Hello,
I am a Canadian citizen living in Buffalo. I usually visit Canada a couple of times a month by car and I feel like I am being harassed by CBSA. This is the usual interaction when I cross by car. I pull up to the CBSA booth and:
1. I usually get asked where I am residing, to which I state Buffalo.
2. I SOMETIMES get asked what my status is in the U.S. I reply that I am a legal permanent resident. I then get asked to show my greencard which I possess. Now I have an issue with this, first: 1) Am I legally required to provide this when I AM A CANADIAN citizen? What if I don't have it on me at the time and left it home? (Or it's buried somewhere within my luggage and it will force me to get out of my vehicle and spend 20 minutes looking for it). Where is it coded in the Immigration Act or anywhere else, that they can ask what my status is in the U.S. and to SHOW PROOF? What if I was travelling from Spain, or England, or Argentina and resided in any of these countries. Would they care to know if I'm staying legally in those countries and to provide them proof? Hmm, probably not, right? The issue is that I've shown the green card plenty of times but I keep getting asked for it which tells me that they don't even enter this info on their system so that I don't get asked the same stupid question again.
3. I then sometimes get asked where I'm going to stay and for how long. What does it matter? I'm a Canadian citizen, I can stay for as long as I want and wherever I want. This question is so silly that a couple of times I've told the officers "not sure yet, I will see in the next few days" just to see if they will say something based on coded law or regulations but no, they just carry on with other stupid questions.
Needless to say, there's nothing suspicious about me. I drive a nice vehicle, I'm middle age and have a good job. In other words, they have never asked to search my vehicle or seemed concerned about my travels. But I just want to know if this is just poor training on their end, or if this is actually coded somewhere (CBSA training manual, agreement with the U.S.A., etc).
I am a Canadian citizen living in Buffalo. I usually visit Canada a couple of times a month by car and I feel like I am being harassed by CBSA. This is the usual interaction when I cross by car. I pull up to the CBSA booth and:
1. I usually get asked where I am residing, to which I state Buffalo.
2. I SOMETIMES get asked what my status is in the U.S. I reply that I am a legal permanent resident. I then get asked to show my greencard which I possess. Now I have an issue with this, first: 1) Am I legally required to provide this when I AM A CANADIAN citizen? What if I don't have it on me at the time and left it home? (Or it's buried somewhere within my luggage and it will force me to get out of my vehicle and spend 20 minutes looking for it). Where is it coded in the Immigration Act or anywhere else, that they can ask what my status is in the U.S. and to SHOW PROOF? What if I was travelling from Spain, or England, or Argentina and resided in any of these countries. Would they care to know if I'm staying legally in those countries and to provide them proof? Hmm, probably not, right? The issue is that I've shown the green card plenty of times but I keep getting asked for it which tells me that they don't even enter this info on their system so that I don't get asked the same stupid question again.
3. I then sometimes get asked where I'm going to stay and for how long. What does it matter? I'm a Canadian citizen, I can stay for as long as I want and wherever I want. This question is so silly that a couple of times I've told the officers "not sure yet, I will see in the next few days" just to see if they will say something based on coded law or regulations but no, they just carry on with other stupid questions.
Needless to say, there's nothing suspicious about me. I drive a nice vehicle, I'm middle age and have a good job. In other words, they have never asked to search my vehicle or seemed concerned about my travels. But I just want to know if this is just poor training on their end, or if this is actually coded somewhere (CBSA training manual, agreement with the U.S.A., etc).
