Any record of when you leave Canada?

[Aviendha]

I am US citizen. Is there any record of when I left Canada in their system? I ask because I went to visit my fiance this past July and was granted a 6 months stay and the date of when I should leave was written in my passport and it was in January. I left in October only after 3 months stay. I am going back to Canada in two weeks. Will the customs officer have any record of when I actually left or will they just go by what was stamped and written in my passport? I am concerned because I am afraid that I will be denied entry or not be allowed to stay long this time if they just go by what is stamped in the passport because it looks like I just left. I was wanting to stay about 3-6 months this time so I could meet his family and start some wedding preparations/plans. The wedding is in June of next year and I will not be going back until a month or so before the wedding.

 

[job_seeker]

I am US citizen. Is there any record of when I left Canada in their system? I ask because I went to visit my fiance this past July and was granted a 6 months stay and the date of when I should leave was written in my passport and it was in January. I left in October only after 3 months stay. I am going back to Canada in two weeks. Will the customs officer have any record of when I actually left or will they just go by what was stamped and written in my passport? I am concerned because I am afraid that I will be denied entry or not be allowed to stay long this time if they just go by what is stamped in the passport because it looks like I just left. I was wanting to stay about 3-6 months this time so I could meet his family and start some wedding preparations/plans. The wedding is in June of next year and I will not be going back until a month or so before the wedding.

Credit card or bank transaction receipts, with your name and signature, would help establish you had been out of Canada. Boarding pass if you left by plane. or when you went out and crossed the border, your passport could have been scanned.

 

[Aviendha]

Credit card or bank transaction receipts, with your name and signature, would help establish you had been out of Canada. Boarding pass if you left by plane. or when you went out and crossed the border, your passport could have been scanned.

Thanks. On the website I got my plane ticket, they kept a record of my trip and I printed that out. Unfortunately I threw my boarding passes away. I will look and see if I have anything else that I can use.

 

[toby]

I assumed that Canada would stamp your passport as you exited from Canada. Not true, eh? So now the burden of documentation falls on us -- we have to keep every boarding pass in a locker?

 

[sogwap]

Note: the following is my experience with crossing the US/Canadian boarder as a US Citizen wanting to eventually live in Canada. Also I am a US citizen, my fiance/wife is a Canadian citizen.

When exiting Canada and go back to the US, you pass through US Customs/Immigration. Likewise when you exit US and go to Canada you pass through Canadian Customs/Immigration. I have heard that US and Canadian Immigration share information. Meaning when you you leave US and go through Canadian Customs/Immigration, that information is giving both US and Canadian customs/immigration.

When you fly across the US/Canada boarder customs/immigration scans (and records) your passport and travel. However last year (2009) when we drove across the boarder, several times times customs officers never even checked our passport. Only asking where are you from, where are you going, what are you doing (or going to do) and the relationship of the passengers. I believe that in these cases, we drove across the boarder and returned the same day or next day.

When crossing the boarder as a visitor they generally ask where you work, and for how long etc, and how long you are staying. If you said you work full time but you say you are staying for two months, that brings up a red flag of how do you get that much time off. If you don't have a job they will question how do you intend to support yourself?

 

[Aviendha]

Note: the following is my experience with crossing the US/Canadian boarder as a US Citizen wanting to eventually live in Canada. Also I am a US citizen, my fiance/wife is a Canadian citizen.

When exiting Canada and go back to the US, you pass through US Customs/Immigration. Likewise when you exit US and go to Canada you pass through Canadian Customs/Immigration. I have heard that US and Canadian Immigration share information. Meaning when you you leave US and go through Canadian Customs/Immigration, that information is giving both US and Canadian customs/immigration.

When you fly across the US/Canada boarder customs/immigration scans (and records) your passport and travel. However last year (2009) when we drove across the boarder, several times times customs officers never even checked our passport. Only asking where are you from, where are you going, what are you doing (or going to do) and the relationship of the passengers. I believe that in these cases, we drove across the boarder and returned the same day or next day.

When crossing the boarder as a visitor they generally ask where you work, and for how long etc, and how long you are staying. If you said you work full time but you say you are staying for two months, that brings up a red flag of how do you get that much time off. If you don't have a job they will question how do you intend to support yourself?

I was wondering since my passport is an e-passport if that was part of why they wanted you to have one. So they could keep a record of when you came and left. But everything online said that e-passports just contain information to verify who you are and to make it harder for someone to falsify a passport. No mention if it kept a record or it was recorded anywhere. Hence my first question. I remember having to scan my passport to get my boarding passes for the plane but don't remember the US customs officer scanning it. Will it still show up in their system? He may have scanned it and I just don't remember. Thanks for answering me.

 

[sogwap]

I had to look this one up:

What is an ePassport?

Passport Canada will soon begin issuing all new passports as electronic passports, or ePassports. This higher-security passport will have an electronic chip embedded in the back cover. The chip is an extra security measure that will enhance the Canadian passport's current security features. More than 60 other countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, have been using ePassports for several years now. MORE...

From this description an e-Passport is similar to a regular passport with the addition of an electronic chip. I'm sure the purpose is to better track where you are going and where you have been.

Again just my experience...
But when I have flown between US and Canada, they have always looked at and scanned my passport. When coming into Canada (via air) since I am a visitor, they have always stamped my passport. When going back to the States, usually the passport was not stamped. I believe the purpose of stamping the passport is to give visual indication of entering the country if you were to be questioned while visiting that country.

 

[BeShoo]

When you go from Canada to the U.S. you go through U.S. customs and immigration and the Canadian broder people are not involved so Canada doesn't do exit stamps as far as I know. I'm really not sure if they even keep a record in the U.S. border system and much less sure that any of this information goes to Canadian customs/immigration people.

In my experience, Canada does normally stamp passports of Americans coming into Canada, but the U.S. very rarely stamps passports of Canadians going to the U.S., so yes, you should keep all boarding passes if you think you might need proof of how long you travelled.

 

[Aviendha]

So no one really knows if they keep a record or not when your passport is scan. lol It seems to me to make the most logical sense for the dates to be recorded in the computer system or on the chip inside the e-passports. Then again it is quite possible that they didn't do the logical thing with the passports. The descriptions for the e-passport are a bit vague. It doesn't really say that the dates are a part of the information on the chips. Only that what information you have on the first page and a digital photo is on it. It could or could not include keeping a record of the dates. I guess I will just take what proof I have showing I was out of the country at the time with me and just hope that some kind of record was entered. I will probably ask them about this when I go through and if I get an answer, I will post what they said about it on here. Thanks again all for sharing your experiences and advice. ^_^

 

[toby]

Even if your exits and entries to Canada are stored in the Immigration computer system, if you are required to prove time spent in Canada, the burden of proof seems to be with you. So save those boarding passes.

For proof, check the documentation required to prove you are a resident, apply for a driver's licence, get CPP or OAS, etc etc, the government department asks for documentary proof from you. The deparment never offers to go search a computer system for you. So, either one departmet does not communicate with another, or they just prefer that you do the heavy lifting.

 

[mylota]

From personal experience, the burden of proff is not on you. Boarding passes is one thing, how about those returning through land borders? They havent got no boarding passes!

I have crossed back many times through Niargra route and nobody ever asked me for proof that i left at a particular time. Canada does not do exit stamps. both for air and land exit. When re entering even when the 6 months initially give is not up or is just up, they dont ask nothing about when you left. Only what you do, where u re going and when u wil be back

 

[BeShoo]

As a lifelong Canadian resident, I have always been asked how long I was away when returning to Canada. It's true that I have never actually been asked for proof, but it was never an issue. Where it might be relevant in a simple tourist trip is to determine duty-free allowances. CBSA states that "Accommodation and transportation receipts are helpful in establishing the duration of absence from Canada." (http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications/dm-md/d2/d2-3-1-eng.pdf, page 4, point 10) I would suggest that receipts could also be useful to establish time spent in Canada.

 

[swingdude]

Thanks. It's been a while I know since this reply but I wonder if they actually routinely scan your passports when you drive through the US/Canada border? or do they just look at it and ask your some questions for the most part if you're driving? What're people's experiences?

Note: the following is my experience with crossing the US/Canadian boarder as a US Citizen wanting to eventually live in Canada. Also I am a US citizen, my fiance/wife is a Canadian citizen.

When exiting Canada and go back to the US, you pass through US Customs/Immigration. Likewise when you exit US and go to Canada you pass through Canadian Customs/Immigration. I have heard that US and Canadian Immigration share information. Meaning when you you leave US and go through Canadian Customs/Immigration, that information is giving both US and Canadian customs/immigration.

When you fly across the US/Canada boarder customs/immigration scans (and records) your passport and travel. However last year (2009) when we drove across the boarder, several times times customs officers never even checked our passport. Only asking where are you from, where are you going, what are you doing (or going to do) and the relationship of the passengers. I believe that in these cases, we drove across the boarder and returned the same day or next day.

When crossing the boarder as a visitor they generally ask where you work, and for how long etc, and how long you are staying. If you said you work full time but you say you are staying for two months, that brings up a red flag of how do you get that much time off. If you don't have a job they will question how do you intend to support yourself?

 

[scylla]

Thanks. It's been a while I know since this reply but I wonder if they actually routinely scan your passports when you drive through the US/Canada border? or do they just look at it and ask your some questions for the most part if you're driving? What're people's experiences?

Over the last few years (2-3?) my passport has been scanned every single time I've crossed the border by car. Wasn't true 10 years ago. But it seems times have changed.

 

[swingdude]

i see. do they scan just to look up information or to make a record who is crossing the border?

Are there spots along the border where you can cross without being "scanned"?