Customs guy at YYC threatens to take away my gf's American citizenship....

[Toma]

So my GF is American, but has lived in Canada last 7 years, and has never had an American passport.

She flew out to the US today, and the douchebag told her that if she flew to the US with a Canadian passport again, they would take away her US citizenship.

Daily reminder of how much I love the American Government. :rolleyes:

[cde1966]

How did she get a Canadian passport if she is American?

[RY213]

When youre leaving the US wouldnt you go through Canadian customs?

[Toma]

No, the guy that screens you when you are going TO the US.

[Toma]

Originally posted by cde1966
How did she get a Canadian passport if she is American?

Is this a trick question? lol.

Allow me to point out the obvious. She has dual citizenship.

Edit: lol... LOVE your signature. :thumbsup:

[dimi]

Originally posted by Toma
So my GF is American

Never would have guessed. :rofl:

[w_man]

I am no immigration lawyer but he might have said that because:

"A person who acquires a foreign citizenship by applying for it may lose U.S. citizenship. In order to lose U.S. citizenship, the law requires that the person must apply for the foreign citizenship voluntarily, by free choice, and with the intention to give up U.S. citizenship."

Did your GF voluntarily acquire Canadian citizenship? This is frowned upon in the US so usually people who have dual citizenship, they simply fly to the US with their US passport to avoid problems.

Get her to make a US passport - no big deal.

[Toma]

Nah, the US government, and especially a border douche has no legal light to revoke citizenship. A person has the legal right to Voluntarily renounce their US citizenship.

Of course she will get a US passport.... it
s not a big deal, just time and pita factor.

But,

There was not need for the guy to be a douchebag and upset her instead of just explaining it to her.

[rage2]

^ this. Every dual citizen I know uses a US passport.

[NewLextasy]

I have dual citizenship, I travel to the us on my us passport and when I come back I use my Canadian passport. Never have any problems.

[Mar]

How did they find out the's from the USA?

[yipb]

^ i do that too, same with hk

[Modelexis]

Originally posted by Mar
How did they find out the's from the USA?

Passport has your place of birth.

[Godfuader]

Just get a Nexus card and avoid all problems altogether.

http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/trusted_traveler/nexus_prog/

[e31]

Originally posted by rage2
^ this. Every dual citizen I know uses a US passport.

So entering the US - use US passport
Return to Canada - CDN passport?

How would this not raise a red flag at some point? I know that the EI people have the shit-alarms go off if you leave the country let alone border security interrogation for a double passport.

[95EagleAWD]

I thought you could only legally carry one passport on you at a time anyways... no?

[rage2]

Originally posted by e31
So entering the US - use US passport
Return to Canada - CDN passport?

How would this not raise a red flag at some point? I know that the EI people have the shit-alarms go off if you leave the country let alone border security interrogation for a double passport.
Ya you might get asked a lot of questions, but there's no rule that you can't use multiple passports. US just wants you to enter and exit using a US passport so that's the easiest way to do it. Leave your CDN passport at home when going to the US.


Originally posted by 95EagleAWD
I thought you could only legally carry one passport on you at a time anyways... no?
Not true.

[M.alex]

This seems like a pretty silly and obvious thing to bitch about

Statement - "we'll revoke your citizenship if you don't comply"
Thought process - "uh oh, I better do as they say and get a US passport so I don't have troubles"


Statement - "Ma'm, we'd appreciate it if you could go out of your way to get a passport because that's the proper thing to have in this situation"

Though process - "go eat a dick. I'll do whatever i damn well want to"

[schocker]

Originally posted by NewLextasy
I have dual citizenship, I travel to the us on my us passport and when I come back I use my Canadian passport. Never have any problems.
:werd:
My friend does this as well, always has two on him when he travels to the US.

[Feruk]

Originally posted by e31

How would this not raise a red flag at some point? I know that the EI people have the shit-alarms go off if you leave the country let alone border security interrogation for a double passport.
It doesn't, I've got dual citizenship and a lot of the time I'll enter a country with one passport but leave it with another. Earlier this year I entered the USA with Canadian passport and left with Polish passport (to Brazil where Polaks don't need visas but Canadians do). Occasionally you get a question when they don't find a stamp, but that's about it.

[rage2]

They don't even stamp 90% of the time between US and Canada so nobody will ever question you on missing stamps. I only get stamped outside north America.

[Toma]

Originally posted by rage2
They don't even stamp 90% of the time between US and Canada so nobody will ever question you on missing stamps. I only get stamped outside north America.
LOL... yeah, fuck traveling europe's non eu countries damn near filled my passport in one year lol

Worst was my home country of Yugo... jesus, and I HATE when they randomly stamp wherever in my passport, skipping pages etc lol.

[finboy]

homeland security staff are assholes, the last one i dealt with threw my nexus card back at me, and told me he "should" send my girlfriend and i back to the baggage claim because west jet mixed up our baggage labels, then gruffly told us to move along like he was doing us a favor.

:dunno:

[HiTempguy1]

Originally posted by finboy
homeland security staff are assholes, the last one i dealt with threw my nexus card back at me, and told me he "should" send my girlfriend and i back to the baggage claim because west jet mixed up our baggage labels, then gruffly told us to move along like he was doing us a favor.

:dunno:

I've flown to the states quite a few times, I have NEVER had problems. :dunno:

[finboy]

Originally posted by HiTempguy1


I've flown to the states quite a few times, I have NEVER had problems. :dunno:

as have i, this guy was just being needlessly dickish, even to the older couple who went through him before me.

[Cos]

Originally posted by finboy
homeland security staff are assholes, the last one i dealt with threw my nexus card back at me, and told me he "should" send my girlfriend and i back to the baggage claim because west jet mixed up our baggage labels, then gruffly told us to move along like he was doing us a favor.

:dunno:

Really? I have flown 3 or 4 round trips in the last 3 weeks. I find the security guys at YYC to be the worst anywhere.

[Guillermo]

i'm a US citizen and travel there often for work and personal visits. i don't generally have any problems, but I have met complete assholes on both sides of the border. i've definitely had the canadian customs and immigration folks be as dickwadish towards me as their us counterparts. i think it all depends on who you get, what you look like, and how courteous you are.

that said, you have to realize that these guys are just doing their job, which is to identify people who are actively trying to deceive and allude them. i don't think it's fair to give them a hard time for doing their jobs... someone needs to do it. :dunno:

[clem24]

Originally posted by e31
I know that the EI people have the shit-alarms go off if you leave the country

Do you actually actively search this? I've left the country before for a week when I was on EI. Never had a problem.

[rage2]

I think he's talking about East Indian, not Employment Insurance.

[lint]

^^ :rofl: :rofl:

[JRSC00LUDE]

Originally posted by clem24


Do you actually actively search this? I've left the country before for a week when I was on EI. Never had a problem.


:rofl:


Since you mention it though, you are not allowed to leave the country when on EI unless you report it and do not receive benefits for the time you are gone if I am not mistaken. Otherwise, there are penalties should you get caught. :)

[schocker]

Originally posted by rage2
I think he's talking about East Indian, not Employment Insurance.
:rofl:

When I went to Houston last month, the us customs guy was being a prick though not believing one could go to Houston for a personal vacation and I had to convince him of such :facepalm:

[Hounddog]

Originally posted by clem24


Do you actually actively search this? I've left the country before for a week when I was on EI. Never had a problem.

Truly consider yourself lucky. I got nailed. I took off to South Padre Island when I was on EI for a week of fun, and about a year, maybe later, EI sends me a letter with the exact dates of my trip and demanded repayment of benefits for that time period forward.

To this day, I'm still a bit nervous when I cross the boarder only because of how much info do they really know about me. Somewhat unfounded I know since that was a few years ago, but I remember at the time being shocked that they found out about my little trip.

[BangBang]

#1) Whoever said it rings bells if you're in EI, he's correct. EI does show up on your airport screening query.

#2) In the case of two GOVERNMENT issued identifications; in most jurisdictions it is illegal to carry on you 2 pieces of the same tender of I'd. I am hungover but simply saying, the guy who said you're not suppose to carry 2 passports is right. The problem is the grey area: which is one, if you get caught and secondly who enforces it. There is a grey area which is why people get confused or the impression that they can carry 2 passports.

You CAN have more than one passport but you should not be carrying multiple IDs; it rarely happens because the TSA staff barely know what's going on besides their daily operations. It is easy to carry two pieces of I'd on you so that's one thing not stoppong anyone; there is little regulation but that does not mean it is legal to do.

The US Federal law states that no persons may carry more than one state issued identification, state being another grey area. State in court can also mean Country; so if you have a US passport and a Canadian, technically IF (big if) you get caught or moreover in the case that you are a suspected terrorist, then the INS or Feds or TSA have reason to bug you.

Also, due to the new numbers and media reports of 'Terrorists being harbored in Canada' headlines, the TSA and US Customs have had recent suspsicions on all visitors from Canada. It's only going to get stricter.

There are tremendous grey areas in law, I advise those who have serious questions such as the OP to consult directly with an immigration attorney or consultant. Hope some of that is useful.

Cheers mates

[clem24]

Originally posted by rage2
I think he's talking about East Indian, not Employment Insurance.

:banghead: :facepalm:

Back on topic.. Completely agree with comment above - border guys are trained to be complete dicks. That way, they can weed out nervous people much more easily.

I've only come across a handful of friendly US customs guys. 95% of them are asshats.

[BangBang]

Originally posted by rage2

Ya you might get asked a lot of questions, but there's no rule that you can't use multiple passports. US just wants you to enter and exit using a US passport so that's the easiest way to do it. Leave your CDN passport at home when going to the US.


Not true.

Grey area, again law is determined by jurisdiction. Traveling in/out of US is different than Brazil, Croatia, etc. When we add those countries, we have different sets of leniency and laws. Who enforces these laws or when they chose to enforce them is the risk taken by the holder of thse identifications. If you don't need to carry, simply don't.

[frizzlefry]

My wife was on EI and had scheduled a vacation to cuba 2 months before she was suddenly laid off with about 10 others, they closed her dept. Anyways, the trip was scheduled and was non-refundable so she went. While she was in cuba she was on monster, submitting resumes and even called a couple of places to follow up on her resume submission. A year after the trip, the government sent her the "you went on vacation, give us our (your) money back". She was pretty pissed about it. In this day and age its more than possible to job hunt while out of the country, the rules have not changed since the invention of the internet. She offered to submit proof she was still submitting resumes and job hunting while in cuba but no go. If you leave the country the government assumes you can't get to monster.ca :confused: so yeah, they are watching you when you are on EI.

In terms of homeland security guys, we just got back from a trip to the states. The line for the nudie scanner was a mile long, no line for the metal detector but I got waved into the nudie line anyways. It was their primary scanning method. I opted out and got the pat down. No biggie, security guy was pleasant. Funny thing, after the pat down they do a chemical trace test on the gloves they wear while doing the pat down...great idea IMO. But the nudie scanners won't pick up chem traces and if you go through one they don’t do them chem test....I guess by opting out of the scanner you become more suspect :) My wife was sent to the regular metal detector. Good thing too, she would have opted out of the nudie scanner and go for the pat down but she has quite a large chest and was wearing a t-shirt. I'm positive they would have had to do a private pat down and remove her shirt to check her cleavage...you could hide a colt python in there :)

[CUG]

Yeah, gaping vag's at customs sometimes.

[Xtrema]

Originally posted by schocker

:rofl:

When I went to Houston last month, the us customs guy was being a prick though not believing one could go to Houston for a personal vacation and I had to convince him of such :facepalm:

I had the same experience when I drove from Sarnia to Detroit, just curious on how bad of shit hole it is since I'm in the area.

Agent won't believe me that someone actually wants to see Detroit.

:rofl:

[schocker]

Originally posted by Xtrema


I had the same experience when I drove from Sarnia to Detroit, just curious on how bad of shit hole it is since I'm in the area.

Agent won't believe me that someone actually wants to see Detroit.

:rofl:
Oh I bought my car from a rich area outside of detroit and that was fun also :rofl:
Showed the customs guy every document and he kept grilling me, something like how do you know the car is there
I was very edgy that day after them telling me my passport wasn't valid then saying you must sign it after a short delay lol

[A790]

Originally posted by frizzlefry
My wife was on EI and had scheduled a vacation to cuba 2 months before she was suddenly laid off with about 10 others, they closed her dept. Anyways, the trip was scheduled and was non-refundable so she went. While she was in cuba she was on monster, submitting resumes and even called a couple of places to follow up on her resume submission. A year after the trip, the government sent her the "you went on vacation, give us our (your) money back". She was pretty pissed about it. In this day and age its more than possible to job hunt while out of the country, the rules have not changed since the invention of the internet. She offered to submit proof she was still submitting resumes and job hunting while in cuba but no go. If you leave the country the government assumes you can't get to monster.ca :confused: so yeah, they are watching you when you are on EI.

In terms of homeland security guys, we just got back from a trip to the states. The line for the nudie scanner was a mile long, no line for the metal detector but I got waved into the nudie line anyways. It was their primary scanning method. I opted out and got the pat down. No biggie, security guy was pleasant. Funny thing, after the pat down they do a chemical trace test on the gloves they wear while doing the pat down...great idea IMO. But the nudie scanners won't pick up chem traces and if you go through one they don’t do them chem test....I guess by opting out of the scanner you become more suspect :) My wife was sent to the regular metal detector. Good thing too, she would have opted out of the nudie scanner and go for the pat down but she has quite a large chest and was wearing a t-shirt. I'm positive they would have had to do a private pat down and remove her shirt to check her cleavage...you could hide a colt python in there :)
Perky big boobs or fat big boobs? This information is vital for homeland security.

[dj_honda]

Originally posted by frizzlefry
My wife was on EI and had scheduled a vacation to cuba 2 months before she was suddenly laid off with about 10 others, they closed her dept. Anyways, the trip was scheduled and was non-refundable so she went. While she was in cuba she was on monster, submitting resumes and even called a couple of places to follow up on her resume submission. A year after the trip, the government sent her the "you went on vacation, give us our (your) money back". She was pretty pissed about it. In this day and age its more than possible to job hunt while out of the country, the rules have not changed since the invention of the internet. She offered to submit proof she was still submitting resumes and job hunting while in cuba but no go. If you leave the country the government assumes you can't get to monster.ca :confused: so yeah, they are watching you when you are on EI.



As mentioned earlier its your responsibility to let them know. Not to mention you fill out reports every few weeks indicating whether you are "available to work" during that period. Basically she lied trying to cheat the system and got caught. Get over it.

I had the same situation with a trip to Australia already booked when I was laid off and had no issues, because I let them know.

[Godfuader]

Originally posted by dj_honda


As mentioned earlier its your responsibility to let them know. Not to mention you fill out reports every few weeks indicating whether you are "available to work" during that period. Basically she lied trying to cheat the system and got caught. Get over it.

:werd: When the report is compiled, they ask you if you are in Canada. The basic premise is that if you have an interview the next day, you may not be available if you are out of the country. I was in the US and despite multiple available flights into Canada everyday, they would not consider it reasonable. They most they will allow for is 2 weeks of out-of-country job search. Arguing after the fact that she HAD to go to Cuba for prospective jobs will be a very hard sell. I am a finance major and cannot convince them that being in New York will require more than 2 weeks stay.