Oh sure, correct me but not the evangelist who posted it first... ;)

It actually eliminates the part of the job that most officers enjoy the least, primary screening. There will always be more than enough work with secondaries and other things, like staffing NEXUS offices :D.

BTW, NEXUS now has over 500,000 members.

he he, it happens same to me but in YYZ arrivals T3.. canada immigration. maybe 5 times in a row.
never a problem in US immigration.

I'm PR resident.

normally it is just a 2 seconds process where the officer tells me they dont know why I'm being sent there and they let me go.

last time, a week ago.. and the first time this happens to me in canada, during that secondary inspection an immigration officer started asking a bunch of annoying questions, for example wanted to see my paper tickets, wanted to see in paper which day I left canada, I never have any printed thing so I showed my iphone tripit app what she did not understand and started questioning every connection I made during my trip and why, etc.

then she asked me how many days I've been away in the last 4 years. well traveling once a month for 2-3 weeks, I told her it's a big number but I don't know the exact math, and she wanted to know the exact number. and told me I should know that.

well at the end she let me go, but it was a very unpleasant moment. she was not canadian she was also an immigrant to canada I can tell by her accent.

Actually she might have been on to something with her questions. As a PR you're not supposed to live outside Canada a certain amount of time in a certain amount of years, (can't recall but am sure CIC website should have it) so she might have been trying to weed you out. You must be careful with these questions and she is right that you should know the math (approximately) so that you don't endanger your PR status.

oh I understand but I still think it was not the reason, I explained to her I counted the exact days last year to re-apply for my PR and I have the chart, and the number at home with all in-outs of the country, but I didn't know the exact number out of my head.. she insisted I should know.

I went through immigration many many times, first time something like that happens. very bad attitude, bad mood, bad everything.

I thought that day : thank god I have NEXUS ;)

Payjam is correct. WPJ, as a "PR" it is your responsibility to know and adhere to the residency requirements.

What, the hell, does that have to do with anything????

That's good.

I got a secondary at T1 Canadian side after an ultra long-haul NRT-YYZ and my agent was a young kid with a lotttttttt of attitude. Took my Canadian passport and also asked if I carry my American passport (US citizen by birth)! :confused: And so what if I did carry it with me? I wasn't going to hand it over to him... Then asked why I live in Canada!!!! (I though WTH?!)

Went inside, came back 10 minutes later asked about my military service with USAF on and on and on. Then on to my bags, empty them all out completely, then pass them through X-Ray one by one and finally brings my bags back, hands me my passport and that's it, not a peep out of him.

I was tempted to ask for a supervisor but my cooler head prevailed and I just let it go. These guys do have the the power to make future crossings difficult so it's just best to put up with it. I have absolutely no problem with the search, but the inquisitive nature of his questions were really interesting. He would have had at least three pieces of ID to positively identify me: Passport, CANPASS and NEXUS so he was just really trying to establish his territory I guess.

Frankly, IMO Canadian citizens don't have as much constitutional protection as US citizens do in regards to unrestricted border movements and/or inquisitive search/seizures in their respective countries.

What would you have complained about to the supervisor? Do you equate an inquisitive secondary with an unlawful search/seizure? You do know you don't have to answer the questions, right?

well.. I adhere to the requirements, I just renewed my PR without problems, so why I have to know out of my head the exact number of days out of the country? why do I have to have a paper ticket with me? I nicely explained I did not have that... why keep asking and pushing in a bad way? not my problem that person was in a bad mood and decided to be mean to passengers.

that's probably the reward having a NEXUS card. ;)

the issue was her attitude.. this person had a bad attitude, regardless if I meet or not PR requirements (what I do. otherwise I could not live in canada)

even if I was not meeting some criteria, the officer can explain to you in a good way, or be polite, nice, etc, etc.

anyways.. we're going off topic I'm sorry. just wanted to express my frustration from that day..

This is why:


You're right, this is getting OT.

I still want to know what her ethnic background has to do with anything.

is it still 3-4 years over a 5 year period?

i guess for some with weekend trippers, they may not pass the 48 hour threshold test. (ie. leaving 5pm friday but coming back sunday at 4pm). if you bought $400 worth of goods, then your in trouble because under 48 hours is only $50 exemption.

Well, for starters I wanted to know what was the purpose of asking to see my US passport or the motives for questioning my 10 years old USAF service history which in retrospect is none of his business as I wasn't even Canadian at that point.

I know that I have the right NOT to answer the questions (at least I'm certain about it when dealing with CBP but CBSA not certain) but at the end I just wanted to go home and was way too tired not to mention I figured there is not much point at the end I may risk both my CANPASS and NEXUS by kicking a fuss.

It's less than that.

From the quoted website:

"To keep your status as a permanent resident, you must live in Canada for at least two years within a five-year period."

As to the second passport I can assure you that it can be a useful to establish indicators of certain activities that may be of interest to border control services.

As for your armed services history, I can't really grasp the pertinence.

I can confirm that the same right applies in Canada. But do please be aware that Customs laws and Immigration laws are different. Most questions about goods must be answered truthfully.