Best way to avoid getting harassed by immigration?

Tell them you're gonna visit the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montreal. Ther ia a good exhibition on Alexander Calder. Easy to find details on the web.

Patron said:

You were just unlucky and it won’t likely happen again.

Be a nerd and buy a tourist book and talk about how you are going to see the biodome, The Notre Dame cathedral, hike Mont Royal, eat at Schwartz’s, etc., etc.,

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By the way, Notre-Dame is a basilic, not a cathedral (residence of the bishop). The cathedral is Marie-Reine du Monde a small replica of St-Pierre of Rome. So museum, churches during the day and Cleo for the Night... :usa2:

Funny... to read about an american being harassed by canadian border patrol... That NEVER happens the other way around...

i recently entered the us with my wife and young son by car. they locked us up in a room while they searched our car! did not like the feeling of being in a locked room. being a border guard is a shitty job, and it makes shitty people (not all of them of course, but some of them)

figuroxxx

There are certain questions you will always be asked. "Where are you staying? Will you be visiting anyone in particular? What is the purpose of your trip? Have you been to Canada previously? How long will you be staying?" etc. I always have a printout of my hotel reservation ready to show the officer. It's a great idea to have a guidebook with you. I will check the internet to see what is going on in Montreal that week or weekend and mention it to the officer, e.g. I'm going to the Habs game, if I can get a ticket. Otherwise just mention that "I'm here as a visitor to see the sites. If the officer wants to know the details, just pull out your guidebook and have a few pages dog-eared. If he/she asks you "Are you planning to do anything illegal - just say "No, of course not." Also, it's best to say you are only visiting for a few days up to a week. A longer stay might raise suspicions, or invite more questions. You can always stay up to 90 days without getting a visa. In general, keep your answers short and simple. Don't feel like you have to elaborate. Be prepared to have your cell phone and/or computer searched. Just delete any emails, phone or text messages related to hobby land. Do not get upset or become defiant. To some officers that will raise a red flag. I never carry more than my carry on bag. I once took the train from N.Y.C. to Montreal. The scenery was beautiful but the stop at the border takes about an hour - total pain in the ass.

I must be blessed or something, never had any issues at the border, have 4 criminal convictions in the 80's and smooth sailing all the time. As someone stated, you are going to a sporting event, taking advantage of the dollar exchange, Montreal nightlife ( good concert ). Be polite, smile and short answers.... take your sunglasses off also.

There are already a few threads on this topic, but I wanted to comment on taking the train. Don’t do it! Not only does it take forever, but when you finally arrive at the border your in for another hour or two while they confirm everyone on the train. The questioning and searches are more intense than flying in. I’ve only done it a handful of times, but I’ll never go through that again.

Gonna back up thegreatwaloo about the train. It is a disaster. If there was a decent cross border train, people would be on it all the time, but it hasn't happened. (I suspect fights between various governments and businesses over revenue.)


Avoid.

I think the advice given above by Like_It_Hot is an excellent one: say you plan to visit the Calder exhibition. I think I am going to use it myself next time I visit. My last smooth border crossing happened when I mentioned a specific (classical music) concert I was going to visit. The border guard then asked just a couple more perfunctory questions, and I was on my way.

I am pretty much in the same boat as the topic starter. I would really like to make another trip to Montréal but the last couple of times I got such a rotten treatment at the border crossing (in Vermont) that I feel rather hesitant. Sometimes you get a sympathetic interviewer who feels sort of uneasy or even apologetic about asking all these bullshit questions and acting like an asshole. But on my last trip in May I got a really obnoxious lady who was obviously enjoying the part. She kept provoking me saying things like "you look really nervous", "your answers are really vague" (nothing of the sort, of course), "you seem to be in a hurry, do you have an appointment of any kind?" (when I looked at my watch feeling disgusted at having lost an hour on this business), etc. I had to make a real effort not to lose my temper, which is obviously the last thing you want to do in this situation. And of course the bitch had to paw all over my phone, messing up the settings in the process.

Like STN said earlier, be polite, keep your answers sweet and short and hopefully you will encounter no problems. And, as always, it helps to keep your expectations low, you will then have a chance to be pleasantly surprised if things turn out better than expected.

But Bred, what is the purpose of all of this? Do they really have a problem with you and I visiting their town and dropping a couple of grand on hotels, meals, beer, wine and ladies? Is this such a big deal to someone? Is this part of C-36 or some morality enforcement? Like you, I have been getting the third degree when driving across the border. I had never got pulled out of line at the airport. Last time I flew over I got pulled out of line at the airport and I had to talk to three different people. I thought that this was odd. This is so different from going to Europe or Latin America. What's the deal? Are we causing inflation by going to Montreal and injecting our cash into their economy and they want to control economic growth and curb inflation by refusing a few of us and treating other like shit so we decide not to come back?

hungry101, I don't know for sure, of course, but I have one theory. I suspect this might be their way of paying us back for the nasty treatment they (Canadians) are getting by the U.S. border guards (obviously, that contingent has no shortage of assholes in its ranks). Or perhaps they are even trying to react to a few choice words Trump had issued at the address of their beloved chieftain Justin. Who knows for sure? I just feel it got significantly worse in the last couple of years.

Every time I get the nasty treatment myself, I try to reason with them, saying I am a law-abiding citizen, contributing to the Canadian economy, they should welcome people like me, etc. Last time i was told that if I don't like it, I should feel free to go visit some place else. She had a point, I am afraid.

By the way, the bitch got a particular interest in the couple of apps like TextNow and Talkatone (giving you a free extra phone number), so it may be a good idea to uninstall them before crossing the border. Or at least log out, if the app allows it (Talkatone doesn't) as they are only allowed to check the content already present on your phone, not your cloud accounts. They do put the phone in the airplane mode first thing before inspecting it.

Bred Sob said:

I just feel it got significantly worse in the last couple of years.

the bitch got a particular interest in the couple of apps like TextNow and Talkatone

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I agree, it's definitely gotten worse over the years. That's why I got the NEXUS card, no waiting on the long lines, minimal questions and you breeze right on through.

If their looking through your phone something is usually up. Just pointing that out, not making an accusation. Regardless, anytime traveling internationally I would recommend backing the phone up, erasing it, and when you get to your hotel simply restore it. If they ask why there is nothing on your phone you can tell them it's your travel phone or for privacy reasons. Same thing goes for Ipads.

Patron said:

It ain’t payback for US behavior.

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It may or may not be, I don't know for sure. But do you have a better explanation? It did get significantly worse in recent years, didn't it?

thegreatwalooo said:

If their looking through your phone something is usually up.

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It goes without saying that something is up at this point. But what could it possibly be? Beats me... But in any case, I don't like the idea of erasing my phone completely. However, it obviously makes sense to weed out anything that is (or could be perceived as) remotely suspicious. I need to think it through carefully before my next attempt at border crossing.

That's the million dollar question. I would try to look back at the encounter, if you feel it's not something you said or did, your just dealing with an asshole. But they don't typically start out with looking through your phone unless there was reason. An example would be if they thought you were traveling to Canada to work they would look at your phone to see if you are in touch with any potential employers. Things like that, I watched all the seasons of a border crossing show and it was quite enlightening.

I erase my phone all the time, really nothing to it. But I do understand not wanting to do it. I would rather not explain a conversation that I forgot to delete, browser history or the apps I'm using. It's just much easier than going through the phone and deleting stuff.

They don't usually start with the phone, they would normally go through my things and my car first. Paying particular attention to the door hinges, for some reason. Is this a place where people hide drugs?

My only idea is that they are suspicious about the frequency of my visits. Which is far from outrageous, in my view, usually three or four times a year. Can they suspect that I am a courier of some kind? No clue how to prevent this.

thegreatwalooo said:

An example would be if they thought you were traveling to Canada to work they would look at your phone to see if you are in touch with any potential employers.

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This could be the case. How many guys go over in a suit with a Briefcase and look like they are on their way to a business meeting? When you left the house on Monday you said "Goodbye honey. See you Friday or Saturday AM and off you go on your business trip but this one isn't a business trip. That is just your cover and you go to Montreal to taste the wares of several agencies.

I believe that in 2017, Canada implemented new tax law that if you work in Canada X amount of days/year I believe that you or your company has to pay a Canadian payroll tax or something like this. I think it is quite a few days (if I remember correctly it was something like 50 days). Could this be it?

Sorry, Patron, your explanation does not seem convincing to me. The theory about people trying to avoid the new tax seems to make more sense.

Patron said:

Most local don’t travel and are distrustful of people entering their country, so they don’t care about how Border Patrol acts.

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Do you have any data to back this up? I am not sure about "most", but I know for a fact that some locals do in fact go across the border on a regular basis. To go to the U.S. to do some shopping or just to fill up the car. And when you wait in line at the crossing, many (most?) cars have Vermont license plates.

hungry101 said:

This could be the case. How many guys go over in a suit with a Briefcase and look like they are on their way to a business meeting?

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But then you could easily flip this argument and conclude that a guy wearing jeans and hiking boots and obviously carrying no business attire (nor a briefcase) poses no threat to the Canada Revenue Agency (or whatever its name), isn't that so? Does not work this way in reality, unfortunately.