A story that went viral earlier this month has many travelers asking what the new Canadian snowbirds U.S. border fingerprint rules really mean. Customs officers at the Peace Arch Border near Blaine, Washington, charged two snowbirds from Ladysmith, British Columbia—Jacquie and Steve Ree—$60 for fingerprints and photographs after they crossed into the United States.
The couple told CBC News, “I’m watching them open all our hatches, and we’re thinking, ‘Oh my god.’ They went through our whole RV.” Their inspection lasted more than an hour and included a full check of their motorhome. The experience caught the attention of both Canadian and U.S. media outlets, sparking questions about whether new procedures had quietly taken effect.
Canadian snowbirds U.S. border fingerprint rules clarified by CSA
In the days that followed, the Canadian Snowbirds Association (CSA) stepped in to clarify what’s behind the confusion. According to the organization, border officers now ask some travelers to complete an I-94 form at the time of entry. Officials use this document to record arrivals and departures for non-U.S. citizens.
“There have been instances where U.S. border officers require the I-94 form to be completed at the time of entry,” the CSA said in its statement. “In such cases, travelers may be directed to secondary inspection, where they may be fingerprinted and photographed, and charged a $30 processing fee for the I-94.”
The association urges travelers to keep crossing the border as usual but to check whether officials have issued an I-94. If it has, print a copy for your records. If not, the CSA recommends filing Form G-325R with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services within 30 days of entry.
U.S. Customs “fully supports this rule”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) confirmed the procedure in an email to CTV News, saying it is “in compliance with statutory alien registration and fingerprinting provisions.” The CBP added that the Department of Homeland Security “fully supports this rule,” which it says aligns with ongoing efforts to strengthen U.S. border security.
For Canadian RVers and snowbirds, the takeaway is to expect possible delays and small fees at some crossings, especially for longer stays. The CSA says there’s no reason to cancel plans—just be prepared, stay informed, and make sure your paperwork is in order before heading south.
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RVT1233b
GO JAYS GO!!!!
Woohoo! Beat them Dodgers!
Canada loves our American Neighbours but sorry, GO JAYS GO!
No one appreciates a repeat. I’m an Amercan, Go Jays Go!
Anybody but the Dodgers.
Exactly! Or the Yankees….hahaha
Yeppers!
A reasonable explanation and good advice from the Cn Snowbirds Assn. I am pretty sure this does not apply to weekend visitors – and primarily to visitors over 30 days. This is in response to the southern open border and the resultant problems and the refusal of the Trudeau Admin. to qualify and account for immigration into CN and some who were/are trying to enter the US thru our north undefended border! Too bad it has to be this way – but it is a different world and defense is job one! Please be patient and understand the reasons.
Absolutely correct DW. Canada is a great neighbor to the USA and the USA is a great neighbor to Canada. Setting a new baseline for our shared border, going both directions is a good thing. An hour or 2 of one’s life compared to the 4-6 months in a foreign country, as a guest, seems like a relatively insignificant time investment.
Nice post!
We were in Canada a few years back. Love the country and the people. If I were Canadian I would find someplace else to visit. This is no way to treat what used to be our friends and neighbors. GO BLUEJAYS !!!
Tough to get anywhere not in Canada in an RV without crossing the border . I guess they could put the 5ver on a ship and take it off in Puerto Vallarta…. a little bit spendy but possible.
Go Jay’s.
Unfortunately one can’t assume that everyone trying to cross our Northern border is Canadian and/or “friendly.” Can you tell just by looking at them?
I traveled the world for business on 5 continents. I was never allowed to just enter another country without all my paperwork and identification requirements complete.
I once walked into a conference room in Guadalajara to hear my Mexican collegues badmouthing our border practices. The room fell silent when I asked them what would happen to me if I came into Mexico illegally.
It really saddens me to see this extreme change in our border crossings. 🙁 After many years of visiting the USA by RV, we won’t be returning there anytime soon. 🙁
And that is your choice.
We sure are going to miss you….🤣😂🤣😂 but regardless, we seem to be doing just fine. Winning and winning and winning.
When we traveled to Alaska and in and out of Canada last summer with a caravan group, quite a few RVs were taken aside and searched – mostly for meat and fruit! It’s pretty common crossing the US/Canada border.
Exactly. We’ve spent hours being searched going north into Canada and the same thing coming south back into the USA. This 100% not a 1 way issue only for Canadians heading into the USA. Canada’s version of CBP looks hard for weapons and ammo, including with residue sniffing dogs, and for booze and smokes. US CBP at one time looked hard for Cuban Cigars and Cuban Rum. Times change. This is such a non-issue, and only for the TDS afflicted.
Yep. Over 20 years ago when we crossed into Canada it took about 45 minutes as their customs agent did a review of our 40′ motorhome. It wasn’t what I’d call an “invasive” procedure, but thorough.
I don’t understand why people are so angry over our border security actually performing the processes that have been on the books for ages but only loosely and minimally enforced. A grandma can be smuggling drugs! Border Patrol Agents cannot tell just by looking at someone’s face.
The border guards seemed to be pretty selective of what they removed food wise. Eggs from one RV, Tomatoes from another and chicken from me. I suspect they were getting their dinners together. This was US customs.
That’s so funny because I had three pieces of birch wood and some steaks taken when our RV was searched by Canadian Customs. I laughed and told my wife they were preparing their dinner…steaks over the fire!!! 🤣🤣🤣
Interesting though that I never got bent out of shape threatening to never come back to Canada. These were customs folks just doing their jobs and I respected it.
If someone wants to go through a REAL customs process, go to Japan!
We crossed the border from Sarnia to Port Huron this morning. Two questions from the officer. Where are you going? How long will you be? We answered Texas and mid April.
OK, you’re good to go.
Our only issue was there was only a single booth plus Nexus open. It took 30 minutes to get through. But that is also indicative of the number of Canadians entering. We were the only RV at that time… 8:30 AM.
In reply to: ““I’m watching them open all our hatches, and we’re thinking, ‘Oh my god.’ They went through our whole RV.” Their inspection lasted more than an hour and included a full check of their motorhome”.
Ahem….we were detained for about an hour and our entire RV and truck were searched at the CANADIAN side of the Rainbow Bridge by Niagara several years ago. In the process a work laptop was destroyed by those doing the inspection.’Oh my god.’ It happens…..get over it!
In 2007 we drove our Bounder and friends drove their crew cab pickup pulling a little Scamp trailer from California to Fairbanks and beyond. Through British Columbia and Yukon Territory there were interesting and fun stops along the way. Roads were generally good. however, there was a bridge undergoing major renovation. The lane was so narrow with high timber curbs on both sides that it took my extreme attention to not scrape lug nuts against the curbs. Another motorhome that we met at a campground was not so lucky. He broke three lug-nut studs on a front wheel. My greatest concern was the price of gas. A liter which is only a little more than a quart didn’t cost much less than a US gallon.
I haven’t crossed the US/Canadian border in either direction for many years, but I do remember on our Lake Superior Circle tour how polite the Canadian border people were to us going into Canada, and how rude the American border people were to us coming home. It was the same way going and coming from Mexico this past winter. Although one officer on the American side was funny. He warned us that the agriculture patrol was there that day and to be sure to declare everything because they were “kind of jerks”. He was right. We bought nothing in Mexico, all the food they confiscated we had brought down with us from home and had been in the fridge the entire time. Go Jays!
Hi Pat: I agree with your assessment of border guards! As my late wife of 58 yrs, was a former Canadian citizen, I and we crossed the border numerous times for birthdays, holidays, weddings and whatever. It was the US agents when returning to the US who gave us the most delays. This was a few years ago now (2022) – our last trip the harsh treatment was going into Canada! The US guy, former military, was great! Hmmm? The worst encounters have been women agents with a gun! Man! I could tell stories of a couple of those trips – from either side!
As a Canadian who has spent the last four winters in the Southwest US, I have ZERO issues to be fingerprinted and photographed at the border. If you have done nothing wrong, what’s the big deal?
However, I will not be spending my winters anywhere in the US for a few years. Not sad for me as I will spend my time (and money) traveling Canada, Europe, and other parts of the world. Life is about choices; I am fine with mine.
I completely agree with you, Leonard. 💯. Life is choices. I hope we see you back in a few years once Vance or Rubio are POTUS but until then, happy trails and in the meantime, our POTUS will continue to advance world peace which may benefit you on your European adventures as well because yes, Europe is a part of the world too and POTUS has that covered FOR THE PLANET. A planetary leader, King of Planet Earth, some would say. LOL.
✌️ brother. Go Jay’s.
I think it is wrong to require this for visitors. We’ve gone to many other countries ourselves over the years. Australia, Canada, Mexico, Ireland, Iceland, Norway and never had such obtrusive measures. Just passport validation/stamp, customs declarations (never with an inspection).
HI John: The key is how long were you there? Did you tell them you would be returning in 30,45,60, 120 days? Or did you cross those borders for a weekend or so visit?
We were harassed by a Canadian border agent when we went into Canada in June 2022 on a caravan trip. He let 2 RVs go in ahead of us (the first one was our wagon masters) and then questioned us about how many were in our group. When we told him 19 more, he got an attitude and started nitpicking with us.
It can be crappy either way.
I’m all for anything that strengthens our border. Most Americans are aware that Canada has a loose European style border hoping immigrants from “anywhere” will boost their population. Yes, it is unfortunate that Canadian snow birds are being affected by these tougher standards, but nobody has tried to destroy Toronto like 9/11.
And that is the DOOM LOOP of Socialism in a nutshell. A population that isn’t having enough children to prop up the retiring population with lots of socialized benefits, needs to import a population of new taxpayers to maintain thise social programs…. programs like Canadian health care as an example. Entire countries and cities in Europe are being decimated with this kind of logic. London is no longer a traditional British city. Just like Thatcher said, …. running out of other people’s money….! Now they have to import taxpayers to keep the socialism going….. see NYC in 3 years once the taxpayers all move to Florida.
we will be on our way out of upstate NY, not NYC but for the same reason…toxic influence and stupid laws that are driven by downstate NY politicians. NYC will be an interesting experiment to observe from a distance.
Yes, so true.
One of my uncles was a full bird Colonel who spent a good part of his U.S. military career at the Pentagon. He couldn’t talk about specifically what he did, but one time he told me it was best that the American people don’t know everything that’s going on both within and outside of the U.S. when it comes to people and groups that want to do the U.S. harm. And that was 40 years ago! I doubt it’s gotten any better.
Our 24’ motor home was searched thoroughly for over an hour when we entered British Columbia a few years ago. I think mainly because I have an NRA sticker on the driver side.
Sorry Canada. Please let us fix this
Thats a Self Flogging Apologist comment if I ever heard one.
Sorry for what, exactly?
For the National Defense protection of Canada since end of WW2?
For paying 90% of the tab on Canadian’s prescriptions the last 60 years?
For the subsidized free health care?
For the internet? Covid vaccine? The Cheeseburger?
Just another apologist for American exceptionalism. WOW, WOW, WOW.
Visit the USA, to be classified as an “ALIEN”? I DON’T THINK SO!
My first visit to the US was in 1976 to California, it required my Birth Certificate and drivers license.
I guess that my last visit across the border was just that, my LAST visit!
Don’t care.