This may be long. Important facts are bolded. Details that might be less relevant are not bold.
In roughly 2009 or 2010, I was on a "clear-my-head" sort of drive. I just drove north. I thought that Ontario might be a lovely place to go for a drive that time of year. After driving Interstate 81 to its northern end, I approached the Thousand Islands NY border crossing about 8:30pm. I figured I'd be driving past some lovely Canadian lakes at sunrise, headed in the general direction of Sault Ste. Marie. I presented my US passport. The agent asked me where I was going, how long I planned to stay, and if I had any guns on me. I probably gave decent answers, and she asked if I had anything prohibited "like guns," and I told her I didn't have anything prohibited, but then asked quizzically, "Would it be a problem if I did [have a gun on me]?" She then directed me to "pull over there" for inspection. The inspector went through a longer list of prohibited items, asking me if I had any of them on me. He said "pepper spray," and I said that I did in fact have some pepper spray on me. He became hostile, and asked me why I hadn't told the lady at the initial checkpoint that I did have pepper spray on me. I said that it hadn't initially occurred to me that pepper spray could possibly be a problem, but that when he went through the longer list of prohibited items, yes, I did have some on me. He told me that the fact that I had lied to his agent was, in fact, going to be a very big problem for me. I tried to protest that I told the truth, that I didn't realize that pepper spray would be illegal in Canada, and that as soon as I did I had told him about it, but this changed nothing in his mind. He asked me to place my hands on the car and direct him to where he could find the pepper spray. He removed the one canister of pepper spray from my pocket and confiscated it. I was then directed to go inside a building, and I was further questioned about my purposes for driving into Canada that night. Nobody seemed to want to accept the notion that I was just driving just to drive, and thought that I would cross an international border for that purpose. They wanted me to tell them where I was going. When the best I could do was to look at a map, then point to the vicinity of Sudbury or North Bay, they were unimpressed and unamused. They asked where, specifically, I was headed, and of course I had no answer. After they continued to press the matter I said that I might do some mystery shopping work while I was in Canada, and they of course didn't like that either, explaining that if there is contracting work to do in Canada, and I did it, I would be taking that work away from a Canadian, so any company that was to have hired me for work in Canada should have furnished me with documentation saying that I was to work for them in Canada, and that I would have had to have a work visa, etc.. So back I was to saying that I was just there to drive, and that I didn't realize that the pepper spray was illegal. They demanded the password and opened my computer to search it for child pornography, which of course came back clean. I distinctly got the impression that they thought I was trying to smuggle a gun (or guns) into Canada, and that they might have used this time to search the car for hidden compartments where they might find additional contraband. After an hour-long process of questions, they said they were turning me around, confiscating the contraband pepper spray, as well as the car used in the illegal trafficking of the contraband. The pepper spray was irredeemable, going to the Queen's repository or some such, but I could (and should) redeem the car for CAD$500, will that be cash or charge? I debated whether I wanted to pay, but they just let me sweat through my options there for a few minutes until I realized that it was a long walk from the Thousand Islands Bridge to Pennsylvania. They then gave me a paper stating that I had been denied entry into Canada, and instructed me to present this at the US border crossing for "easier entry" back into the USA, since I obviously hadn't had any opportunities to acquire anything declarable.
The US Border Patrol had their own series of questions for me, wondering both why I was trying to clear my head by driving across national boundaries, and whatever I had done to make Canada reject my attempt to cross one of the easiest borders in the world to cross. An hour later, the US CBP got bored of asking me impossible questions, and sent me on my way. I drove for all of 10 minutes before I was stopped by the Border Patrol, who said they wanted to search my car for illegal immigrants. This interaction was mercifully short, but it was probably 1 in the morning by this point. I was eager to put the border far behind me as fast as possible.
I have often thought about visiting the northern neighbor again (being more careful not to carry anything that could possibly be objected to), but I don't know if I would be inadmissible to Canada. Is there any way to find out other than simply driving north and holding my breath to see if I'm turned around again? Here are my nightmare scenarios:
1) I might be inadmissible to Canada, get missed at the border, and only find out after assuming I could travel freely and one time being inexplicably denied entry.
2) I might be inadmissible to Canada, get missed at the border, and only find out after a routine traffic stop becomes anything but routine when they find out I'm in the country illegally (despite having gone through Border Services on my way north).
3) Canada might have changed its mind about letting me off so easily. In this nightmare scenario, I'm inadmissible to Canada, to be sure, but I'm admissible to a) prison, or b) bigger fines, or c) new penalties for attempting to cross while being inadmissible.
4) I might be inadmissible to Canada, and while traveling with my wife, she is declared inadmissible too. I'm not sure why my wife would ever want to go to Canada without me, but it would just seem inconsiderate to complicate her legal situation like that.
I looked into attempting to apply for a visa, but everything I see says that as a US citizen, I don't need a visa. How can I find out whether I could be admitted to Canada on a visitor visa, without driving north and risking one of the above scenarios?
In roughly 2009 or 2010, I was on a "clear-my-head" sort of drive. I just drove north. I thought that Ontario might be a lovely place to go for a drive that time of year. After driving Interstate 81 to its northern end, I approached the Thousand Islands NY border crossing about 8:30pm. I figured I'd be driving past some lovely Canadian lakes at sunrise, headed in the general direction of Sault Ste. Marie. I presented my US passport. The agent asked me where I was going, how long I planned to stay, and if I had any guns on me. I probably gave decent answers, and she asked if I had anything prohibited "like guns," and I told her I didn't have anything prohibited, but then asked quizzically, "Would it be a problem if I did [have a gun on me]?" She then directed me to "pull over there" for inspection. The inspector went through a longer list of prohibited items, asking me if I had any of them on me. He said "pepper spray," and I said that I did in fact have some pepper spray on me. He became hostile, and asked me why I hadn't told the lady at the initial checkpoint that I did have pepper spray on me. I said that it hadn't initially occurred to me that pepper spray could possibly be a problem, but that when he went through the longer list of prohibited items, yes, I did have some on me. He told me that the fact that I had lied to his agent was, in fact, going to be a very big problem for me. I tried to protest that I told the truth, that I didn't realize that pepper spray would be illegal in Canada, and that as soon as I did I had told him about it, but this changed nothing in his mind. He asked me to place my hands on the car and direct him to where he could find the pepper spray. He removed the one canister of pepper spray from my pocket and confiscated it. I was then directed to go inside a building, and I was further questioned about my purposes for driving into Canada that night. Nobody seemed to want to accept the notion that I was just driving just to drive, and thought that I would cross an international border for that purpose. They wanted me to tell them where I was going. When the best I could do was to look at a map, then point to the vicinity of Sudbury or North Bay, they were unimpressed and unamused. They asked where, specifically, I was headed, and of course I had no answer. After they continued to press the matter I said that I might do some mystery shopping work while I was in Canada, and they of course didn't like that either, explaining that if there is contracting work to do in Canada, and I did it, I would be taking that work away from a Canadian, so any company that was to have hired me for work in Canada should have furnished me with documentation saying that I was to work for them in Canada, and that I would have had to have a work visa, etc.. So back I was to saying that I was just there to drive, and that I didn't realize that the pepper spray was illegal. They demanded the password and opened my computer to search it for child pornography, which of course came back clean. I distinctly got the impression that they thought I was trying to smuggle a gun (or guns) into Canada, and that they might have used this time to search the car for hidden compartments where they might find additional contraband. After an hour-long process of questions, they said they were turning me around, confiscating the contraband pepper spray, as well as the car used in the illegal trafficking of the contraband. The pepper spray was irredeemable, going to the Queen's repository or some such, but I could (and should) redeem the car for CAD$500, will that be cash or charge? I debated whether I wanted to pay, but they just let me sweat through my options there for a few minutes until I realized that it was a long walk from the Thousand Islands Bridge to Pennsylvania. They then gave me a paper stating that I had been denied entry into Canada, and instructed me to present this at the US border crossing for "easier entry" back into the USA, since I obviously hadn't had any opportunities to acquire anything declarable.
The US Border Patrol had their own series of questions for me, wondering both why I was trying to clear my head by driving across national boundaries, and whatever I had done to make Canada reject my attempt to cross one of the easiest borders in the world to cross. An hour later, the US CBP got bored of asking me impossible questions, and sent me on my way. I drove for all of 10 minutes before I was stopped by the Border Patrol, who said they wanted to search my car for illegal immigrants. This interaction was mercifully short, but it was probably 1 in the morning by this point. I was eager to put the border far behind me as fast as possible.
I have often thought about visiting the northern neighbor again (being more careful not to carry anything that could possibly be objected to), but I don't know if I would be inadmissible to Canada. Is there any way to find out other than simply driving north and holding my breath to see if I'm turned around again? Here are my nightmare scenarios:
1) I might be inadmissible to Canada, get missed at the border, and only find out after assuming I could travel freely and one time being inexplicably denied entry.
2) I might be inadmissible to Canada, get missed at the border, and only find out after a routine traffic stop becomes anything but routine when they find out I'm in the country illegally (despite having gone through Border Services on my way north).
3) Canada might have changed its mind about letting me off so easily. In this nightmare scenario, I'm inadmissible to Canada, to be sure, but I'm admissible to a) prison, or b) bigger fines, or c) new penalties for attempting to cross while being inadmissible.
4) I might be inadmissible to Canada, and while traveling with my wife, she is declared inadmissible too. I'm not sure why my wife would ever want to go to Canada without me, but it would just seem inconsiderate to complicate her legal situation like that.
I looked into attempting to apply for a visa, but everything I see says that as a US citizen, I don't need a visa. How can I find out whether I could be admitted to Canada on a visitor visa, without driving north and risking one of the above scenarios?
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