First Time Crossing - What to expect from customs!

Bob Jerkinsposted 2 weeks ago

I crossed for my first time to the US this weekend after being granted a waiver.

1) You will go to secondary inspection. You will be questioned and fingerprinted. Nothing you do will change this the first time you cross.

2) If you have your kids/wife with you, they have to go as well. If you cross via car your car will be searched up and down. Prepared your kids/wife if they already haven't been told about your past. I don't believe in keeping this information from your kids as you are trying to make them better people than you were. SO TELL YOUR KIDS!

3) Any Canadian with a waiver is no longer a non-controlled citizen meaning you have to apply for an "I-94" on top of your waiver. You do this online " https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov " which makes secondary much faster because they already have run the background check on you.

4) I suggest you have print outs of where you are staying as they will ask you for it.

5) From what I was told every 6 months you are taken into to secondary. Prepare for this and accept it as fact.

Good luck all.

Replies (recent first):

@Bob Jerkins - - - Great summary.

I will only add that 33% of my clients do NOT have a criminal record, so obviously sometimes its easier to talk to your kids about it. Many clients tried to get asylum, were turned down, and then came to Canada and were approved. Canada has a different criteria.

Also, I spoke to a client last night who was stuck in secondary and was surprised because it was her third visit since getting the waiver, and this was her FIRST secondary. So the description above was accurate but there ARE exceptions.

J Rogers replied 2 weeks ago   #1

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There is no need to “register”, just enter the same name + password of your choice every time.

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