Hello All,
Just wanted to let everyone know about strange experience I had while exiting USA at Champlain(NY) - Lacolle (QC) border.
Little Background: I am on L1 visa in USA. I hold Canada PR. I was on a day trip to Montreal.
When I reached border I found out that CBP was re-directing everyone to export control lanes. Even Nexus holders were being checked. One lane was for commercial vehicles and other one was for non-commercial vehicles. K-9 unit was checking all vehicles. When I reached booth I was asked to show all the documents and standard questions were asked. When CBP agents saw L1 visa on my PP they started discussing. After checking documents for few minutes, one CBP agent mentioned to another ( guessing a senior CBP agent) one - "He has L1 visa". Second CBP agent said - "L1 visa does not count. Let him go" and I was directed to CBSA checkpost.
I found this experience different for 2 reasons:
1. This was my 5th time crossing this border and first time I have seen CBP agents checking documents/vehicles at exit.
2. It appears that CBP agents were trying to catch illegal/undocumented/expired visa immigrants while they were trying to exit US.
Does anyone know why CBP is checking documents at exit points? Perhaps this is more common at border and I was not aware of this since I am not a frequent traveler.
Just wanted to let everyone know about strange experience I had while exiting USA at Champlain(NY) - Lacolle (QC) border.
Little Background: I am on L1 visa in USA. I hold Canada PR. I was on a day trip to Montreal.
When I reached border I found out that CBP was re-directing everyone to export control lanes. Even Nexus holders were being checked. One lane was for commercial vehicles and other one was for non-commercial vehicles. K-9 unit was checking all vehicles. When I reached booth I was asked to show all the documents and standard questions were asked. When CBP agents saw L1 visa on my PP they started discussing. After checking documents for few minutes, one CBP agent mentioned to another ( guessing a senior CBP agent) one - "He has L1 visa". Second CBP agent said - "L1 visa does not count. Let him go" and I was directed to CBSA checkpost.
I found this experience different for 2 reasons:
1. This was my 5th time crossing this border and first time I have seen CBP agents checking documents/vehicles at exit.
2. It appears that CBP agents were trying to catch illegal/undocumented/expired visa immigrants while they were trying to exit US.
Does anyone know why CBP is checking documents at exit points? Perhaps this is more common at border and I was not aware of this since I am not a frequent traveler.
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