items. Some very heavy-duty narcotics. Would have
been interesting if they'd looked in there eh?
That weekend, my friend got discharged and sent home, so the next day I
left and flew back to USA, and yepper, the USA customs got equally
enthusiastic about my paperwork. Eventually they let me go, and I got home
all OK. But in the excitement, they also failed to check my bags, which
now contained 400 hypodermic needles, for my friend who was on the next
plane after me.
When I finally did arrive back home, my new Canadian passport was in my
mailbox waiting, just a few days too late.
I think the moral of these stories, if you encounter customs officials who
are challenging you, the thing to do is tell them the truth and answer
every question exactly, however ridiculous your answers may sound. They
can generally confirm some of it via their computer systems, and soon as
that happens, they start to relax and eventually you will be on your way.
Fred
Tug 44
