what you say is what you are

Yes, I know that. That's why I had an "or" in there -- UK is not part of either Schengen or Eurozone.

Hmmm, I don't recall the X-ray at AKL. But it was after an overnight from NRT, and a 30-minute lineup for immigration, so it may be that I have simply forgotten about it.

Ireland and the UK run a single immigration area.

I am pretty sure they have a form, probably the same as the UK.

Very good thread to read^,except for a few who are throwing darts at each other.

Are you a US Citizen?

While not 100% true, out of all the customs/immigration agencies I've cleared, no one puts more emphasis on enforcing shopping goods, booze and smokes than the CBSA.

No, however I have an Uncle who lives in the US.
Sanosuke!

So how does CBSA dole out the daily body cavity search duties? Shortest straw or do they pass it along to the RCMP, Peel Regional Police etc.?

Actually, that statement is about 80% true.

In my experience (which is about 15-20 times a year) one of the biggest things the idiots behind the counter care about is what you purchased, and what country the purchased items were made in. I had no idea until about 5 years ago there was actually different duty rates dependent on the country where the goods were manufactured. When I was living in Montreal I did some shopping at a Ralph Lauren store in Vermont and had shirts that were the exact same price but were taxed differently because of where they were made.

As I have said earlier, it's not very often I actually purchase things abroad but I find it easier to just lie and say I did so I show a value in the all important box that asks how much you have spent because they don't believe you when you say nothing.

Totally agree. I always buy a duty free bottle even if I'm only saving about $5 over the LCBO prices. I never buy anything on vacation. Let's face it when the GBP was approaching $2.50 what could you buy cheaper in the U.K. for example anyway. However the one time I didn't buy or declare anything I got pulled into secondary. Since then I always, always buy some duty free. When LHR wouldn't allow you to take duty free booze onto North American bound flights I even bought some duty free on the plane. Nobody is going to tell me there still isn't a strong revenue generating element targeted towards re-entering Canadian citizens. Still got lots of bloated public sector pensions to budget for.

Not one secondary for me at any Canadian airport yet. Even though I declare nothing from time to time. And have never yet had to pay tax/duty yet even when I slightly exceeded the limits (and declared the excess).

Then the questions the US CBP is asking you are totally reasonable. You are a FOREIGN citizen entering THEIR country. It has no parallel with Canadian citizens being asked what their job is when re-entering their OWN country.

Exactly. The nickel-and-diming is painful--is there some sort of quota each CBSA person has to fulfill? Some of the amounts I've had to pay couldn't possibly be worth the time and effort it took to collect them.

as a US citizen, I've seen an improvement on the Canadian clearance. The only headache is if your flight runs late (after midnight) and you land around the same time as a bunch of leisure flights returning from Carribbean or Florida. They reduce the staffing and every leisure person seems marked as a revenue opportunity and also seems to have problems filling their forms out correctly. I kno understand why my Canadian colleagues are so by the book.

To compare and contrast with the return US side, a couple years ago, there was a buy 2 get 1 free deal on crown royal and the US agent was floored I only bought 1 bottle. I said, "well aren't you allowed only 1 bottle?" to which he replied, "do you know how much paperwork we'd have to do? Next time get the deal!"

It's not an issue now that duty free is after immigration.

All and all I don't mind clearing customs on either side at the new Air Canada terminal at Pearson