Why don't you read the legislation and find out what happens to the forms? Better yet, ATIP your forms and see what's written on them!

CBSA does track visitors quite closely. Why do you think they scan ppts and input msgs in the computer sometimes?

Furthermore, the travel document number is recorded anyway when you scan the ppt, so while it may be a good idea to write the ppt number on the form (I don't know why we don't -- why don't you write your MP or the Minister responsible for CBSA?), don't worry, you're still be tracked regardless.

I think the form should either give an exhaustive list of food/agricultural products that are not allowed to enter Canada, or it should strictly ask to declare all products to the border officer and let the officer decide whether it's a hit or miss.

After being told that the list on the form is not exhaustive, I now write on the form itself exactly what foods I'm declaring (I declare all) and let the CBSA officer decide whether to red circle the box or not.

Question for CBSAguy rergarding the forms:

One of the questions is, "Are you bringing goods related to your business?" or something like that. If I am, does the personal exemption apply to those business goods, such as books or publications related to my business?

If I answer "Yes", will I automatically get pulled in to pay D&T?

Is a book taxed any differently that a CD with the same information?

Thx.

Personal exemptions are for goods that are for "personal and household use". If you answer "yes", you will not be AUTOMATICALLY sent in to pay. If you bought a couple books for your business, I doubt you'd end up paying a penny, but it is possible.

Books and CDs may be assessed with different rates of duty. If it's coming from the US, you're generally just charged tax (no duty). As for duty if it's coming from another country, the rates are listed in the Customs Tariff, which I think is several hundred or thousand pages in length. Books and CDs may be assessed differently. The Customs Tariff is listed in full on the CBSA website if you were so inclined.

Anecdotally, that's what a lot of westcoasters of both genders do happen to think. YVR seems to be gender neutral though.

LoL, now I am seriously worried about my LAX and LAS overnight trip this month with my Spring Getaway Pass:D especiall LAS, arrive 5pm, leaving 6am.:D

China has done away with this BS altogether. And the whole tax grab on purchases made abroad is just so damned ridiculous now, but it serves the point of letting politicians "give" something back to the public every once in a while in order to pass their bill. :rolleyes:

48 hours in South America with only a laptop bag got me some attention a while back.

Exactly what BS have they gotten rid of? The declaration card? It serves many purposes other than helping determine D&Ts owing. By the way, we've moved A LOT further away from the tax collector mentality that may have prevailed when we were in CCRA uniforms, though that still remains a part of our function.

I have not had very much interaction with an immigration officer since I received my CANPASS (and now NEXUS) years ago. (I think I’ve had my card for about 7 years now – has it been that long?)

When I have had interaction with a CBS officer (before CANPASS/NEXUS) it has been generally painless.

My wife use to ask me, why I would go to the CANPASS/NEXUS machines when there was not a single person in the immigration hall. I told my wife, the less I have to deal with any immigration officer from any country the happier I am.

One time my wife was returning back to YYZ and met up with a very rude and ignorant immigration officer. My wife had been visiting me for a couple of days mid-week in FLL (I work in the US on a TN). She also has had a CANPASS/NEXUS for years. Ever since that point in time, the immigration hall may not have a single person in line and she’s bellying up to the NEXUS machines without exception!

As far as the customs card, I believe Canada’s cards are efficient. Many from other countries have commented to me how nice it is to have one card for immigration and custom purposes. In addition someone once said to me that Stats Can also uses them however I’m not sure if this is true.

As far as lining up to see an immigration officer, before NEXUS I would line up and never change lines. I figure someone is looking around to see if people are jumping lines. I only would move over if someone called me over.

I remember a buddy of mine and I went to IAH for the wkend. It was when AC first started to fly there and there was an introductory fare. We got back to YYZ late in the evening (but on time). It was around 23h00. The immigration hall at T-2 was packed. We were in line for about 40 minutes. When we got to the immigration officer the lady started off by saying – all in good humour “I have a question for both of you. For the last 20 minutes you have been in this line and smiling, laughing and joking while everyone else have been upset for waiting so long. Why?”. So my friend, who was a controller for the company that I worked for (and I reported to him) said, I told my friend (me) that when I get to the counter I’m going to tell her the penis joke and he has been trying to convince me not to tell you the joke. So we ended up telling the joke and the three of us laughed and off we went.

But generally, like others have stated, I won’t go to a female immigration officer - never been sent to secondary but oh so many questions. Another time my same friend in the above story and I were coming back from PLS where my brother lives. The female immigration officer asked me what I bought and if I bought any gifts for anyone else. I mentioned I bought x, for myself and a, b, c, d, e for my wife total of $500 for the week. The immigration officer then asked my friend what he bought and he said $40. She then asked him two more times (total of three) if that’s all he bought. He finally said it was only $40 because “I’m not married”. I started to stifle my laugh. She looked at me. I said nothing and she sent both of us on our way. :)

Actually – just one exception about going to a female officer. On occasion, when I flew in YYZ late into the evening, there was one female immigration officer that was a hot blonde who wore black-rim glasses. I would always go to her post every time. ;)

Oh, CBSA people are reading this thread... then I've had *nothing* but *very pleasant* experiences at the border! But seriously, I appreciate having someone from CBSA on this board-- it feels more like a discussion than a rant session.

We've used a section of the regs involving seminar leaders to cross the border without a work permit. Some of the primary agents know about this reg and let us right through. Others divert us to immigration. This seems to happen most often at the smaller border crossings. Once in immigration, it seems to be a bit of a crap shoot. Sometimes we have to wait a very long time for something which we've been cleared for over and over. Once we reach the front of the line, sometimes we're processed through quickly, other times the officers wave us through with instructions about what to bring with us next time (it's rarely the same advice), and sometimes the agent has to make us wrong before he lets us through. We've only been denied once, for a person who had a felony on his record. So it's mainly the hassle factor.

We discovered that by applying for Nexus, we could answer the questions once and be done with it. Now trips involve no discussion at all. My only beef with Nexus is that it takes 4 months to book an appointment at YVR. Also, it takes 45 minutes to update drivers license information (isn't this a simple database update?) and then we have to go to the U.S. side and go through the same process, which takes the same amount of time.

U.S. customs has been much more nightmarish for our Canadian collegues. We've gotten our congressman involved in our issues, though because of national security issues not even the president of the U.S. can override a decision made by a customs officer. This causes no end to our problems, as custom agents seem to make their decisions arbitrarily, particularly when they believe you're lying ("Oh, you say you're entering the U.S. to do *volunteer* work so you don't need a green card? We'll see about that...") One of our Canadian friends has been searched, interrogated for several hours on multiple occasions, and turned back enough times that we were advised that the next time he might be banned for 5 years. Other times he sails right through. However, we've stopped risking a ban and are now in the process of getting an L-1 visa even though he technically doesn't need one. He's chosen not to enter the U.S. for nearly a year during this process.

So getting inconvenienced a little bit is a small price to pay for the privelege of entering Canada a dozen or so times a year.

My wife returned from a weekend trip on her airmiles to SF and when asked why she had gone, replied " visiting an old boy friend" - this referred to an old boy friend(20yrs ago) and his wife who we are both friendly with. The agent looked through her passport and spied a customs stamp from Mexico some months earlier (we had gone there for vacation) and said: Well then, who did you go to Mexico with? She dutifully replied "my husband" but was actually annoyed that such a question was asked. This seems like an invasion of privacy and was uncalled for especially since there was no other reason to question my wife who is as average as they come (married 25yrs, 2 1/2 kids, suburbs, works full-time). Is this justified and can a person tell customs it's none of your business (at the risk of a 6hr search and delay, of course).

Welcome CBSAguy hopefully the complaints wont be too much to take :)

I'll try and keep this short...

a few questions.

1) Why does CBSA feel the need to check passports when disembarking a plane rather than at the customs and immigration point?

I really really find this highly annoying and am about to complain to my MP about this behaviour. You just come off a long haul flight, are tired, restless and probably want to stretch your legs a bit and you have to wait in a long lineup for two customs officials to do a "pre" clearance scan? Whats the point?

2) When I exit the baggage claim area with my bag once I was talking on my cell phone to someone outside and the guy got pissed. Is there a rule not to use your cell phone at that point? I cant see what the problem was because when you hand him the customs form he'll only pull you aside if their is a problem, so why cant you talk on your phone?

US immigration officers should get their training in Canada :D

Agreed. I hit up grocery stores when I'm abroad and bring back things all the time, almost always packaged-type foods, but never declare because I know they won't care about what I'm actually bringing back.