Crossing into Canada

[MuskyBrian]

I always cross the border before 8 AM at International Falls. Due to time restrictions on my next trip, this will not be possible. Can anyone give me a time range to try and AVOID crossing to beat the lines on Saturday morning? (example...9-11 AM maybe??)

[Badgerfish25]

I just got back from Canada 07/24 and crossed at 1130 am in Int. Falls and the line was 35+ vehicles deep getting into Canada. Besides that, they were randomly checking every fifth vehicle. Not fun. I would try a mid to late afternoon crossing if you can't cross before 8. Best of luck.

[haworth]

Q. If they check your vehicle, do they ask everyone in the vehicle the DWI question and check everyones criminal past/passport on the computer? Just curious as I am going soon and have two DWIs from 18 years ago and I have heard they will turn me away IF they find out ;/

My forum for that question:
http://fishingminnesota.com/ubb/Forum76/HTML/000421.html

Thanks,
James

[Guest]

I went through about 2 years after i had a DWI. They took all our ID's for about 20 min then came back and let us go. I had the same thing happen about 4 years after the DWI. I was told by someone that grew up in Canada that they only will send you back if your license is currently suspended for the DWI. But who knows. I would bet that a lot of it depends on how many other things are on you record and what type of mood the border agent is in.

[This message has been edited by Herkey (edited 07-28-2004).]

[haworth]

I called the port of entry at Fort Francis today and spoke directly with a Canadian immigration officer. They looked me up in the computer and here is what they had to say:

First, my criminal record:
-DWI, age 17 (Convicted-Minor)
-DWI, age 18 (Convicted-Adult)
-Some other criminal charges, but no convictions (*those had no bearing on the decision as they ONLY look at convictions)

The immigration officer said I showed up immediately as having a criminal/police record in the USA. She said she could not see my 1st DWI as I was a minor at the time. Then she said the DWI I got at 18 only counted as my first DWI because the one I got at 17 is sealed, therefore, did not count towards the total DWI count. With one DWI that is over 10 years old I am considered "Rehabilitated" in the Canadian Gov. eyes and I will not have to pay anything to get into Canada and I will not have to petition the Canadian Gov. to be pardoned. Now, if I had gotten both DWIs after my 18th birthday, no amount of time can pass for the Canadian Gov. to consider me "Rehabilitated" and I would have had to send in my application for "Rehabilitation" which looked very paperwork heavy!

Hope this helps anyone with the same problem I had as this took me about 10 hours of calling and Internet time to figure it out.

James

[Badgerfish25]

My understanding of the DWI is that you cannot have one within the past 10 years to the date. We have been checked before but they didn't ask for ID or what our names are. Don't ask, don't tell.