Never really realized how much of a hassle it is to go to the US

[GT1999]

It's also tough for Americans to go to Canada sometimes (that is, MOVE there, not visit), it really depends. I have no idea why anybody would want to go to Canada though.

If I were to go anywhere it would probably be either a) Somewhere tropical with as little government as possible or b) Somewhere in Europe that either is an English speaking country like Ireland or the UK, or mostly non-English speaking like Switzerland just because it's probably the best country on the planet (IMO..).

 

[Born2bwire]

No visa or anything. Bought the plane ticket, flew over, handed my passport to the customs officer, she scanned it, stamped it, gave it back, and I was in.

Honestly, that's always been my experience with all customs. The only hangup I ever had was in Germany when they asked to look through my luggage.

 

[rasczak]

I'm Canadian. I was born about 1 mile from the US border. I've lived within a short drive of the US border my entire life. I've never been in trouble with the law, and have been to the US a few times a year, both through the air and via ground crossings.

Most of the time I get asked many questions: Where are you going? Are you meeting anyone? Show me the tickets for the football game you claim to be seeing. When are you returning?

Once I had to submit my car for inspection and waited around for 30 minutes while they went through the trunk.

I never really realized how comparatively paranoid the US border control agents are until I came to Hong Kong for business. I landed in the airport, went to customs, handed my passport over, they scanned it, stamped it, and let me in. No questions, no anything.

I haven't done much travelling to other countries, but is this experience typical?

What type of border experience to Americans have when coming to Canada?

Back in 95, my wife and I had just come back from working a trawler in Dutch. We bought a tiny car on Whidbey Island and decided to go to Vancouver for a few days before we made our way back to San Diego. The guard seemed nice enough, but when he saw our papers for the car we just bought, he immediately became super serious, and we had to submit to an inspection. They gave us the third degree. Was one of the more unpleasant experiences trying to get back IN to the U.S. All of our other travels, (Europe, Tijuana) we nothing compared to that.

 

[ShawnD1]

I never really realized how comparatively paranoid the US border control agents are until I came to Hong Kong for business. I landed in the airport, went to customs, handed my passport over, they scanned it, stamped it, and let me in. No questions, no anything.

What you didn't see is drug sniffing dogs and metal detectors making sure your luggage doesn't contain certain things. The borders guy should theoretically have the same level of security, but it's too much hassle to scan every damn car passing through.

 

[epidemis]

I was submitted to a full butt-naked strip search by a custom agent in a small airport Trondheim, Norway. Beat that.

With that being said, I have heard a lot of horror stories about the US border control in airports. Fuck paranoia and fuck security theater.

 

[Sonikku]

Well of course they give you a hard time entering America. What if you want to blow up New York for Vishnu or something?

 

[96Firebird]

It really depends on who you get at the borders. Usually the Canadian side is the same 'ole questions, where are you going, how long are you staying, etc... The American side depends on who you get and how close they are to shift change.

The last time I came back from Niagara Falls, the guy kept asking me the same questions over and over. Probably to see if I would give the same answer each time. He finally let us through, but didn't go through our car or anything. Another time I was coming back from Niagara Falls, we got a really cool agent. He asked us where we went, and we told him the strip club. He asked if we went to a certain one, which we did, and he then asked us if we went to the downstairs room. We did, and he shouted over to the next booth and told that agent where we were. They got a good laugh out of it, and he let us go without any trouble.

 

[7window]

I'm Canadian. I was born about 1 mile from the US border. I've lived within a short drive of the US border my entire life. I've never been in trouble with the law, and have been to the US a few times a year, both through the air and via ground crossings.

Most of the time I get asked many questions: Where are you going? Are you meeting anyone? Show me the tickets for the football game you claim to be seeing. When are you returning?

Once I had to submit my car for inspection and waited around for 30 minutes while they went through the trunk.

I never really realized how comparatively paranoid the US border control agents are until I came to Hong Kong for business. I landed in the airport, went to customs, handed my passport over, they scanned it, stamped it, and let me in. No questions, no anything.

I haven't done much travelling to other countries, but is this experience typical?

What type of border experience to Americans have when coming to Canada?

the reason is USA was attacked and hong kong not yet. Wait till hong kong get attacked and you will have the same experience.

When I went to hong kong the airport personnel was not friendly either. They did not give me the third degree but they were very authoritative.

 

[Six]

I've ran into a couple convicted felons (selling drugs) who were deported to Mexico and banned from entering the US. They said they have no problem returning to visit their US family members. They just showed up and said they've lost their IDs, and the officers just asked them a few questions and let them through. So much for securing the borders.

 

[SSSnail]

LoL on the hates on America. Custom agents at all airports are the same, and they'll be more of an ass to you, if you're an ass. It's simple logic.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

The last time I went to Canada (post-9/11 mind you), I wasn't required to bring a passport; a regular ID was good enough to get into Canada and back into the states. Apparently that's been changed. Which is a shame, since it was a piece of piss when I did it.

 

[AMCRambler]

I'm Canadian. I was born about 1 mile from the US border. I've lived within a short drive of the US border my entire life. I've never been in trouble with the law, and have been to the US a few times a year, both through the air and via ground crossings.

Most of the time I get asked many questions: Where are you going? Are you meeting anyone? Show me the tickets for the football game you claim to be seeing. When are you returning?

Once I had to submit my car for inspection and waited around for 30 minutes while they went through the trunk.

I never really realized how comparatively paranoid the US border control agents are until I came to Hong Kong for business. I landed in the airport, went to customs, handed my passport over, they scanned it, stamped it, and let me in. No questions, no anything.

I haven't done much travelling to other countries, but is this experience typical?

What type of border experience to Americans have when coming to Canada?

In America we don't want to let you in. In China, they don't want to let you OUT!

 

[AMCRambler]

Honestly, that's always been my experience with all customs. The only hangup I ever had was in Germany when they asked to look through my luggage.

...and found the dildo?

 

[sdifox]

LoL on the hates on America. Custom agents at all airports are the same, and they'll be more of an ass to you, if you're an ass. It's simple logic.

No, American border is the only one I dread.

Places I have been to:

USA
Mexico
Uruguay
Paraguay
Argentina
Brazil
Chile
Taiwan
Japan
and
Canada (duh)

 

[Fingolfin269]

LoL on the hates on America. Custom agents at all airports are the same, and they'll be more of an ass to you, if you're an ass. It's simple logic.

This is simply not true.