Really? Sounds like routine questioning to me. Come to think of it, the US starts with this type of questioning. Never mind ending with it. :rolleyes:

I'm not sure how old you are, or when the last time you were a resident of Canada, but there are no summer students that work the primary line at CBSA airports. In other field (support) operations yes, but not as peace officers at airports.

Many of those "old grey heads" are new to CBSA through the second career program. I doubt they're reading books as well.

That Brunei figure does that too, but I saw him at the Park Hyatt a few times when he was staying there. Never did understand why he would stay at the hotels he did, given the property holdings they have.

They do cane even for immigration violations of some sort.

Not all teenagers are summer students. ;) CBSA has had some teenager-looking employees working primary, but not sure most or any of them are actually teenagers.

There are older CBSA employees who are reading books while they wait or in between someone being sent to them.

huh? The US doesn't even have exit controls to enforce a visa.

Israel, New Zealand and US may be intimidating, but nothing compared to places where you are left at the mercy of corrupted officiers with the risk of being kidnapped untile the bribe reaches a good amount.
Safety-wise the Brazilian-Paraguay land border toward Ciudad del Este wasn't funny at all.

Yeah, I have no idea what s/he's talking about either.

I don't remember any problem going the other way, to see Iguassu Falls. Maybe because it's primarily tourists in that direction?

We have electronic exit controls for visitors flying out of the US. We also have even some physical exit controls too -- applicable to visitors and US citizens/residents.

Passenger manifests for flights out of the US are used by the US primarily for electronic exit control purposes, but sometimes they are also used to come up with physical exit controls too.

Entering Paraguay from the bridge of Foz de Iguazu is like entering a gangster movie. That city is creepy.

You won't get on a plane leaving the US, or to Schenectady for that matter, without obtaining government permisssion each time. This permission can be, and often is, arbitrarily withheld. That there's no physical piece of paper that says "exit visa" is irrelevant.

True; Ciudad del Este is a major smuggling hub. In fact, Paraguay is one of the few countries that have ADDED a visa requirement for US citizens where there didn't use to be one (back when there was a US-backed dictator). Turkey is another. Overall, the trend everywhere else has been the other way, towards fewer restrictions when there is no real need for them.

If you're referring to the "no fly" list, that's not a denial to leaving the country, it's a safety issue. I think people on that list are perfectly free to cross the land border into Canada or Mexico, or get on a boat for that matter.

In countries with an exit visa requirement, you have to actively seek permission to leave the country by any means. In some countries, if you're a foreigner, your passport is (by law) confiscated and held by your host while you're there, and only given back when you're allowed to leave. And a citizen usually needs to obtain permission before leaving. This applies to virtually everyone, not some small fraction of a percent.

ROFL. I guess that's what this "debate" forum is about, how much freedom the s-I mean citizenry is willing to trade for the illusion of safety. Now that our former freedom to board airplanes has been surrendered over to the government, it may be true that the power to deny air travel is presently exercised benevolently, or in the eyes of most not oppressively, but there's no guarantee this won't change tomorrow or next year.

Yes - but the b:prder controls (when I was there) were practically nil.