Visiting Canada with 3 MacBook Pro's and the border

[saria1]

I remember a discussion sometime after summer where a women entering Canada was taxed on her engagement ring. There was a discussion about declaring or importing expensive items to customs so as not to be taxed.

My family and I are taking a a last minute, decided to do this yesterday and booked the room, few days over this upcoming long weekend to go to St John NB. We'll be crossing with 3 MacBook Pro's all of which were purchased in 2014. One is mine, one is my husbands and the third is a work issued MacBook. Plus we'll also have our 2 iPhone 6+'s that we bought and paid in full. I might even bring all my professional camera gear.

How do I go about declaring this? Do I need a form to bring? Should I even bother since everything we bought we could easily access all the receipts online through the Apple Store or B&H Photo if there is an issue? The only thing we don't have access to is the receipt for his my husbands work issued MacBook.

Thanks!

 

[rhcohen2014]

unless you are landing or your husband is a returning resident, you can't "declare" items that aren't new or regulated. at the border crossing, they will ask you questions about what you are bringing. If you fly, you have to fill out a delclaration forml. they ask if you are bringing gifts, alcohol, tobacco, firearms, etc. they don't much care about electronics. When visiting Canada, they only care about the items that are regulated and items you will "leave behind" (ie: gifts for others). if for some reason they see you have 3 computers for 2 people (Which would happen if you are pulled into secondary i'd imagine), then you can just explain why you have them. there is nothing wrong for a person to have 2 computers, 1 for work and 1 for personal use. it's also not uncommon for people to travel with work computers these days. since they are items that have been used, you didn't JUST buy them and they aren't in their original boxes, there's nothing to do when bringing them into canada as a visitor. If you don't get pulled into secondary, then i doubt it will even come up. my guess is if you tell the primary officer about them, he would just shrug it off and not even care.

if you are landing, or your husband is moving back as a resident, THEN they would be declared on the "B4" form.

 

[saria1]

unless you are landing or your husband is a returning resident, you can't "declare" items that aren't new or regulated. at the border crossing, they will ask you questions about what you are bringing. If you fly, you have to fill out a delclaration forml. they ask if you are bringing gifts, alcohol, tobacco, firearms, etc. they don't much care about electronics. When visiting Canada, they only care about the items that are regulated and items you will "leave behind" (ie: gifts for others). if for some reason they see you have 3 computers for 2 people (Which would happen if you are pulled into secondary i'd imagine), then you can just explain why you have them. there is nothing wrong for a person to have 2 computers, 1 for work and 1 for personal use. it's also not uncommon for people to travel with work computers these days. since they are items that have been used, you didn't JUST buy them and they aren't in their original boxes, there's nothing to do when bringing them into canada as a visitor. If you don't get pulled into secondary, then i doubt it will even come up. my guess is if you tell the primary officer about them, he would just shrug it off and not even care.

if you are landing, or your husband is moving back as a resident, THEN they would be declared on the "B4" form.

Thanks Rhcohen!!! That is much simpler and makes sense.

My husband thinks we should "proudly" announce to CBSA we're going up to look at houses. For some reason he feels this will be all cool with them, and we're still waiting on SA. Me on the other hand, feels that could only be bad! I'm a little worried, because first we're going to look at towns and not houses and I don't want our file to get flagged because we listed BC as the place we plan to move, which at the time we did and it's still a possibility, but now my husband wasn't to look at NB and NS. My gut tells me it's best just to say we're going to go for a visit and leave it at that. Thoughts? We're going to have our 6yr old with us, I want this to be as smooth as possible, not traumatizing.

 

[Alurra71]

Thanks Rhcohen!!! That is much simpler and makes sense.

My husband thinks we should "proudly" announce to CBSA we're going up to look at houses. For some reason he feels this will be all cool with them, and we're still waiting on SA. Me on the other hand, feels that could only be bad! I'm a little worried, because first we're going to look at towns and not houses and I don't want our file to get flagged because we listed BC as the place we plan to move, which at the time we did and it's still a possibility, but now my husband wasn't to look at NB and NS. My gut tells me it's best just to say we're going to go for a visit and leave it at that. Thoughts? We're going to have our 6yr old with us, I want this to be as smooth as possible, not traumatizing.

Just tell them you are going for a visit. Don't tell them anything about planning to 'look at houses' to move. That could trigger them to get all hostile since spouse has no legal right to 'live' in Canada. Just stick with the "going to visit and sight see" for a few days and leave it at that. Don't worry about the electronics and such, they will be fine.

Have fun and be sure to bring warm coats/clothes!

 

[saria1]

Just tell them you are going for a visit. Don't tell them anything about planning to 'look at houses' to move. That could trigger them to get all hostile since spouse has no legal right to 'live' in Canada. Just stick with the "going to visit and sight see" for a few days and leave it at that. Don't worry about the electronics and such, they will be fine.

Have fun and be sure to bring warm coats/clothes!

Thanks Alurra, that is exactly what I thought.

 

[rhcohen2014]

saria, i highly doubt your PR application would b scrutinized because you happen to enter canada for a vacation, and your canadian husband's intentions included looking at property to buy in a province not mentioned in your application. CBSA and CIC are different agencies. There is nothing wrong with your husband (or you ) to go look at property to buy one day in the future. While it *may* prompt the CBSA officer to question your planned lenght of stay, and risks a bad experince with an officer who likes to be difficult, it won't have ANY affect on your application. at all. CIC doesn't care where you land and move to, even if it's different than what you wrote in your application or whether you visited canada once to look at property. they understand plans change and people like to plan their futures. the only time it would be an issue for CIC is when Quebec is involved.

As for what would happen with a CBSA officer, it would depend on the officer. some wouldn't care, while others would be suspicious. THAT is the only gamble I see. Even then, i can't see them actually denying entry, they would just take more time to let you enter.

 

[saria1]

saria, i highly doubt your PR application would b scrutinized because you happen to enter canada for a vacation, and your canadian husband's intentions included looking at property to buy in a province not mentioned in your application. CBSA and CIC are different agencies. There is nothing wrong with your husband (or you ) to go look at property to buy one day in the future. While it *may* prompt the CBSA officer to question your planned lenght of stay, and risks a bad experince with an officer who likes to be difficult, it won't have ANY affect on your application. at all. CIC doesn't care where you land and move to, even if it's different than what you wrote in your application or whether you visited canada once to look at property. they understand plans change and people like to plan their futures. the only time it would be an issue for CIC is when Quebec is involved.

As for what would happen with a CBSA officer, it would depend on the officer. some wouldn't care, while others would be suspicious. THAT is the only gamble I see. Even then, i can't see them actually denying entry, they would just take more time to let you enter.

Thanks, Rhcohen. I would rather play it safe, especially with our son in the car.

I'm actually the newly minted Canadian citizen (1st gen born abroad) sponsoring my family. Granted it's retroactive to my birthdate, but I'm sure they'll see my certificate was issued Oct 16th and the application to sponsor my family was received the 28th. Part of me wonders how thats going to sit when the VO reviews the application :-\ I'm expecting my husband to be asked for more proof of intent.

 

[saria1]

Sorry, one more question. I see we're allowed a bottle of wine or some beer (I forgot the amount). Is that amount per legal adult in the vehicle, or per vehicle? Also, I assume I don't declare it when it's within the legal amount allowed over the border, is that correct?

Thanks!

 

[scylla]

Sorry, one more question. I see we're allowed a bottle of wine or some beer (I forgot the amount). Is that amount per legal adult in the vehicle, or per vehicle? Also, I assume I don't declare it when it's within the legal amount allowed over the border, is that correct?

Thanks!

See the rules here (allowances per adult):

http://travel.gc.ca/returning/customs/what-you-can-bring-home-to-canada

You MUST declare all alcohol - even if it's within the legal limit allowed.

 

[saria1]

See the rules here (allowances per adult):

http://travel.gc.ca/returning/customs/what-you-can-bring-home-to-canada

You MUST declare all alcohol - even if it's within the legal limit allowed.

Oops, we didn't declare the bottle of wine when we went to Niagara a few months ago. We also brought back half the bottle of unfinished wine (we're real alcoholics ). If we bring back another half bottle this time, do we declare that coming back too?

 

[rhcohen2014]

Oops, we didn't declare the bottle of wine when we went to Niagara a few months ago. We also brought back half the bottle of unfinished wine (we're real alcoholics ). If we bring back another half bottle this time, do we declare that coming back too?

yes! declare all alcohol. the last thing you want them to do is search your car and find it. it's always better to declare, than not. i *think* for wine, it's 1 regular bottle per person or 1 double bottle per car?

 

[saria1]

yes! declare all alcohol. the last thing you want them to do is search your car and find it. it's always better to declare, than not. i *think* for wine, it's 1 regular bottle per person or 1 double bottle per car?

Declare alcohol, check, will do.