Questions about getting into Canada

[thepowderblue]

I need to get into Canada from the us.
Do I NEED a passport and if so how do I get one.
What is the boarder like. Do they check every person and every car going threw?
If my dad is a citizen or was just born there will it make it easier for me.

[ChIoVnIdCa]

Passport yes..
Criminal history? If not than no problem

All this info is readily available with a quick Google search for in depth info.

[thepowderblue]

Criminal history... a little

So if I where to try to drive threw to Canada they would say no you cant go back.?
could I sneak in?

[JoshM]

could I sneak in?

Certainly.
Just be sure to hide your weed.

[ChIoVnIdCa]

Criminal history... a little

So if I where to try to drive threw to Canada they would say no you cant go back.?

They wont let some people in... If they didn't want you there of course you could leave

As little as a DUI sometimes

There was a time not long ago when a trip across the border from the United States to Canada was accomplished with a wink and a wave of a driver's license. Those days are over.

Take the case of 55-year-old Lake Tahoe resident Greg Felsch. Stopped at the border in Vancouver this month at the start of a planned five-day ski trip, he was sent back to the United States because of a DUI conviction seven years ago. Not that he had any idea what was going on when he was told at customs: "Your next stop is immigration.''

Felsch was ushered into a room. "There must have been 75 people in line," he says. "We were there for three hours. One woman was in tears. A guy was sent back for having a medical marijuana card. I felt like a felon with an ankle bracelet.''

Or ask the well-to-do East Bay couple who flew to British Columbia this month for an eight-day ski vacation at the famed Whistler Chateau, where rooms run to $500 a night. They'd made the trip many times, but were surprised at the border to be told that the husband would have to report to "secondary'' immigration.

There, in a room he estimates was filled with 60 other concerned travelers, he was told he was "a person who was inadmissible to Canada.'' The problem? A conviction for marijuana possession.

In 1975.

Welcome to the new world of border security. Unsuspecting Americans are turning up at the Canadian border expecting clear sailing, only to find that their past -- sometimes their distant past -- is suddenly an issue.

While Canada officially has barred travelers convicted of criminal offenses for years, attorneys say post-9/11 information-gathering, combined with a sweeping agreement between Canada and the United States to share data, has resulted in a spike in phone calls from concerned travelers.

They are shocked to hear that the sins of their youth might keep them out of Canada. But what they don't know is that this is just the beginning. Soon other nations will be able to look into your past when you want to travel there.

"It's completely ridiculous,'' said Chris Cannon, an attorney representing the East Bay couple, who asked that their names not be used because they don't want their kids to know about the pot rap. "It's a disaster. I mean, who didn't smoke pot in the '70s?''

We're about to find out. And don't think you are in the clear if you never inhaled. Ever get nabbed for a DUI? How about shoplifting? Turn around. You aren't getting in.

"From the time that you turn 18, everything is in the system,'' says Lucy Perillo, whose Canada Border Crossing Service in Winnipeg, Manitoba, helps Americans get into the country.

Canadian attorney David Lesperance, an expert on customs and immigration, says he had a client who was involved in a fraternity prank 20 years ago. He was on a scavenger hunt, and the assignment was to steal something from a Piggly Wiggly supermarket. He got caught, paid a small fine and was ordered to sweep the police station parking lot.

He thought it was all forgotten. And it was, until he tried to cross the border.

The official word from the Canadian Border Services Agency is that this is nothing more than business as usual. Spokesman Derek Mellon gets a little huffy when asked why the border has become so strict.

"I think it is important to understand that you are entering another country,'' Mellon says. "You are not crossing the street.''

OK, but something changed here, didn't it?

"People say, 'I've been going to Canada for 20 years and never had a problem,' '' Lesperance says. "It's classic. I say, 'Well, you've been getting away with it for 20 years.' ''

A prior record has always made it difficult to cross the border. What you probably didn't know was that, as the Canadian Consulate's Web site says, "Driving while under the influence of alcohol is regarded as an extremely serious offense in Canada.''

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...#ixzz1Xg8C1EEi

[Lakersfan24]

Go to walgreens and have them take two passport pictures then either go to the post office and make an appointment to get your passport or go down town phoenix to the main office. It's a couple streets down from the Phoenix police station. The fee is I believe $85 but it will take 30 days to get the passports if you need it faster its going to cost you a bit more. An sneaking into Canada I wouldn't do that, have you seen the news out here on what happens when Mexicans try to cross the boarder illegally. So if you can't get in the right way then don't bother going just my .02

[TracieS]

could I sneak in?

Wowwwww Seriously?!111

[thepowderblue]

I have a juvenile record
I would fly to Detroit and cross and go to London.
I was thinking I could use a boat to get across

[coupes]

Dude...... just go get your juvenile record sealed......

[ChIoVnIdCa]

You are trying to live there or just vacation...? Try to get in first legally obviously.

Than catapult yourself


or a large slingshot

[ChIoVnIdCa]

What did you do ? Its in the past as a kid anyways.

[HenRoc]

That whole threesome / dog thing...won't fly.

[thepowderblue]

A week if that vacation.

[phatdoughnut]

Dude...... just go get your juvenile record sealed......

Doesn't work, they will still see it. So many times people say that they have had stuff removed or sealed and it still pops up!

You can't just drive thru to canada, its not like Mexico. They check before you go in and then the US checks you before you come in...

[thepowderblue]

Do you just drive up and show the guy what ever papers/passport and maybe pop your trunk so they can see in it and he gos ok and then you drive into canada?