Border Crossing

[lund115]

Those of you that have crossed the border already this year. Has it been any harder this year than years past if you don't have a passport. Since this is the last year you don't need a passport by land, I was seeing if the border was making it a lot harder to cross with out one. What's everyone's thoughts on this???
Just trying to get prepared for when I cross in a few months with out one.

[TJAK15]

Was up last week. We crossed at International Falls. No problems getting in with driver's license (photo id's for all in the car). did not need birth certificate or passport.

[Ericp45694]

Same as always

[hmmmmmmmm]

WASHINGTON - The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday took a major step toward delaying implementation of controversial passport rules for Canadians and Americans crossing at land and sea borders, voting to push the deadline for the program's start date to June 2009.

The 268-to-150 vote could force U.S. Homeland Security to abandon its current plan - viewed by critics as unworkable - to implement the new rules starting as early as January 2008.

Currently, Homeland Security has the flexibility to start requiring passports, or alternative secure identification, at the Canada-U.S. land border anywhere from January 2008 to June 2009.


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The U.S. House of Representatives voted to delay for 17 months new rules requiring passports for U.S. land and sea travelers entering the United States from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda.

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Font: ****But the U.S. State Department is struggling to meet a sharp rise in demand for American passports and last week agreed to waive an existing rule requiring the document from Americans travelling to and from Canada by air this summer.

"After over two and a half years of fighting against (the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative), I am pleased to see that Congress overwhelmingly rebuked the administration (today) by delaying the implementation of the flawed program until mid-2009," said New York Democrat Louise Slaughter, who has led congressional opposition to the passport plan.

"We sent a clear signal that we don't trust the administration to get WHTI done right."

The delay in the passport rule was included in a broader Homeland Security funding bill and includes language to withhold $100 million in funding for the program. That means Congress could effectively stop the passport rule from taking effect until Homeland Security proves it has a plan to improve border crossing infrastructure to process passport-carrying travellers and show pilot programs have worked.

According to an internal memo from one congressional aide, the legislation also makes clear Congress "does not believe DHS has an overall strategy for WHTI implementation."

U.S. members of Congress have been deluged with complaints from angry constituents who have been unable to get U.S. passports because of overwhelming demand created when the Bush administration began requiring passports for air travel to Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean in January.

On average, the State Department says it now takes three months to deliver a passport to Americans, double the usual wait time.

But some applicants have faced much longer delays. The State Department expects to process 18 million new passports this year, up from 12 million in 2006.

Faced with the possibility that thousands of Americans would be forced to cancel summer vacations, Homeland Security announced it would allow U.S. travellers to return to the country by air if they presented border agents with a receipt showing they had applied for a passport.

But even that decision has caused chaos of a sort, because many travellers showed up at the airport with receipts only - not realizing they still needed either a birth certificate or driver's licence to gain entry to Canada.

"Nobody can say with the straight face that the federal government is ready for this," said Ohio Republican Steve LaTourette.

The passport mess has caused alarm among Canadian and U.S. businesses that fear chaos on a much greater scale when the passport rule for land borders takes effect, because the sheer number of travellers is far greater.

"Even after they delayed the air rule, they were saying they were ready to go with the land rule in January," said Jennifer Morris, deputy director of the Canadian-American Business Council, a Washington-based lobbying group. "It is troubling because they have obviously had issues with air travel, and the land border is a much more complicated issue."

Canadian and U.S. firms support the principles of the WHTI but support delaying its implementation until the Bush administration proves it has the capacity to do it right.

"We are working hard to make sure it is done properly. However long it takes to get it right, we support that," she said. "There are a lot of questions that need to be answered."

The passport delay approved by the House will not immediately have an impact because it must also be approved by the Senate. On Thursday, a Senate committee voted unanimously to approve the June 2009 delay and it's expected the full Senate could vote on the measure later this month.

President George W. Bush has threatened to veto the legislation, primarily because it includes more money than he requested for other Homeland Security measures.

Last week, Ottawa announced it would relax some rules for passport applications for Canadians to ease a similar demand in Canada.

Under the new guidelines, Canadians will no longer need to get their applications endorsed by a professional - such as a doctor or lawyer - to renew their passports. Canadians renewing their passport will also no longer need to submit original identity documents with their application.

Although the recent U.S. decision to waive passport rules for air travellers extends only to Americans, U.S. officials have signalled they may show flexibility for Canadians entering the U.S. this summer.

[Trapper John]

We will be going up later in July. We all have pass ports but that's not going to make it any easier for us if the people ahead of us are holding things up. When the line finaly gets to us it will be ok, but the line will only move just so fast.

[IA Walleye]

Just back, getting into Canada was no problem, nice/polite guards and no wait. Getting back into the US was only slightly worse - nice/polite guards but a bit of a line. But really no big deal.

The odd thing was on the way into Canada, there was also a check on the US side leaving. Never saw that before in my life. However, all in all, the border crossing was a non-event.

Cheers and safe travels to all... IA Walleye

[Jig A Lowe]

>We will be going up later in July. We all have pass ports
>but that's not going to make it any easier for us if the
>people ahead of us are holding things up. When the line
>finaly gets to us it will be ok, but the line will only move
>just so fast.

I don't think it is the identification process that slows the lines down. It has more to do with whatever the border security personnel are looking for and how their questions are answered and just their general sense as to whether a party may be suspicious. I don't believe for a minute that those that have passports are simply waived right through.

[MK]

Just came back last Sunday; crossed at Thunder Bay, no lines, no hassle either direction. We had passports but they didn't ask for them.

Only small glitch was that Canada wanted to see a permission slip from my wife for my 16 yr. old son. They said I needed it for any child under 18. Said to make sure I had it next time and sent us on the way.

[IA Walleye]

Note on the "permission slip" for kids under 18. For it to be accepted, it needs to be signed by the abscent parent and noterized with the stamp and seal. Just a signed note is note acceptable. How strigent the guards are on this, I am not sure, as I have always had it done and handed it to the guards (both sides want it) when I have traveled north with either of my two kids. You can tell they really appreciate the effort to follow the rules.

Cheers.... IA Walleye

[MK]

I did something similar to what you mention when my boy was 13 but figured at 16 it wasn't necesary; found out different. No big deal at the border but might have been if he was younger. "Age of majority" said the guard.

[Sean ul]

Crossed a couple weeks ago at Pembina. Managed to get into Canada with no line and just went in to pay beer duty.
When we came back to the states we all had passports and Dl's.Guard gave them back and said have a nice trip. Then told us to hold on a sec and asked for our id's back.He then told us to pull over to door #2 and wait.So after 45 minutes we got in there emptied out all our pockets and they checked out the boat and vehicle.
Do they have a random numbering system? The people that checked us didn't look too hard and were very friendly.

[larrym]

We were up for the opener and will be back a couple of more times. As Ia Walleye and Sean said, they were checking on the U.s, side and that crossing was the slowest. Nice pleasant officers but they were randomly checking. As I posted earlier, we had fish for two vehicles in one truck. That is a no-no and we were pulled over for that. Nice about it and made us divide the fish between the trucks and, by the way, that is the law......our bad.

[Sean]

We had our fish in 1 vehicle too.I said we should have them in 2 coolers but he says we do it all the time.He claimed the fish and said we were traveling together.They let him go on through and stopped us.
What laws can they force on Canadian fish?
Our officer asked lots of questions about shed antlers and other wildlife questions.

[Whopper]

Went across at International Falls/Ft Francis at walleye opener not a single problem both in and out. Had the proper ID's in hand when I pulled up and answered a couple questions and away we went, both sides border person was very polite.
It was my first time at this particular crossing and was pleasantly surprised with the hassle free crossing, a far cry from some of the horror stories I have read in the past.

Good Luck

Whopper

[Whopper]

Went across at International Falls/Ft Francis at walleye opener not a single problem both in and out. Had the proper ID's in hand when I pulled up and answered a couple questions and away we went, both sides border person was very polite.
It was my first time at this particular crossing and was pleasantly surprised with the hassle free crossing, a far cry from some of the horror stories I have read in the past.

Good Luck

Whopper

[Kruger]

Is is usually bad crossing in western ontario? I cross at Sault Ste Marie and have never waited more than 15 minutes or so. A couple times we have been asked to pull to the side. It takes them a few minutes to poke around and we are on our way.

[Kruger]

Is is usually bad crossing in western ontario? I cross at Sault Ste Marie and have never waited more than 15 minutes or so. A couple times we have been asked to pull to the side. It takes them a few minutes to poke around and we are on our way.

[Sean ul]

From my experience I always had more trouble the further East you travel.
We usually sail on through both sides at Pembina.I just wish I didn't have to wait another year before I went back.

[Sean ul]

From my experience I always had more trouble the further East you travel.
We usually sail on through both sides at Pembina.I just wish I didn't have to wait another year before I went back.

[Fish_on]

You can sometimes wait for up to an hour on a holiday weekend. Usually it's not more than 10-20 cars in line. I try to go through on a weekday and it is usually a breeze at I-Falls, Pigeon River or Baudette.

Back in the day, the border wasn't open 24 hours and it was a nightmare. I remember waiting in line for a couple miles, about 2 1/2 hours from the time the line started moving, at International Falls back in 1979. Back then you tried to arrive in the wee hours of the morning to get a good place in line then went an got breakfast while your truck and boat sat holding your place in line. A couple restaurants near the crossing made a killing in those days. Hundreds of meals a day were served from midnight on. Quite the spectacle.

[Fish_on]

You can sometimes wait for up to an hour on a holiday weekend. Usually it's not more than 10-20 cars in line. I try to go through on a weekday and it is usually a breeze at I-Falls, Pigeon River or Baudette.

Back in the day, the border wasn't open 24 hours and it was a nightmare. I remember waiting in line for a couple miles, about 2 1/2 hours from the time the line started moving, at International Falls back in 1979. Back then you tried to arrive in the wee hours of the morning to get a good place in line then went an got breakfast while your truck and boat sat holding your place in line. A couple restaurants near the crossing made a killing in those days. Hundreds of meals a day were served from midnight on. Quite the spectacle.

[Griffman]

We crossed the border in International Falls opening week (about 3am). The border agents were very nice..asked the usual questions. We went in to pay the bill for the duty on our liquor and they told us to just go on...they were not going to collect on that one. Saved us at least $75.00. I hear they are trying to be more customer friendly this year.

[Griffman]

We crossed the border in International Falls opening week (about 3am). The border agents were very nice..asked the usual questions. We went in to pay the bill for the duty on our liquor and they told us to just go on...they were not going to collect on that one. Saved us at least $75.00. I hear they are trying to be more customer friendly this year.

[Sean]

wish they would have told us to go on.Cost us 180 bucks.

[Sean]

wish they would have told us to go on.Cost us 180 bucks.

[Steve of Madison]

Wait....you paid $180 tarrif on the Beer you took across. How may extra cases did you take? A case of Kokanee is $40 CA $180 buys 4 cases with change back. There isn't a beer made in the US that is better than Kokanee, my opinion.

[ONE TIME DAVE]

Crossed at the "Soo" in early June. We entered both Ontario and back into the US without a hitch. Minimal wait.

[bill moore]

Crossed at Pigeon River 2 weeks ago, no problem at all. Very friendly female guard, no need for any id. Flying back thru Minneapolis is always an aggravation, although the staff were professional.

[Hump1]

We crossed the border going into Canada on June 22, a Friday at about 2:00 p.m. We had 3 cars ahead of us. Those coming into the states were backed up almost to Walmart! We had no problems, showed ID answered the questions and were on our way. coing home we crossed at 8:30 a.m and had two cars ahead of us. showed ID's, he looked in the cooler and we were gone.

[DLFD13]

Lots of good posts here. We have crossed five times at Baudette this year. Some with passports others with DL never an issue. Kids under 18 need birth certs. and letter from mom or missing parent. We carry one that give each of us to cross anytime with no experiration date. We cross here 7 time per year and at Pembina 2 or three. Never had issues. Still waiting to hear how the passport thing shakes out for 2008, but both my kids will have them by end of year as the processing time is getting longer every month.

Life is short, fish often.

[wooglin]

We crossed into Canada at International Falls about 5:00 AM on 6/23, no issues for us. The customs guy gave us three surveys to fill out on his performance, maybe that's why we didn't get charged extra duty on our beer :). On the way back to the US (6/29 about 9:30 AM), we had a lady really drill us (standard: where were you? What camp? How long? Where are you going? Where do you live? How long were you there? How many fish? Who packaged them?). She gave us grief on our missing front plate, then she sent us through the x-ray machine.

Overall, successful trip through the border.

PS, freeze your fish ONE PER ZIP-LOCK BAG without water. We saw a Southbound fish check stop on the way to Ear Falls, every car/truck was getting searched, no way around it. Remember, package the fish for them to see in, not for your freezer. You can re-package when you get home.

PS, we had drives licenses (only 1 had a passport), no issues there. No lines either way.

[jdngfd]

We went through International Falls at 330pm on Friday the 22nd and had no problems, both of us with DL only. Coming back on the 30th we hit Fort Frances at 10am and figured we were in for a long line, not any line there. The young lady at the US border station was nice but very thorough, both our truck and our buddies went through quick and easy. Neither of us even had to do the Xray this year, which is no big deal, last year I think it took all of 2 minutes to get xrayed.

[marayzl]

Crossed at I-Falls June 16 and 23. There was a 3 hour wait going into the US both days. I would avoid on a Sat. We drove an extra 90 mile and crossed at Rainy River. Still saved us an hour or more, plus saved us from sitting there with the thousand irate a-holes.

[Aaron-IN]

I just got back and had no problems coming or going....it seemed easier not harder this year.

[TJL009]

I'm heading to Ontario in 2 weeks - what can I expect the duty to be on case of beer #2? I generally only bring my allowance and buy more in Canada. However, my fishing buddy is telling me it's cheaper to bring everything across and pay the duty. I'm not convinced so I'm looking to see what people are "really" paying.

[Benfishin]

Much cheaper buying it here and paying duty. They ask how much your beer cost and I say $10. They charge you based on how much you paid for it. In the end your case of beer will cost you no more than $25. Good luck finding that price in Canada.

[MoWalleyeguy]

I just came back from my annual trip. Going through Fort France was the easiest EVER. I went through Last Sunday (July 1st?) at 8:20 am. NO WAIT at all... I drove right to the check in booth and 15 seconds later i was on the road!

Coming back was yesterday (July 7th) 7:55am. We had about a 20 minute wait because of the line of cars... but it was amazing how fast it moved. Once at the check pont it was maybe 1 minute and we were moving. Again this was the fastest EVER for us.

[MoWalleyeguy]

I just came back from my annual trip. Going through Fort France was the easiest EVER. I went through Last Sunday (July 1st?) at 8:20 am. NO WAIT at all... I drove right to the check in booth and 15 seconds later i was on the road!

Coming back was yesterday (July 7th) 7:55am. We had about a 20 minute wait because of the line of cars... but it was amazing how fast it moved. Once at the check pont it was maybe 1 minute and we were moving. Again this was the fastest EVER for us.

[glenman12]

We crossed over at FF on June 8th at about 5:30PM..took us about 35 to get thru but 2 of our 3 vehicles were pulled over and inspected..coming back was much worse on June 16th..hit FF at about 10:00AM and were backed up just past Tim Hortons..took us 2 hours to get to the booth..after a 30 second conversation we were done..

[glenman12]

We crossed over at FF on June 8th at about 5:30PM..took us about 35 to get thru but 2 of our 3 vehicles were pulled over and inspected..coming back was much worse on June 16th..hit FF at about 10:00AM and were backed up just past Tim Hortons..took us 2 hours to get to the booth..after a 30 second conversation we were done..

[MK not logged]

Last time we paid duty, about 2-3 yrs. ago, it was about $9/case. As someone else said, its based on what you paid for it in the US. We paid about $14/case in the states and paid the $9 duty. The more you pay in the US, the less the duty amount.

We passed thru to Canada about 3 wks. ago and told the border guard that we had one extra case to pay duty on and she just told us to have a good day and sent us along. Maybe one extra case isn't worth their time to do the paperwork?

[Dud]

Our friends truck was stopped and had to pay duty. Two guys had 6 cases of beer and two 1.75 of booze. They had to pay $47 to cross.

[Sean ul]

>Wait....you paid $180 tarrif on the Beer you took across.
>How may extra cases did you take? A case of Kokanee is $40 CA
>$180 buys 4 cases with change back. There isn't a beer made
>in the US that is better than Kokanee, my opinion.




We took up 15 30 packs.6 people and five drinkers. we paid about 14 bucks a case duty on our over run of 12.75 cases.Buddy owns a liquor store and we bought the beer for 10.50 a 30 pack.
We used to buy beer in Canada until we bought 35 cases of skunky beer.Never again.