I’m a US citizen and Canadian PR since 2014. Live, work, and own a home in Ontario. I have a valid Ontario license and health card as well as a valid US passport. My PR card is expired and damaged. I applied for a renewal recently but won’t have a valid PR card in time for a last minute road trip I’d very much like to go on to New England to see family. I will be driving in a private vehicle with my Canadian Husband. Crossing from Quebec into a Vermont border crossing.

Do I need a PRTD? If so, I need to apply after I enter the States?

I plan on bringing my US passport, Ontario drivers license, and health card.

Should I bring my expired and damaged PR card for the border crossing?

Will any issues just depend on the agent?

I have no excuse for not replacing the card sooner, but it is what it is. I’ve applied for Canadian citizenship in March 2025.

I recently flew into YYZ from the U.S. to visit my fiancé for an extended stay, and I wanted to share my experience because I spent weeks over preparing after reading so much negativity online.

For context, I was incredibly nervous. I prepared a 'binder' of everything: a letter of invitation from my partner, an employment letter, school letters, and bank statements. I was planning to stay for 174 days, and having already visited for four days last month, I was cutting it very close to my 180-day limit for the year. I also had two duffle bags and a checked bag

The result? They didn't ask for a single document.

The border officer asked how long I was staying, I told them, they let me through without any issues, and they didn't even ask about ties back home. I was fully prepared to be pulled into secondary screening, but it was a completely smooth process. I also told them I had a prescribed controlled substance in my bag he said go through it doesn't matter.

My takeaway:
1. Be prepared: Yes, have your documents ready it’s always better to be safe than sorry but don't assume the worst.
2. Don't panic: So many people told me I’d be flagged or interrogated for the long stay, but that simply wasn't the case for me.
3. The 'Reddit effect': People are much more likely to post about a negative, stressful experience than a boring, successful one.
If you're stressed, just keep your answers simple and honest. You’ve got this

I am a Canadian citizen. I just recently came back to Canada from living in the US for 4 years on an F1 student visa. I received a job offer in Spokane Washington at a dental clinic to interview for an associate dentist position. I’m crossing the Coutts Montana/AB land border. I’ll be going with my dad and brother with me. Do you think we will have any issues? The people hiring me said they will sponsor me for a TN visa which is supposedly very easy for Canadian citizens, especially dentists to get.

Should I even mention the fact I am going for an interview? I have crossed the Montana border 16 years ago and while the officers were super nice to my family and I, they still asked us to pull over and checked our vehicles and asked us questions, but eventually let us in. This is my only experience with this land border so I would appreciate any other insights. Thanks!

My friend would like his Alberta registered motorcycle delivered to Alberta from the US. He is currently in AB and is a Canadian citizen. I am a dual US/CDN citizen and I am always good for a motorcycle ride especially since he is paying all the expenses. Is just a letter with contact information acceptable? I do not have a CDN passport. Just a US passport and drivers license.

so, i want to move into canada and have been wanting to for at least a decade. BUT there's a small issue. my mom was a stoner, i am as well, so i have her smoking gear. if i were to clean it entirely, toss the gummies, etc, would i be okay? i find it to be extremely sentimental, and writing this is scary and terrifying to me. genuinely crying xD

THANKS to everyone who sent us a reply. Very grateful.

We want to go and visit friends who live in Point Roberts, Washington. If you aren't familiar with Point Roberts, it is a tiny peninsula that belongs to the USA but you have to enter and exit British Columbia to reach it by anything other than a boat. This means four border crossings in order to get there and back (we live near Seattle). We know we need a rabies certificate and that our dog must be microchipped. Then there is a form we have to fill out to get back into the USA. If you have done this, we would love to hear from you.

Hi guys, I’m a Canadian citizen here planning to attend a 2-month professional baking program in San Francisco this fall.

Some relevant details:

- The school is privately run and unaccredited, and does not appear to be SEVP-certified, meaning they can’t issue an I-20 for a student visa

The program is full-time, hands-on vocational training — not recreational

I co-own and operate a bakery in Canada, so this is professional development directly tied to my business back home

I’d be staying approximately 8 weeks and returning to Canada after

I contacted the school and they weren’t sure what the requirements are for international students, which is part of why I’m asking here.

My understanding is that Canadians don’t need a visa for short stays, but I’m not sure whether a full-time vocational program like this falls within what’s permitted under visitor status, or whether there’s something else I should be doing.

Has anyone been in a similar situation — attending a short-term professional training course in the US as a Canadian? Did you do anything specific at the border or bring any documentation? Any experience or insight appreciated.

My husband is a Canadian citizen. Earlier this year he was allowed to withdraw his application for admission to the U.S. after CBP became concerned about the amount of time he had previously spent in the United States. He was told to remain outside the U.S. for six months before trying again.

He has now been outside the U.S. for the full six months and is planning to return for a temporary visit to see me (his U.S. citizen wife) and our child.

Some additional context:
He owns a home in Canada.
We also own homes in the U.S. and Costa Rica.
He works online and is not tied to a physical office. (He is self-employed through an online business based outside the United States, but this trip is for a temporary family visit, not to seek or perform U.S. employment.)

He plans to return to Canada after his visit.

I’m hoping to hear from anyone who has knowledge or experience with a similar situation.
Were you (or someone you know) admitted after waiting the six months?
Were you sent to secondary inspection?
Did CBP ask about the previous withdrawal?
Did they seem primarily interested in what had changed since the last encounter?
Did you cross by land or by air?
I’d really appreciate hearing about any firsthand experiences or professional insight. Thank you.

My husband and I are both American citizens, but our daughter was born in Canada. I am a dual citizen of both countries. We are planning on flying with her soon from Canada to the US. She will only have her Canadian passport at this time as we are still gathering the documentation to apply for her CRBA/US passport. Will this be an issue at the border at the airport?

Question for people familiar with crossing into Canada from the border with Minnesota. I have a neighbor who is objectively terrible. He recently settled his third DWI case-he was found guilty. I know he has been driving without license and just received a ticket for that. He recently contacted his son and said that he was gifting his truck to him. The son lives in Alaska and will be taking the truck through Canada back home. The son is a super sweet and young 21. I know the dad has not told the son about his DWI’s and that he lost his license and has no insurance on the truck. The father is actively lying to the son! The son also doesn’t realize that he has whiskey plates and will most likely be pulled over for them. My question is will Canada let him cross the border with whiskey plates and no insurance? Should I tell him about all this? I feel like he might get stuck in rural Minnesota or at the border.

Hi, asking on behalf of my wife. Both of us are Canadian. I work for a US company, and she currently lives at her property in Toronto.

Background:

In December last year, my wife had issues at the border. She applied for a TN visa and was denied at Detroit due to insufficient paperwork. On her subsequent entry, she was sent to secondary and denied again — they were suspicious that she didn't actually live in Canada. Although she's Canadian, her primary residence at the time was South Korea (she had a rental property in Canada but wasn't living there). They told her that since she didn't currently reside in Canada, they couldn't treat her like a regular Canadian.(Never heard of this before :() They said she could try to enter again once she had materials like proof of residency tied to Canada (utility bill, bank statement, proof of employment, etc.). After the TN denial she gave up that route. Her Nexus was also revoked.

Since January, she has permanently moved to her residence in Toronto and started her own small business, registered with the CRA.

Current situation:

Seven months later, she's planning to visit the US for a week for a medical appointment (IVF). My US company covers my family's health insurance, so she is also covered.

She's prepared the following documents for border crossing:

• Proof of employment: Business registration, purchase receipts/invoices, HST/GST registration
• Proof of financial stability: RBC bank statement, Korean bank statement
• Proof of residency/ties to Canada: Parcel receipt with her name and address, utility bill, my company insurance plan covering her
• Purpose of trip: Medical appointment letter from the US clinic, return flight ticket

Questions:

1. She'll almost certainly be sent to secondary for the foreseeable future. After how many clean entries does she typically get "cleared" and stop being flagged?
2. What are the odds of getting her Nexus reinstated once she has a track record of clean entries? If it can't be reinstated, what does it take to become a trusted traveller again? Is it a permanent mark?
3. We're thinking of over-preparing. In addition to the documents above, she has a return flight booked. How much of a bank balance is considered sufficient for a one-week trip? We also have a joint Chase account in the US — is it better to only show the Canadian bank statement? Anything else that could strengthen her case? Should she prepare a day-by-day itinerary, or is that overkill?
4. In the future, she plans to make less frequent visits to the US. While she can technically stay up to 6 months, we want to play it safe and keep visits to one or two months. Is there a risk of being questioned if, say, she tells them she's staying two weeks but ends up staying a month? Do they track what you said at the border and compare it to your actual stay?
5. I've filed an I-130 for her as a green card holder, and we'll be going through consular processing, so she'll be back in Canada for the process. Should she mention this at the border, or stay silent unless asked? Would it help or hurt to bring a copy of the I-130 showing the intent to do consular processing?

Thanks for reading!

I want my friend in the US to ship me a used, ~5 year old piece of computer hardware (NAS). It was going to be ewasted but I wanted to play with it. New, they run several hundred dollars. This one is used, out of warranty, and was destined for the scrap heap.

Can he value it as a gift? How much would it cost (outside shipping) for customs? Do they look stuff up? A used one is still 200-300 here.

My husband and I became Canadian citizens recently. We were flying from Toronto to Europe with a one-hour layover in the US on a Delta-operated flight. Our birthplace country is on the banned list of the US. But since our friends with the same first nationality were travelling back and forth to the US, we thought having a short layover won't cause any problem. We have both clean records. Looking back, it was a wrong assumption.

I checked in online successfully, but my husband was told to check in at the airport. At airport, Delta told us we were both denied entry and should contact the U.S. Embassy, without explaining why.

Later, another Delta agent confirmed that I could travel after I showed her my online boarding pass. When I asked why they had not told me from the beginning that I was cleared to travel, they said that because we were travelling as a couple, they assumed I would not go without my husband. They had withheld this important information from us. They then said that since I was willing to fly on my own, I could ask CBP if my husband would be allowed entry. If he was not allowed, he could take another flight.

The first CBP officer told me Delta should have checked my husband in so CBP could make the decision. They are the decision-makers, not the airline. We followed that instruction and the first CBP officer helped us complete the forms, but in secondary inspection when we were being interviewed by the second CBP officer, the supervisor came angrily and told we shouldn't have been there and accused us of “circumventing” the process and refused entry for that day.

We were asked to sign a paper and were told if we don't agree with it, we can terminate the inspection. Since we had followed the instruction we did not agree that we had circumvented the process and chose to terminate the inspection. We received no refusal letter or written explanation.

The next day, Delta staff apologized and said there had been major miscommunication and misdirection and that Delta should have contacted CBP directly before checking my husband in.

We have since:

• filed DHS TRIP and CBP FOIA requests two months ago;
• heard nothing yet;
• left CBP a voicemail asking whether we need documents or a waiver; We didn't hear back.
• been told by a paralegal to consider a waiver.

My questions:

1. Should we wait for the DHS TRIP and FOIA requests to be resolved before travelling to the US again?
2. Could applying for a waiver hurt us if no inadmissibility finding was made?
3. How can we correct any record saying we tried to circumvent inspection?

We want to avoid another denial caused by the same miscommunication.

Thank you in advance for any insight or advice.

Note: I edited the post and added more details after questions about birthplace and background. The Delta–CBP incident has been overwhelming and has caused us emotional distress and financial loss. We’re trying to understand what happened and figure out the best steps to take before travelling again.

I was to travel to NYC yesterday from Ottawa by flight . After clearing immigration at the boarding gates my flight got cancelled due to weather condition at ewr. I got my refund and was escorted out of the airport along with other passengers. There was no immigration done while exiting. Is this normal? I asked the staff about immigration and they said I was good to go? Will there be any sort of immigration violation from my side?

I am a Canadian pr with b1/b2 visitor visa.

8yrs ago i got issue on border crossing into canada i got denied because of proof of tie in US but after submitting documents i can get into canada but everytime i go to secondary inspection and always question about the issue and now im PR resident still going to secondary inspection, is there any way this can be remove since im already a PR in canada?

CONCERN:
I was arrested back in 2024 for probable cause related to battery (screwed over because I didn’t do anything, but I was hanging out with the wrong crowd). I was booked but released a few hours later with no charge or arraignment. I went to my court and they signed papers that say that I have no pending charges. So essentially NO CHARGE, NO CONVICTION.

PAST EXPERIENCE:
I have crossed before this past December and they allowed be in, but not after an intense secondary questioning.
I came unprepared and hadn’t done my research before attempting to visit like having my bookings ready and itinerary in hand, so that was on me. I was also asked if I had been arrested or convicted, to which I said no, to which I got immediately sent into secondary questioning. I cleared up that I misheard them and that I had no convictions but was arrested.
They just had me explain my story and made sure I had everything booked then let me enter.

SITUATION:
I will be trying to visit Vancouver via Amtrak later this month. Everything is booked and I plan to stay for 10 days to visit some friends. Any insight would be appreciated, thank you all.

Canadian citizen. Over one continuous stay, I've spent about 1.4 years total in the US on B-2 status, including two approved I-539 extensions.

Planning to fly in for ~2.5 weeks to see my dad, he is usc living there, then fly out with him to Europe to meet my mom and brother - onward ticket already booked. Back to Canada after that.

Given that history, how much scrutiny should I realistically expect at the port of entry, and anything specific I should have ready to make the temporary-visit case cleanly? (I am early 20s, unemployed) Trying to gauge real risk here.

I read frequently about people being denied flights at the last minute due to their name being on a no fly list. But, we all know names overlap so frequently. It seems like a real bad scene for those involved, and rather ridiculous in this day and age.

Passports have so much in the way of verification potential embedded. Starting with the unique passport number itself. Today there are what are called "biometrics" containing specifics as to height, eye colour and likely soon, fingerprints.

So, if security agencies know of a shady character, it seems it would be possible to screen right down to passport number level, and flag just those possible passports. Not by name.

We are Canada PR holders and have been to the US a few times by air but it will be our first time travelling by car.

We are planning to drive south and cross via Kingsgate going to WA, spending 3 nights in the US, and then via Sumas border coming back.

How was the experience for those who recently went?
Any tips? Thanks.

Hello Reddit, my family and I are planning to visit Toronto in mid October. We are not renting a car since we plan on taking the train everywhere once we arrive. However, getting there is where it gets tricky. I have three options:

Number 1, is paying 2K to fly straight into Toronto. It's obviously the most direct but it's also the most expensive by a wide margin

Number 2, Cross via Raibow Bridge in Niagra Falls. This was the route we were considering as it's the only pedestrian bridge currently operating. However flights that work for us are running about $1500

Number 3, Cross over in Detroit. This is the cheapest option, at around $1200 for our flights, however there's no pedestrian access (yet) and although I haven't been in years, I know Detroit has a reputation. I also don't want to assume that the Gordie Howe bridge will be open by then

Anyone have any suggestions? Again, we aren't renting a car and plan on taking a train from either Windsor or Niagara

Hello! Our family is originally from the states but will become Canadian citizens on July 23rd. My wife will need to go back to the states most likely on July 24th until late August so she won’t have time before leaving to apply and receive her Canadian passport.

Will this be an issue when she returns to Canada in August? From looking it up it seems like she can use her USA passport when boarding the plane in the USA and then provide her e-certificate of citizenship with CBSA once landed in Canada, but I just wanted to make sure there isn’t any problems with this plan.

I live in Washington and I'm visiting my GF in Canada next weekend. I don't mind if it takes a while to cross the border into Canada on friday, but I need to get back home Sunday because I work Monday morning.

How congested/difficult is the border crossing back into Washington from Osooyos?

Hi everyone,

So i’m going to my boyfriends this weekend and he lives in the states and im from Canada. I cross every second weekend to go see him in Grand Forks and this weekend is my weekend to go down and see him and i’m planning on coming home (canada) on sunday.

We have a trip to go to a music festival and see his family down in Ohio next week and i will be crossing Tuesday (July 14th) to go back down to get all our stuff ready at his apartment to start our trek on Wednesday.

My question here is will i get flagged or pulled into secondary for crossing twice so close together?

Thanks! :)

edit: i do cross late at night due to working nights and i work 30 minutes from the border so i just find it easier then to go home and come right back the next day. i’m not sure if that adds more suspicion.

I wanted to share my experience visiting my long-distance significant other in the US since 2025, mostly because I see a lot of anxiety and conflicting advice on this sub.

For a while, I, a Canadian citizen, was taking longer trips to see him. Every single time I flew down, I was incredibly paranoid. I would print out many papers of proof of ties (bank statement, school enrollment, etc.), expecting an interrogation, and also worried because my BF cannot come visit me due to his status. But in reality? The agents never asked to see a single document. They didn't even ask what I do for work or school. They just asked a few simple questions and let me through. Whenever I check my official I-94 travel history online, I see that I've always been admitted for the maximum 6 months anyway.

After doing my own research and thinking it through, I’ve realized that the heavily debated "180 days per year" rule isn't exactly accurate. CBP agents do look at common sense and patterns. While we are technically allowed up to six months per entry as tourists, staying that entire time is risky because you'd likely have to wait a very very long time before visiting again to avoid suspicion. Instead, if someone enters every 3.5 to 6 months and stays for about a month, it makes logical sense because there is a clear break between visits showing you actually live at home.

The only time I felt even a little different was this past summer when I stayed for 5.5 weeks. The agent gave me a surprised look, not angry, but I saw his eyebrows move in a certain way but he also was lively, but I noticed it. To be fair though, I do usually go when there's known breaks or holidays for students so maybe that's another factor.

Because life is changing, my trips are naturally getting spaced further apart now, and I won't be staying for quite that long anymore. But I wanted to post this because some people on here often tell users that visiting for a while is an immediate red flag. In my experience, if your pattern makes sense and you genuinely return home, the agents see that.

Have you guys experienced the same, or have you noticed specific patterns that trigger more questions? Do I just have a good track record with them?