Canadian immigration is fucking difficult.
I travel on an APEC card (think, Nexus program, but working for 20+ countries, and a lot harder to obtain) - and the last two times I went into Canada, I was sent to the immigration holding pen.

The best out of all of these was this woman sitting behind her desk saying to me:
Sir, you must tell me how you money is in your australian bank accounts.

Motherfuckers - I can go into China without a visa and be granted one instantly, with no problems, and here you are, in a commonwealth country, sending a commonwealth citizen, with an APEC card through immigration.

Seriously, I could write a book about Canadian immigration...

They treat their own citizens just as bad... It's as if they resent you for wanting to leave the country.

Its 10 times as bad now after 911, thanks to scrutiny and complaints from the US government.

Funny to hear you all bitch that its too tight now.

Well, to be clear here you don't check in with Canada Customs when you're leaving the country, only when you return. And on that I've almost always had an easier time with then than I have with US customs.

On my trips to Mexico years ago (via airline) I had very little problems with Mexican customs & Immigration officials, but when returning to Canada, yes, they were absolute sticklers for accounting for every penny of worth for what you're bringing back with you.... only if you were one of the unlucky ones directed to follow that one line painted on the floor that leads to the "get checked" zone. Otherwise you're good to go. But if they check your luggage out, which they did to me on one occasion, all I can say is you better have your figures right and your shit together, because if you only declared one bottle and you're actually smuggling 5 bottles... let's just say they no likey that.

I'm sure it's usually easier for anyone returning to their own country though. Me being Canadian from birth it's understandable that it would be smoother coming home than leaving. Usually.

It's safe to say, after travelling through:
Russia
Ukraine
Mongolia
China
Hong Kong
Japan
Singapore
Dubai
USA
Canada
Denmark
Netherlands
Germany
France
Swizterland
Spain
Gibraltar
UK

The WORST countries, in terms of immigration, lack of respect, and out-and-out cuntery are Canada and the UK, hands down - and I've been stuck in both the Ukraine and China without a visa before...

Why would Canada care what a US citizen does with their Welfare check? If Michigan hasn't put a limit on what she can do, they really shouldn't be stepping in.

Any money she or anyone else from the US spends across the border isn't a bad thing either, yet...is it? :winkwink:

They don't care what she spends her check on, what they care about is her having enough money to get back home, so our gov/citizens don't have to pay for her return or living expenses.

They didnt 'step in', she tried to enter the country with no job and no money.

And what if her parents paid for her trip, round trip, because of a families members illness or if they were dying? Again all the facts are not known.
Also you can be on welfare and have a job. Welfare is not always exclusively cash assistance.
No one knows all the facts to the story so no one can say that this woman was intending to enter Canada to take advantage of their health care or whatever. Obviously if she was already recieving assistance why would she need to go to Canada to get it!

I had to prove I had 2K to fly to London from Canada.

None of that matters.

Why should they care if someone else paid her way?

Bottom line is they most likely made the right choice in turning her down. Its not her 'right' to visit our country, its a privilege.

Think with your head not your heart.

No, that's the exact issue. Each immigration agent is a little-hitler.
Pick one, you get landed in immigation.
Pick another, you go through.

It depends on their attitude, prejudices and mood of the day.

The system is anything but objective.

I could see that, especially if one lives in a border town. Allowing someone a 3 am crossing for a booty call could very well be denied.


...esp if the girl he's wanting to visit is the border guard's daughter.

What is so hard for you to understand? its VERY normal when crossing the border of ANY country for them to ask about your finances and to make sure you have enough money to survive.

In spite of what people here might think... CANADA has ALWAYS done this for people driving from Alaska to the rest of the States and most countries do it and have always done it.

Furthermore, entry requirements are based on reciprocal rules. When one side establishes new criteria, the other side does the same for people originating from that country.

It's fine to say "i dunno because i don't travel much" - but you guys are yammering on and on about something that is such a normal thing for going anywhere and post 9/11 travel between the US and Canada changed drastically and continued to change as new rules were implemented on both sides to better secure borders and track who is coming and going.

I used to live on the border and go to Vancouver constantly... I stopped because it wasn't worth the pain in the ass it had become.

It's like you people don't even realize that Canada and the US are two different countries.

Hard to say whether or not she was denied wrongly or not without knowing the full story behind everything, but who the fuck does this bitch think she is filing a discrimination complaint and trying to get all this media attention. If she felt that she shouldn't have been denied access to our country she could have went to the US border office to get a re-entry permit like every other normal fucking person.

I have no sympathy for this bitch though because she sounds like your typical welfare bitch with way too much time on her hands. If she wasn't she would have filed for re-entry and not make some big fucking deal about something that happens everyday.

Agree 100%, now if we could apply that to our immigration policies

I was referring to the horrible experiences I have almost every time I return obviously, I am Canadian and live outside of the country. Canadian Customs officials are ruder to me than the Americans if you can believe that.

i absolutely agree.

got a few rises with my comments... what i'm saying it that its her basic human right to make a choice to go on vacation. i didn't say it was cool that our tax dollars go to this or that it didn't piss me off.

Ah, then you would be an exception because you're in special circumstances.

That I can understand.

Although... I know several couples who do the RV thing down in the US for 4 to 5 months out of every year, including my oldest brother and his wife. None have said anything to me about having trouble returning home to Canada after being away so long. I'll have to ask my bro about it though, it's just never really come up in conversation.

There is something about this story that clearly does not make any sense....... I find it very hard to believe that someone wanted to voluntarily visit Canada. :error

Here's an update on this story.... http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/272411

Sheds some further light on what happened. Good debate among officials in the youtube vid too.

Great debate but that article from digital is a bias piece of crap.

"This message seems to suggest to the world not to bring Canada your oppressed and down trodden, but instead, bring us your financially solvent. It is well known that Canada allows in needed foreign workers and American expatriates of various wars"

1 We never asked for anyones Oppressed and down trodden.
2 We have foreing workers ?
3 Get over the Vietnam dogers it was 33 years ago. (one guy refused to leave here who deserted the U.S army durring the latest Iraq war and we mailed him back.)

There is no doubt that both the U.S and Canada have some idiots in border protection, this lady appears to have run into one of them, but this story goes way off on a tangent for no reason and is simple opinion being written as news

:thumbsup

A plantation wanderer