More Changes At The Border.

In an earlier June Blog, I relayed changes in passport rules. However on our trip west this summer we experienced even more differences on a personal basis. We chose to travel from Ontario to British Columbia through the USA – via Michigan to Montana and then into Alberta. It was an awesome scenic trip to say the least, especially through South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana and into the Rockies. That will be a story for another time.

However we were surprised that agents at crossings in both countries treated our passports differently on this trip. In Port Huron, Michigan and again at Coutts, Alberta, the customs officials had our passports in their hands for about 3-minutes while they checked, and/or input info into the computer.

This is indeed a change in policy. In the past, officials would generally look at our passports, ask a few questions and hand them back to us. Yes our licence plates (tags) would always be checked, but any crossing history seemed to be buried deep in the file – if you had no tickets, no red flags went up.

It now appears as if dates of each crossing to and from your country of origin, plus how long you are in either country, may be obvious on a main file page. Not sure why, but it was apparent that both agents were recording, and/or checking info from our passports. This has never happened previously.

The general rule is visitors without visas can only stay in another country for 6-months per calendar year. Although this is not a new ruling, in the past many visitors, especially RVers, stretched these time frames. Without asking questions that would draw attention to myself. it now looks like time spent in another country could be a recorded fact. I am not sure what the agents were doing with our passports and because it was customs, I didn’t want to ruffle feathers by asking why. I am drawing my own conclusions and simply passing on border crossing changes that occurred on this summers trip into the USA and again returning into Canada.

Travel safe wherever you go, Peggi