polonius

Flew into YUL yesterday for the first time in 5 years -- I used to come here frequently, and also was harassed frequently there by Canadian immigration. This time was refreshingly different -- no threats, no aggressive questioning, no search. However, after clearing immigration and going downstairs to baggage claim, I notice that the agent has stamped my declaration but not my passport. This happened to me once before, and on my way out of the country, I had the agent look at stamp from my previous visit which was several months old, and start screaming at me that I had overstayed and was going to be arrested. So I went and found an agent and asked that my passport also be stamped. He said, "oh, American passport, you don't need to be stamped".
I said, "OK, it doesn't matter how long I stay? If I stay for 10 years it won't be a problem?"
He says "you get six months"
"And without a stamp, how do you know it's been six months?"

His reply: "that's why they invented computers"

I am simply stunned, but ask "do you honestly believe that the guys who invented computers were thinking 'let's build a machine that it make it easier for governments to monitor citizens'? Or do you think maybe those guys are horrified at some of the things computers are being used for?"

He didn't have a response, but gave me my entry stamp.

Every encounter leaves me thinking, "where do they find these people?"

yyzvoyageur

What agent was screaming at you last time? Canada does not have exit controls. At what point did you come in contact with this officer?

neuron

Sounds like a pleasant arrival turned unpleasant by your actions.

alexb133

^.

You should be lucky they didn't deny you entry for making that "staying 10 year" statement.

I know you were saying that to him hypothetically, and you don't intend to remain in Canada for 10 years, that statement would have been sufficient enough to turn you around.

mre5765

It would been simpler to take a photo of the stamped arrival card.

yyzvoyageur

No, it would have been far from sufficient. There's nothing in our immigration act that deems someone inadmissible for an off-the-cuff remark or question.

That wouldn't solve anything. The stamp on the declaration form is not indicative of the length of time for which one is authorised entry.

It's true that officers are not required to stamp American passports. In the absence of any indication otherwise, a foreign national is authorised to enter for a period of six months. For every American entering Canada who wants a stamp in his passport, there are three or four carrying nearly full documents who are thankful when they don't get stamped. Anyhow, I can understand the desire to have a stamp even if one is not needed. Next time be careful to note whether or not the officer in the booth has stamped your passport. He should be a lot more willing to provide a stamp upon request than another officer who hasn't already dealt with you and is not the one who has authorised your entry.

OP, I'm still curious about this other officer who apparently threatened to arrest you for overstaying. Was this a CBSA officer? Where did you encounter this person (In a passport control booth? At the gate?) Where were you heading?

Ari

Yes, I am also curious about that . . .

alexb133

They have a lot of discretion. If that officer wanted to make the OPs life miserable - believe me he could have. A very powerful type of discretion they have, is that the officer could have really "believed" the OP intended to stay in Canada for 10 years, rather than treating it as an off-the cut remark.

The IRPA is very clear about who's admitted to Canada by right - Citizens, Registered Indians, and PRs (as long as they still have that status).

There's no provision that would prohibit the officer from using the staying in Canada 10 years remark as ground for inadmissibility

König

I travelled to Canada many many times and not even once was I checked by the CBSA upon exiting the country. Maybe, this incident happened to you in a country that has outbound immigration control and which immigration laws you violated (you admitted you've done that numerous times)? And then you decided to extrapolate that experience onto Canada for a more dramatic effect? Or it never happened to begin with?

Wally Bird

OP may have confused a Canadian 'exit' check with the US pre-clearance, although why a US agent would care how long the stay was I can't imagine.

Could have been a non-standard 'spot' check but I've never heard of those at YUL or anywhere else in Canada. Anyway all entry and exit data is indeed computerized now by land or air so I don't know why any passport gets stamped any longer.

mre5765

Let visit one be the visit recorded on his passport. Let visit two be the visit recorded on his arrival card and smart phone. Let visit three be the one after visits one and two. If the dates of visits one and two are less than six months apart, then on departure from visit two, if the date is more than six months after visit one started but less than six months after visit two started, his smart phone photo saves the day. If the date of visit three is less than six months after the start of visit two, then the smart phone saves the day.

Even if the cbsa accuses op of faking the photo, the date can be looked up in the computer.

FliesWay2Much

Recently, I was on a "grey-beard" panel supporting a Canadian government national security program. From last fall until last month, I was making monthly Dulles-Ottawa trips. NOT ONCE did I encounter anyone -- Canadian or U.S. CBP at the pre-clearance area at YOW -- anything other than completely professional. On my last trip, the Canadian guy asked me if I "was gong to leave anything in Canada." My response was, "Some good advice, I hope."

On the U.S. pre-clearance side, I asked a couple of the agents if these overseas assignments were really competitive and desired. Every one of them said "Yes" and that they were lucky to have gotten these jobs.

I will never forget a conversation I had with a U.S. CPB guy at YOW. Because I carry an official passport, I'm almost always asked the agency I work for. I tell them (because I can tell them in my current position) and tell them they can blame me for what my agency does. I went through this dialogue at YOW once with a CBP guy the size of an NFL linebacker. He looked me right in the eye and said, "I grew up in South Florida and what you guys do for us down there is a blessing." I was truly blown away. I responded by telling him that I knew the director and quite a few of the folks who worked at the place he was talking about. I told him that those folks were much too humble to comprehend that they save tens of thousands of lives every year.

Maybe it was because I was traveling between national capitals, but, I seemed to have found the cream of the crop on both sides of the birder.

N1120A

The person who you quoted and attempted to contradict works for the CBSA. You should probably defer to him.

alexb133

Haha I didn't know.

But even though there's no official rule, officers have a ton of discretion, and could (if they wanted to) look for ways to make his life miserable, and possibly even deny him entry.

Davvidd

I am amazed as well regarding the exit passport check in Canada. I travel a lot in and out and never has seen an exit passport check. Of course the airline staff would scan in your passport and that goes into the data bases so the Authorities know who comes in and goes but there is no physical passport check in Canada as far as I know.