1 night in Vancouver. Am I facing an immigration grilling?

[marydev]

Hi. I know this is not strictly related to visas, but perhaps somebody can give some advice anyway. I am Australian and been living in Mexico on tourist visas for the past 10 years. Most of the time, I spent on travel around Latin America, learning the language in Mexico, staying with friends and generally being just lazy. I never worked in Mexico because my parents have been funding my stay here. I am returning home soon to Australia and have to stay 1 night in Vancouver because of my flight. I had no choice with that. I don't need a visa, either. My friends have been warning me that the Canadian immigration officials will give me a hard time, mainly because it is unusual for somebody to live the way I have with no job. I have been through Vancouver before, and I remember once, an immigration woman was very aggressive with me when I was planning to stay in Mexico for 1 year. What will they do to me for having stayed here for 10?? What sort of questions will they ask? I have nothing to hide, but I don't like being barked at.

[Baloo]

You are going to deal with someone who may be nice or nasty, but we all do that every day.
If you remain calm and tell the truth then you should have no problem.
I assume you have a flight ticket that shows your onward flight to Australia, if you are civil to the POE officer you should not have a problem.
Make sure that you have a phone number for your parents, immigration may want contact them to verify your story.

What will they want to know?
They will want to know that you can afford to stay in Canada (yes even for one night), they will ask where you are staying, they also want to be certain you will leave (i.e. that you have a ticket, or have the money to buy a ticket).

Look on the bright side.
If they want to detain you, then you will be ready to catch the flight the following day.
If they want to deport you, hope that it is to Australia.
Yes this is humour, lighten up, it should be fine if you tell the truth