Just sharing my experiences here:
I am a US citizen.
Last week, crossing into British Columbia on I-5, at 9:00 pm, the line was so long it took 30 minutes to get to the booth, then they made me go inside to immigration to answer a bunch of questions.
Total time: 45 minutes
Returning to the US the next morning, I hit the line at about 11:00 am, and stayed in line for a full 110 minutes. yep, 1 hour and 50 minutes!
And after all that, I was only at the booth answering questions for about 15 seconds!

Is this pretty normal these days?

Not abnormal in my experience. I cross the border into/out of British Columbia at the I-5 terminus serveral times a year and I've run into the same thing. Especially coming back into the US, the wait can easily reach 2 hours if you arrive at the wrong time of day. I don't know if the expansion on both sides of the border has opened yet or not. The added lanes should help reduce wait times however. I guess the expanision and update at the crossing is a result of the winter Olympics coming to town.

When I lived in Bellingham I crossed at Sumas/Abbotsford, it's much quicker and less stressful than the I-5 crossing.

It can be dependent on the day or hour, on a special event (the annual Northwest Washington Fair in Lynden attracted a lot of Canadians last week), on the currency exchange (the Canadian $ is still near a 30-year high, thus attracting Canadian shoppers and tourists to the US) and other factors.

The two main border crossings (at Peace Arch and the so-called Truck Crossing) are both undergoing renovations somewhat in preparation for the Winter Olympics in Vancouver/Whistler which is only adding to the delay.

So, to make a short story long your experience is not atypical and there have been much longer waiting times recently, even at the Aldergrove and Sumas crossings to the East.

The waits traveling south have been 3 hours or more on Saturday afternoons. It's best to avoid weekend travel if you can.

I am very much surprised by the length of delays at the border. I am used to crossing the border back east: Rouses Point, Thousand Islands, Niagara Falls, Buffalo, Detroit and Port Huron. So I am used to many questions being asked.

When I drove to the Peace Arch crossing years ago (OK - many years ago), I was asked "What is your citizenship?" - I said (honestly) "US". The border agent said "Go ahead!"

Total time at the border - including wait time - about 5 seconds!

The "truck crossing" a mile east of the Peace Arch is normally faster, both northbound and southbound, in my experience. But that can still mean more than an hour's wait each way. Worst wait ever for me was 3.5 hours southbound at the Peace Arch... and that was pre-9/11.

A 30-minute wait at the Peace Arch northbound is not at all unusual -- perhaps a little better than average.

I always use the crossing at Lynden/Aldergrove -- it's far quicker than either Peace Arch or the truck crossing, IME, and it's more convenient for the areas that I'll be going (Burnaby/Maple Ridge/etc.). For people heading into Richmond or Vancouver, it's more out of the way, but the time savings likely makes up for the extra driving distance.

Mike

This summer the waits have been easily 50 minutes + getting into the states from Canada. Seems like any time of the day too. Usually the truck crossing is about 10-15 minutes quicker but not always, especially during holidays. I'm up there at least twice a month and decided to get the Nexus Card. It was well worth it. Coming back on Tuesday afternoon the wait was almost 2 hours. I just drove right up to the Nexus lane and through. It's $50 for a 5 year card. You have to go through an interview process and background check.

http://www.getnexus.com/

As for the OP's original question, yes, I've had that same exact experience on several occassions over the past 2 years. They call it a compliance exam. Just a random check for people who aren't declaring anything. I've had wait times of 3 hours during U.S. and Canadian holidays getting through. I have used Abbottsford but more and more folks know about that crossing and they have just a few lanes and the waits can be just as long.

I live just south of the border and had company 3 weeks ago who were Canada-bound. I recommended Sumas to them but they did Aldergrove. The wait coming back down from Canada was 2 hours. It was mid-week and mid-day.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/...rderjam04.html


Suggesting this be moved to the Canada forum

Plan on big delays for the next couple of years. Apparently, new construction at the Peace Arch crossing is scheduled to run until six weeks before the start of the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver (that's cutting it awfully close IMHO). Suddenly the train looks good.

Had the same thing about a week ago - they weren't even questioning people all that extensively.
When you get there the back-up starts in the middle of nowhere with no border in sight nor any sign that you're not just stuck on a highway due to a crash. The other direction (Canada bound) seemed to have no line at all, though..