How not to cross the border into the United States

Submitted by Patrick Grote on Sun, 08/13/2006 - 3:44pm.

When I first started traveling internationally for work it was to Canada. I quickly learned that you need to be as honest as possible with the border guards. They will try to trick you up and get you to say things you didn't mean, but overall they're an ok lot.

Humor was the first thing I thought of when I read about the band The Grey being denied entry into the United States . It seems serious at first, but it's really funny.

According to the article, the band was refused entry because their show might have generated revenue. Interesting.

I've never had an issue crossing the border into Canada for work or pleasure. There are two times when I crossed that notable events occurred.

The first happened during the winter of 2001 with 9-11 fresh in everyone's minds. A team member of mine was trying to get into Canada at the Port Huron crossing and she was having trouble. She gave the border guard honest information, but the guard asked her to come in for an interview. The interview was long and she was grilled by three more border guards. She called me for help and money.

Money? Yes. According to the border guard we needed to pay an work permit entrance fee. Although they wouldn't give us the exact reason, and no one on our team ever needed to pay this fee, our travel company told us to pay it. I went off to the ATM to get the cash. Luckily, I thought that if I dropped it off they would want a fee from me, so I had one of our Canadian team members go in and pay.

The second happened at a border crossing into British Columbia. I don't remember the exact crossing, but the border guard was in good spirits. He proceeded to ask me the normal questions, but then threw in questions such as:

"Did I know anyone who lived in Texas?"

"Did I know how to shoot a gun?"

"Did I know anyone who owned a gun?"

Interesting.