YEGTigger

Those would be "days" by the test. The wording the IRS uses is "You are treated as present in the United States on any day you are physically present in the country, at any time during the day."

There are some exceptions, including transiting the US between two foreign points, being a crew member of a foreign vessel, or staying longer on a trip because of a medical condition preventing homeward travel.

But, going there and back for lunch or shopping or dropping someone off wouldn't be an exception, and thus would be counted as a day.

PLeblond

I have friends who cross the border almost daily. Or at the least, 3 or 4 times a week.

I'd like to see how that will end up, should they get 'the call'.

After Burner

From Title 26 CFR 301-7701(b)-1
(2) Determination of presence—
(i) Physical presence. For purposes of the substantial presence test, an individual shall be treated as present in the United States on any day that he or she is physically present in the United States at any time during the day. (But see § 301.7701(b)-3 relating to days of presence that may be excluded.)

§ 301.7701(b)-3
the following days shall be excluded and will not count as days of presence in the United States—
(1) Any day that an individual is present in the United States as an exempt individual;
(2) Any day that an individual is prevented from leaving the United States because of a medical condition that arose while the individual was present in the United States;
(3) Any day that an individual is in transit between two points outside the United States; and
(4) Any day on which a regular commuter residing in Canada or Mexico commutes to and from employment in the United States.
(b) Exempt individuals—
(1) In general. An exempt individual is an individual who is either a—
(i) Foreign government-related individual as defined in paragraph (b)(2) of this section;
(ii) Teacher or trainee as defined in paragraph (b)(3) of this section;
(iii) Student as defined in paragraph (b)(4) of this section; or
(iv) Professional athlete as defined in paragraph (b)(5) of this section.

After Burner

The "standard" action is to bar the individual from entry to the US for a period of 5 years.

After Burner

Those who cross the US border frequently and accumulate a significant day count are well advised to check the following website frequently. This is the data CBP looks at. Mistakes can be made whereby an exit (US to Canada) has failed to be recorded which will result in an erroneously high US day count. If this has happened, it's good to know in advance.

https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov/I94/request.html

PLeblond

Ever been to Beebe, QC? Google Map it and check out Canusa St.

That's the one where I know people who live there.

My favorite is the kids who live in Point Roberts, WA. Apparently, they need to cross into Canada then re-cross into to US to go to school. Then, after school, back into Canada then re-cross into the US to go home.

I love the letter of the law, but real life is soooooo much cooler.

YOWCDNFF

Based on a recent presentation I attended with US Legal and Tax specialists, the answer to your question would be yes - ie: if you were to enter the US at 23:59 on one day and get out 2 minutes later at 00:01, you would have been in the US for 2 days

guessaaa

Canadians aren't issued I-94s though, so the search would come back empty. I tried searching for myself and it couldn't find me.

Yul_voyager

Depends. You would generally have one for entry by air (except if you used nexus...). By land, not always...

Absolute

Worked for me - I see a few of my trips with my wife last year, before she had Nexus. As Yul_voyager mentioned, none of my Nexus entries appear in there.

Geoflying

Looks like it is the >180 that is the illegal bit - still something to be watching out for - sorry of you felt misled - and if you are there more than 120 days you are starting to hit consequences that would be unexpected if you weren't expecting them.

Seat13F_AC_CRJ

Same for me. No NEXUS or Global Entry transactions appear. I changed my passport in April and the only record I find is a entry into the US at the BDA pre-clearance facility in June even though I have entered the US 8 or 9 other times on my new ppt. There are no kiosks of any sort to enter the US in Bermuda.
--
13F

B1

Another potential point is that the information could track your time outside Canada and calculate your duty-free allowances and liquor/tobacco permissions. But it would be a mess of data. As I understand it, that sort of information is not stored but perhaps now...

sokolov

That's what it says.

I wonder what they do if you cross to the US and back twice a day, every day. Can you do >700 days in a year? :-)

Or the bus drivers on the Windsor-Detroit-bus. What, ten crossings in each directions per workday? Thousands of days!!! ;-)

sokolov

Of course it is the Canadian side of cette rue that has un trottoir. :-)