Question for you Canadians

Hexx

Hexx

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Ok, so my brother left yesterday by plane to visit some friends of his in Canada. Upon arrival today, Canadian authorities told my brother he could not go into Canada because he did not have enough cash on hand ($400 according to them) and was promptly told to board the next flight back into the USA. My question to you folks is, "Is this common practice for those who go to Canada from the USA?"

I find it very strange for one, and therefore I wanna get the straight info from someone who is from Canada or has travelled to Canada consistently. My suspicion is my brother did something that got him in trouble (he's a trouble maker as it is /sigh) and dont want my parents having to pay or foot any sort of bill for his idiotic actions.
 
Umm.. I never heard of that. There must be more to the story if it is true.
 
Yea I've never heard of requiring cash on hand for crossing the boarder, did he perhaps misunderstand? Did he have a passport?

Also, what did he say his reason was for crossing the boarder?

Regardless, that's sounds like complete bs to me.
 
No offense to our northern neighbors but it sounds like a dirty Canadian to me... :shok:
 
Well my brother was going to go visit some chick friend in Canada that he met on myspace, and they were supposedly gonna go take pics in some scenic locales or something? Thing is, my brother didnt have a camera with him and I'm thinking maybe the authorities figured he was bulltshitting them or something. I havent gotten the whole low down from my parents, but supposedly he was told by that chick that if he crosses by bus they wouldnt give him this same hassle.

Thanks all for your input, I'll relay this info to my parents since he is asking for more money to be able to cross over.
 
Duddits said:
No offense to our northern neighbors but it sounds like a dirty Canadian to me... :shok:
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You can offend them all you want, it's not like they can/will do anything.
 
Hexx said:
Well my brother was going to go visit some chick friend in Canada that he met on myspace
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:down:

I've traveled to Canada a few times by car and plane. By car... some weird things do happen. Once at the border they asked my whole family to get out so they could inspect the contents inside, but I believe that's standard process for screening. By plane however, normal immigration as far as I can remember. We've been through the gate without anyone checking our bags, just a Sec worker looking us in the eyes to see if we're trying to hide something. Personally, being a frequent traveler, I don't think the $400 issue was true... Maybe he wants a new camera? :P
 
Hmm...

Does your brother look like a vagrant, perchance?
 
No Boarder Official would ask for cash unless he/she was crooked.

Any and all Customs Officers can ask for you to pull aside and they can go through all your personal possessions but they usually only do this if they are suspicious.

Like if they think you went on a shopping spree and you've decided to not share that info to avoid extra costs.

This sounds like a tall tale to me.

E- traveling by bus is easier but they do have the passengers leave the bus and go through all the bags.
 
Raesvelg said:
Hmm...

Does your brother look like a vagrant, perchance?
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Nah, he dresses like an emo........hmm then again, they like their clothing torn every which way so maybe they confused him for one =P

I'm goin with what Princemercury said, because its fishy to me that they wont let him in for not having money on him when not even Mexico (which could use the money) forbids people from entering for not having cash on hand.
 
Been back and forth into Canada a bit now. Nothing of the sort has happened at all. He's lying...sorry if that sounds harsh but my uncle has History in Canada and when he got here for my sisters wedding they gave him an emergency one week visa and were done with it.

When coming from the U.S they just ask you if you've been shopping, but that's if you reside in Canada so you can pay the taxes like others have mentioned etc. He'll get it when he goes back home if he shops here and spends more than I think $500? and that's if he even gets in to the country.

You said something fishy was up...does he have any history with bad History with Canada like my uncle did?
 
All Immigation officers in ALL countries have the right to deny ANYONE into their own country.

Criminal activity is definetly one, but an often overlooked reason for denial is "lack of ties to home country".

This usually happens crossing the US border, but has been known to happen in Canada and the UK. It is up to the Immigration Officers to decide whether or not someone seems suspicious and has sufficient ties to their own country. All visitors to any country must have proof of these ties.

MOST of the time, a return ticket on a short (3-5 days) doesn't raise any flags. Same with purpose of the trip.

Visitors to foreign countries are also suppose tro prove they have enough money to support themselves during the trip. It all depends on how long the trip is.

When I cross the US/Canada border, I usually take 60-100 dollars, and even sometimes the officers tell me that isn't enough, but I also tell them I have a credit card. I crossed one time saying I only have 5 bucks and a credit card, and that was to an Immigration Officer and not a CP Border Control guard who you deal with when you cross land borders.

Red Flags for Immigration officers include - no return ticket, a long trip,no job to return to, not owning a house, not being enrolled in a school, not having an apartment lease, not having any obligatory bills like phone/cable.. mostly they are looking to see if they have ANY reason to go back to their country.

Hopefully that helps...kinda hard to tell what it was without the whole story (ie what they really asked your brother, what your brother told them, how long he was staying, who he said he was meeting, etc).

Edit: Oh a question.. How were they suppose to take pictures if he hadn't actually made it over the border? That sounds suspicious to me. Why do they need to take photos together...?

Also..he may be flagged now. So even if he crossed the border by bus, he's still going to be questioned by immigration and they will see he already has a record. They may give him a hard time because it has happened once, unless he has proof that he is coming back.

If he was visiting a friend, he just should have said friend. If he lied about who he was seeing or the purpose of the trip, you can be barred from crossing the border for 5-10 years.

Just wanted to add; according to Immigration Officials, anyone visiting is required to show sufficient ties to their own country..but only when they suspect you will they actually start questioning/asking for proof. Most of the time people are not asked anything more than purpose of their visit and length of stay. I personally always take documentation with me.

Also... curious why he didn't get pre-clearance from the US airport before he departed. At most Canadian airports, we have US Immigration Pre-Clearance. I've never had to be cleared after I flew.
 
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I'm disappointed. I expected the question to be something like "Does it hurt?" or "Can you try not being Canadian?"

;-)

<3 my Great White Tundran brethren!


(p.s. that's F'd up hexx)
 
Fake. Getting into Canada and America are almost identical. Only difference is that our customs authorities smile, (sometimes).
 
Well he's back in town, and he is sticking to his guns that he did nothing wrong. We have contacted the American Consulate and they will be looking into the official transcripts of what happened and will be giving us a final answer.

As for ties to his home nation, my brother is currently enrolled for the following fall semester, lives with my parents of course, but yeah didnt have much money really (spent most of what he had on the plane ticket to get to Canada) but he was gonna be staying at his friends house in Canada and her parents were going to take them around to take pictures at different locales from what he says. He did have a return ticket already paid in advance as well, so I dunno, maybe he IS telling the truth and this immigration official was just an ass and didnt let him cross cuz he didnt like the way my brother looked (again, he dresses like a fuckin emo, keep telling him to dress like a real man for fucks sake). I will let you all know what information gets relayed back to us, thanks for sharing all that information with me :biggrin:
 
Quick thing, how old is your brother? and How old is this friend of his?

If they've never met before that could have been an issue as well since well Internet meetings are somewhat frowned upon in general so that may have come into play too...

there was a movie about it once...and the girl absolutely destroyed the guy she was talking to...they met and she tied him up and fucked him up...was kinda off key...
 
Just want to clear something up after re-reading that, the authorities were not ASKING him to hand over $400.00, just told him he needed to have that amount of disposable cash? Some of the replies seem to believe that the Customs Officer was asking him to pay $400.00.

Again, I've never heard of this, but if they thought he might be a liability to the country, or try to stay here after being allowed entry, they may have thought it a good idea to turn him away if he didn't have enough money to support himself while he was visiting. (Still odd because it isn't a pre-requisite to have cash on hand for buying goods or staying at a hotel, as long as he could prove he had a place to stay - when I went to Hawaii recently, we were askled the exact address of where we were staying).
 
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Mirewen said:
Just want to clear something up after re-reading that, the authorities were not ASKING him to hand over $400.00, just told him he needed to have that amount of disposable cash? Some of the replies seem to believe that the Customs Officer was asking him to pay $400.00.

Again, I've never heard of this, but if they thought he might be a liability to the country, or try to stay here after being allowed entry, they may have thought it a good idea to turn him away if he didn't have enough money to support himself while he was visiting. (Still odd because it isn't a pre-requisite to have cash on hand for buying goods or staying at a hotel, as long as he could prove he had a place to stay - when I went to Hawaii recently, we were askled the exact address of where we were staying).
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He was told he needed to have at least $400 to be able to cross (not pay to the official). I was thinking the same Mirewen, maybe (because of how tends to dress) they thought he was just gonna be a vagrant going around the country being a burden to society or something.

Hitaru: He's 18, and I think the chick is also 18 (not sure tho) but the girl and her parents got on the phone and tried to talk to the immigration official but to no avail.

It still seems really fishy to me, but hell, maybe he just got that ONE racist (nationalist, i dunno) immigration official that figured picking on a mexican kid was the thing of the day.
 
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