a few questions...

[canadianwoman]

Maybe it's because we are married and have a child together, but my family (me, Canadian who had been living in US; my American husband who i am sponsoring for PR; and our dual-citizen child) all moved to Canada together in June, and we had all our wordly belongings, including furniture, sent up on a big United Van Lines truck, with no issues whatsoever.

Your husband entered a few days before the moving van did, though, didn't he? It's more problematic if you show up at the border with a van full of furniture.

It's true though that those of us who have had problems tend to assume the worst.

 

[plumosa]

Well someone is wrong there.I drive transport for my brother to and from the US all year and to say they have no idea when you cross or dont your are totally misled.They know everytime you cross if they scan your passport.EVERYTIME.the only way they dont know is if they did not scan your passport.Sometimes Canadians and Americans go through the booths without being asked for their passport.But if they do ask for it and scan it then they know when you crossed and when you left.
They can even tell if you have broken the law in either country,and if you pay support and you are behind they both know,dont fool yourself that either side knows nothing they know everything.And now if you get a ticket in Newyork or Michigan it shows up on your Ontario licence,same the other way around if you get a ticket in Ontario it will show up on your Newyork or Michigan licence they have done this since Jan 2010.
I got pulled in one time in Feb 2010 and they told me when i crossed,they knew i was paying support to my Ex wife(i was current)but they still knew.I got my licence renewded in May this year and a speeding ticket i got in NewYork is on my Ontario licence.

well like I said, criminality/law issues are shared across the border. As for the tickets, its only because Ontario has a reciprocal agreement with all the states to share records--has nothing to do with the border. Quebec, for instance, doesn't have the same reciprocal agreement (perhaps excepting the border states to QC, but I'd have to check to make sure)

But entrance and exits do not count. They know every time you've cross the border ONLY into their country, not when you've left unless you get an exit stamp or hand in a Visitor's record.

 

[BeShoo]

They know everytime you cross if they scan your passport.EVERYTIME.the only way they dont know is if they did not scan your passport.

The U.S. border people usually scan your passport when you enter the U.S. and the Canadians scan it when you enter Canada. Generally, though, I'm sure they don't trade information back and forth, so neither of them knows when you left, only when you entered. I also think that they don't necessarily record when you entered. It could be (and probably is) that all they're doing when they scan the passport is making sure you are not in any legal trouble. I'm not surprised that they know about your support payments to your ex-wife -- that's a legal matter.

As for the speeding tickets, those have nothing to do with the border services people. Those are due to agreements between certain provinces and states. Ontario has agreements with NY and Michigan. Quebec has agreements with NY and Maine (but not NJ). A group of 45 U.S. states have agreements with each other to exchange information and all the U.S. provinces have an agreement between them. There are also separate agreements between Ontario and Quebec and between Ontario and Newfoundland/Labrador.