TOP 10 DON’TS WHEN CROSSING THE US AND CANADA BORDER

Back when I was a teenager (1990s), my family drove from Virginia to Quebec as tourists. No passports, no visas, no papers of any kind that I remember. If you were a US citizen, you could cross into Canada almost as easily as crossing state lines. After 9/11, that was no longer the case.

I had a friend who worked in Windsor and lived in Detroit. In his first week of employment, he grabbed a Whopper at Burger King before crossing the border. The Canadian agent made him take the pickle, onion, tomato and lettuce off his burger and toss out the fries. "Can't bring fruits and vegetables from the U.S. into Canada," he said. The agent never asked about the pistol he had in the glove box. I am not making this up. Ridiculous but true.

I was crossing the border to go to Boston on a bus once and our guide told us a story about a guy that was returning to Canada also on a bus. When the cop asked him if he had anything to declare the guy said "yes, i have a pound of pot i'm bringing with me". The cop took it as a joke, laughed it off and let them go. A few kilometers further, the bus was stopped by some cops and it turned out the guy actually had a pound of pot with him. There was a discussion with the border security and now they're obliged to take every declaration seriously, even if it's just an obvious joke

#1 DON'T: Don't answer the American customs agent/border guard in either Arabic or Spanish when they ask you if you're Canadian. An ex-boyfriend of my sister's did that at the Detroit-Windsor tunnel. When they asked them if they were all Canadian, he answered "Si Senior!". They took him, my sister and the three other friends in the car (who were going over to a Detroit Tigers baseball game) into separate interrogation rooms, spent 4 hours confirming that they were all Canadians, took OUT the back seats in their van, then at the end of it all denied them entry into the USA and sent them back through the tunnel to Canada.

I have lived on the Detroit-Windsor border for 40 years. This video is SO spot on. Very good advice for those not in the know, and planning to cross.

The worst thing to do is to state, after you've been in the States a week or two: " We have nothing to declare . We bought nothing ". My Dad used to say that every year after the family camped around Cape Cod. Customs, naturally, never believed him, and we were searched and delayed every time. They always found some things my parents had bought in the States.

I have crossed these borders many dozens of times. Both for my work and sometimes pleasure. Border guards have always been friendly and we do joke with each other. Of Course, I have Security clearance from both sides and I do pay duty on some items. All a person needs to due is be honest and truthful. If you are a criminal Canada will not allow you to enter!

Travelling is becoming more unpleasant by the day.

These are just good general advice for crossing any border. I have visited fifty countries and at the point of entry i am always nervous even if I am completely innocent with nothing to hide I still feel guilty.

Mid-1980's, a school bus from the US was crossing the border at Niagara Falls; the bus was directed to the parking area off to one side, and an officer got on to ask each student their citizenship. As he came up the steps at the front, a genius in the back yelled "HE'S COMING, QUICK, HIDE IT!" Border patrol searched every pocket, every backpack, every suitcase, every inch of the bus, every everything. It took several hours and they missed the event they were traveling for in the first place.

Once upon a time I worked for an inventory company. We had a job in International Falls MN on a Sunday. After a very long drive we arrived in IF early and wanted to get breakfast, but all was closed. So we piled back into the van and headed across the boarder into Canada. The crossing guard asked the purpose of our trip, and I replied, "to get breakfast at McDonalds. He asked why, and I said, "International Falls is still closed and the Canadian McDonalds is open. He chuckled and welcomed us to Canada. On the way back giving the same explanation to the US boarder patrol, we we invited into the office, while I and two guards searched the van for contraband. Apparently visiting McDonalds and visiting Canada for less than an hour is suspicious. Just another slice of life.

Back in the 1990's I flew from Africa to LAX (Los Angeles) with a .22 Long Rifle and a semi-automatic 12-gauge shotgun slung over my shoulder, walked through the green zone at LAX without anyone batting an eyelid. In my luggage I had 500 .22 rounds and 100 shotgun cartridges. When I boarded in Johannesburg, the cabin crew kindly took my rifles and placed them in a forward baggage area behind the bulkhead because they wouldn't fit in the overhead bins. I tried to check them in as check-in luggage but security refused because they reckoned that they might be stolen, so they suggested that I take them into the cabin with me. Because the rifles were cabin-luggage, I had to walk through Heathrow and JFK in NY to my connecting flights with them slung over my shoulder, having had the same courtesy from the cabin crew on all three legs of the journey. 911 changed all that.

Many years ago I was Deputy Forester for Guam. Among my section's responsibilities was to approve or destroy agricultural items taken from passengers at the airport and brought to our office. I had gone to Hawaii to make arrangements to ship us two fire trucks and to bring back some tree seedlings to grow in our nursery. The seedlings were sealed and had all the required paperwork so that they could enter Guam without any problem. I carried an ID card and law enforcement badge. When I went to claim the seedlings upon my return, the agent said they weren't admissible. I presented the paperwork and my credentials which he did not accept. He put his hand on the butt of his side arm and said, Lookit white boy, your plants will burn and if you don't get out of here now, you will have been resisting arrest." The next morning, his boss, who I knew well brought over the agriculture seized the day before. The agent who hassled me was with my friend but didn't recognize me. I motioned him over, unzipped my jacket so he could see my side arm, and said, "You're on my ground now. What was that threat to shoot me for resisting arrest yesterday all about?" The guy finally recognized me and turned pale as a ghost. Both his boss and mine wanted to know what happened. I explained. He fired the guy on the spot and told me I could arrest him right then (I did) and provided me the code numbers for laws the man broke including threatening the life of a law enforcement officer (me) and stealing government property (the seedlings). The good news is the seedlings got through the ordeal just fine.

11. Don't talk on the cell phone, text, play games, etc with your electronics while the border agent is trying to process you through. PUT THE THING DOWN.

In the mid 1990s my grandmother died. She lived in northern NY on the Canadian border. I lived in NC at the time. I got a plane ticket to Montreal, which is the closes airport to the town I grew up in.. I lost my wallet a day or two before my flight. I showed up at the airport in Raleigh and flew to Montreal with out any I.D. When I came to the Canadian customs in the airport they asked me for I.D.. I told them I didn't have any but my brother was waiting for me and told the Customs agent he would " vouch for me". They looked at his drivers license and let me in. We then passed through US Customs. Again, they never asked for any ID. I went to the funeral, crossed the US/Canadian border again, got on my flight and flew back to NC and when through customs again for a total of crossing the border 4 times and getting 2 flights all without any ID. Things were very different back then.

i got flustered one time when the cool canadian border guy instead of asking the usual questions. asked me who my top 3 favorite rock bands were. he was surprised and asked why i could only think of 2. i told him i was more into jazz than rock. he asked who my top 3 were and i gave him 15. he laughed and waived me thru.

A few years ago, my wife and I were crossing into Canada at Windsor Tunnel. When you come out of the tunnel, you have to make a sharp U turn to get to the border checkpoint. Unfortunately, we didn't quite catch this and almost drove the wrong way out. We caught it in time, but we had to back up a little bit. A CBSA agent barked at us that this wasn't a speedway, but we didn't have any problems with the border guard.

14:26 “if you are detained and search, uncomfortableness may occur” (paraphrasing). This is an understatement if you end up getting searched! 🤣🤣

We were crossing the border in Niagara Falls. As we pulled up to the checkpoint another border agent entered the booth and whispered “You,re ugly” to the guy questioning us. We busted up laughing and were waived through.

My wife and I were going back into Canada after taking our daughter to children's hospital in Detroit when she broke her leg. We are US citizens. As we were being questioned by the Canadian border agent my phone rang... It was our pediatrician calling about our daughter's leg. I handed the phone to my wife to talk to the doctor. The Canadian agent turned nasty real fast. Told me she would take my phone. She said that the US border agents are even worse when it comes to a phone. There is not one sign saying no phones. She didn't care one bit that it was a doctor calling about our daughter. I thought it was a little excessive. Wonder if anybody else ever had this issue. Now I understand I wouldn't be taking a personal call while crossing.