Hello there.
Me and my girlfriend were at the Coutts Alberta/Montana border today so that I can "land" as a PR in Canada. We didn't expect that we will be going straight to the US border driving from Canada without going through a Canadian border checkpoint first and my girlfriend who is a Canadian citizen didn't have her passport with her when we realized that we are actually going straight to the US border. The US border officers had us pull over as I suppose they do with all the people going to the border just to re-enter as a landed permanent resident, but they did give my girlfriend some hard time for not having a passport on her and only been able to provide them with a drivers license and social insurance number. She explained it to them that she was born in Vancouver and that the reason she never thought of bringing a passport is because neither of us realized that we will be going straight to the US border without being able to stop at a canadian check point first where she can wait for me.
They seemed understanding and only within few minutes they gave us a piece of paper for us to take back to the canadian side so that I can get my PR confirmation validated and told us which way to drive so that we can re-entre to Canada. Once we were back on the canadian border side we did't have as many troubles because my girlfriend had realized that she has a picture of her passport on her phone and after showing it to border officer, they let us both in after asking a few simple immigration questions and I had my papers sign within just few minutes at the Canadian Border office.
The only thing that concerned me was that the piece of paper given to us from the US border said refused or not allowed entry (I don't have the document on me any more because the border officer on the canadian side kept it with her) beside both our names. I really hope they do that with every person going through the US border only to re-enter Canada for immigration purposes and I hope that me and my girlfriend are not gonna have any troubles at the border next time we go into the US.
Any thought. I would highly appreciate if someone has similar experience and knows if we are gonna have difficult time next time we travel to the US because my girlfriend didn't have her passport on her even thought we never technically went into the US.
Thank you.
Me and my girlfriend were at the Coutts Alberta/Montana border today so that I can "land" as a PR in Canada. We didn't expect that we will be going straight to the US border driving from Canada without going through a Canadian border checkpoint first and my girlfriend who is a Canadian citizen didn't have her passport with her when we realized that we are actually going straight to the US border. The US border officers had us pull over as I suppose they do with all the people going to the border just to re-enter as a landed permanent resident, but they did give my girlfriend some hard time for not having a passport on her and only been able to provide them with a drivers license and social insurance number. She explained it to them that she was born in Vancouver and that the reason she never thought of bringing a passport is because neither of us realized that we will be going straight to the US border without being able to stop at a canadian check point first where she can wait for me.
They seemed understanding and only within few minutes they gave us a piece of paper for us to take back to the canadian side so that I can get my PR confirmation validated and told us which way to drive so that we can re-entre to Canada. Once we were back on the canadian border side we did't have as many troubles because my girlfriend had realized that she has a picture of her passport on her phone and after showing it to border officer, they let us both in after asking a few simple immigration questions and I had my papers sign within just few minutes at the Canadian Border office.
The only thing that concerned me was that the piece of paper given to us from the US border said refused or not allowed entry (I don't have the document on me any more because the border officer on the canadian side kept it with her) beside both our names. I really hope they do that with every person going through the US border only to re-enter Canada for immigration purposes and I hope that me and my girlfriend are not gonna have any troubles at the border next time we go into the US.
Any thought. I would highly appreciate if someone has similar experience and knows if we are gonna have difficult time next time we travel to the US because my girlfriend didn't have her passport on her even thought we never technically went into the US.
Thank you.
