Travel dates forgotten and not on passport?

[jasonty9]

Hi, so during my 5 years in Canada I have made about 10 small trips (2-10 days) to the US and most of them are by cars, which I don't have stamps for on my passport.

And I also don't remember the exact dates/duration of those trips, because I was a teenager back then.

And my parents who took me to those trips also forgot about most of the dates/duration.

Can someone give me some advice of what to do? Thanks!

 

[beauhoe]

Hi, so during my 5 years in Canada I have made about 10 small trips (2-10 days) to the US and most of them are by cars, which I don't have stamps for on my passport.

And I also don't remember the exact dates/duration of those trips, because I was a teenager back then.

And my parents who took me to those trips also forgot about most of the dates/duration.

Can someone give me some advice of what to do? Thanks!

Apply for your CBSA report.
Good luck

 

[spetel]

AFAIK, they do not provide that report to persons directly.
I tried and they told me they only send it to CIC directly on their request.

However, the US border do - I applied online to get the US border records and got it super fast online, so perhaps try there as well.

One thing to note: they are VERY inaccurate. I had many trips that are on my passport stamped and do not appear on their records.
Also, many trips on their records that are not stamped on my passport, and many on the CBSA that do not appear on neither.

This whole thing is a nightmare for people who travel a lot (I had many conference trips as a speaker for 1-2 days)... So far, our application returned 3 times for "missing or more documents request", and it is taking forever for us to pass each step.

My suggestion to you is, in addition to standard documents, to include:
1. all your passport pages copied.
2. border records from US border service.
3. cross reference them and make a document that correlates each row in the report with a stamp on your passport, and if there is a stamp and no record - mention it, or record with no stamp - mention it as well.
4. If you have more than one passport - do the same there. If not - explicitly mention you do not have any other travel document or passport.
5. Pray, or do whatever you believe will help, and be very patient.

Our time line for example was:
August 2013 - application submitted
December 2013 - request for more documents
May 2014 - test, followed by interview where we were asked for more documents
July 2014 - letter requesting more documents
and we are still waiting.

Needless to say, each request was exactly the same - asking for the same documents, and after we provide them at the interview she did mention "oh, you are right, it was here all along".

Good luck

 

[alphazip]

AFAIK, they do not provide that report to persons directly.
I tried and they told me they only send it to CIC directly on their request.

CBSA definitely will send an individual a record of his/her entries. It can be ordered here and takes about 30 days:

http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/agency-agence/reports-rapports/pia-efvp/atip-aiprp/req-dem-priv-eng.html

If the trips are by car, CBSA *may* want to know the licence plate number(s) and be sent proof(s) of ownership. [There are actually two reports...one goes by name, the other by plate number.] When I made a request several years ago, I received a phone call asking for that information (numbers and ownership) to be e-mailed or faxed.