US Customs stamp Cdn Passport B1?
 

For my first time ever entering the US in Toronto at Pearson, not only did the agent stamp my passport, but wrote "B-1" for class.
Isn't B-1 a short term business visa?
I told the agent I was coming into the US to see friends.
ckc

I dont think my passport has been stamped by US Customs in over a year, and I think only once was the actual Visa written in.

However, B-1 is Visitor for Business, B-2 is Visitor for Pleasure, and C-1 is In-Transit Visa...

-mike

Here is a link that will help explain the visa classifications.

http://www.txstate.edu/international...ions_chart.htm

Cheers

I got B1 even though I was only in transit via DTW.


I have never prior to last week got my passport stamped at YYZ

US Customs now routinely stamps Canadian passports at airports. I usually got B-1 visa. I got C-1 when I transit at LAX from MEL back to YVR.

I fly to SEA almost every month and have been getting my passport stamped every time since the begining of time. My few times through Toronto as well.

Nothing new to me.

I've only ever had my stamped at other ports (YYZ, HNL etc.) of entry into the USA. I've probably been through Customs at YYZ 200+ times in the last three years and with the exception of 6 months when I had an L1A stamp, they never stamped my passport.

If this is new at YYZ, they just started in the last two weeks.

This is true for me as well. I only ever got my passport stamped by US Customs if I was coming into the US from Europe, Asia, Caribbean, but never from YYZ. They have stamped it twice in the past two weeks. My passport expires in 11 months and I am full at this point, without one US stamp. If they start stamping on every visit, it will be a boon for the passport office.

Most of the stamps I have from the US are B-2 but a couple are marked "n/a". Any idea what this means?

I usually get B-1 when visiting the US on business, and N/A when transiting the US to/from a third country.

Simon

There are some explanations in this thread:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...passport+stamp

so then a B-2 code isnt a bad thing?

I'm dual, and when I used to travel on my Canadian passport as a Canadian resident, I would sometimes have my passport stamped, and sometimes not. But the really weird time was when I was a Canadian resident travelling on my US passport, and one time the US customs agent at YVR stamped it. Yes - you read that correctly - US customs gave me an entry stamp in my US passport. Could never figure that one out.

It's not a visa classification, it's the rank level of the agent that is stamping your passport, as explained to me by an immigration officer in YOW. There is no visa required, nor visa classification given for Canadian Citizens entering the US.

50/50%
 

50% of time being a Canadian flying into the US to stay or in transit my passport is stamped? Why not 100% of the time? I asked and was rudely told it is up the officor to decide? Anyone have a better answer?