Enter Canada by land

[neonsigns]

Hello everyone,

I called Megabus today and the customer service guy assure me that I can board bus just with my Passport and Resident Permanent Confirmation Document.
What do you think about it?

 

[scylla]

Do you hold a visa exempt passport?

 

[neonsigns]

no!!
In fact I asked what documents they checked and the person told me that just the ticket. I made it clear it would be crossing the border. I asked to give me sure and he said yes. I do not feel safe with the information.

 

[keesio]

Technically you need a PR card if you have a non-visa exempt passport to take a commercial transport over the border.

 

[neonsigns]

Hello everyone.
Today I called again on Megabus and they told me that I should inform me together with Canadian authorities.
A different answer from yesterday . What intrigues me is that I imagine who should boarding on the bus and check out the documentation is a Megabus employee, or am I mistaken?

 

[keesio]

Hello everyone.
Today I called again on Megabus and they told me that I should inform me together with Canadian authorities.
A different answer from yesterday . What intrigues me is that I imagine who should boarding on the bus and check out the documentation is a Megabus employee, or am I mistaken?

When you board the bus, I think a Megabus employee will check your documentation. When the bus reaches the border, a CBSA official will board the bus and check everyone's documentation

 

[CDNPR2014]

Hello everyone.
Today I called again on Megabus and they told me that I should inform me together with Canadian authorities.
A different answer from yesterday . What intrigues me is that I imagine who should boarding on the bus and check out the documentation is a Megabus employee, or am I mistaken?

A Megabus employee is an ordinaory us citizen whose job is to drive a bus, and does not have authority to make a decision about what CBSA will and will not accept at the border. i'm sure yes, they have their "checks" that need to happen, but they are not the decision maker in the end. even if they tell you it's ok, it's up to the CBSA officer at the border, and they aren't going to care a random bus driver from the US told you it's ok. you are better off calling the CBSA office at the border you intend to cross at and confirm with THEM what is needed.

 

[neonsigns]

Thank you guys for the fast reply

 

[keesio]

A Megabus employee is an ordinaory us citizen whose job is to drive a bus, and does not have authority to make a decision about what CBSA will and will not accept at the border. i'm sure yes, they have their "checks" that need to happen, but they are not the decision maker in the end. even if they tell you it's ok, it's up to the CBSA officer at the border, and they aren't going to care a random bus driver from the US told you it's ok. you are better off calling the CBSA office at the border you intend to cross at and confirm with THEM what is needed.

Usually the issue of needing a PR card is to board the commercial vehicle. That would confirm to Megabus that the passenger can enter Canada. Commercial carriers can deny boarding of passengers they feel does not have the correct documentation. This happens most often with airlines since they are on the hook of flying that person back if they can't enter Canada. Not sure how it works with land transport. It could possible that for land transport, they (the commercial carrier) won't be so strict.

Technically, once you get to the border and is met with a CBSA agent, you can show a passport and COPR. With that, they can look you up in the system and will let you in. However, the CBSA agent who boards the bus will have to make you get off the bus and send you to secondary inspection where someone can look you up. In that case it could be that Megabus will leave you there since they don't want to hold everyone up for you. I've seen that happen when I took a train (VIA Rail / Amtrack). Some people got pulled off the train and sent to secondary inspection and the train left without them. You'll have to check with Megabus on what happens in those cases (will they wait for you? will they refund some of your ticket if they leave?).

 

[dpenabill]

Largely agree with observation by keesio who posted while I was writing this post.

A Megabus employee is an ordinaory us citizen whose job is to drive a bus, and does not have authority to make a decision about what CBSA will and will not accept at the border. i'm sure yes, they have their "checks" that need to happen, but they are not the decision maker in the end. even if they tell you it's ok, it's up to the CBSA officer at the border, and they aren't going to care a random bus driver from the US told you it's ok. you are better off calling the CBSA office at the border you intend to cross at and confirm with THEM what is needed.

It is not about what CBSA requires at the border.

It is about a commercial carrier's obligation to not transport persons to Canada who are not carrying specified Travel Documents, and of course the fairly severe liability Canada imposes on the carrier if it fails to comply with the requirements. These requirements are more strict, relative to PRs, than what CBSA can impose at the border.

So the bus employee would be checking for the Travel Documents the carrier is required, by law, to check before allowing passengers to board a conveyance headed to Canada.

That said, services like shuttles can be casual or even lax. Been awhile since I used a shuttle service across the border, but that was going the other way and the Americans are almost always more anal about this stuff.

At the border itself, passport plus CoPR gets a PR into Canada. Does not necessarily get a pass on questions about compliance with the PR Residency Obligation, but again the passport plus CoPR should easily suffice once the OP gets to the border.

It is getting to the border which can be a bit of an issue.

 

[Rob_TO]

It is about a commercial carrier's obligation to not transport persons to Canada who are not carrying specified Travel Documents, and of course the fairly severe liability Canada imposes on the carrier if it fails to comply with the requirements. These requirements are more strict, relative to PRs, than what CBSA can impose at the border.

So the bus employee would be checking for the Travel Documents the carrier is required, by law, to check before allowing passengers to board a conveyance headed to Canada.

I doubt the penalties are as high (or if they exist at all for most cases) for a commercial bus line coming from the US, vs an airline.

When coming by air, you are arriving from any random international country, and to an airport that is not close to any border. So if an airline did not screen properly and allowed someone to fly to Canada that ended up being denied entry due to this screening, it may be up to Canada to foot the bill to fly this person back to their home country. Hence the large penalty to the airline.

For a bus arriving from the US, there is no such cost involved. Once you're at a land border, I don't think CBSA cares how you got there. If you're denied entry for improper documentation/visa, then CBSA will simply walk the traveler back to the USA where they attempted entry from. There is no cost to Canada here, so I doubt in most cases a bus company would be penalized over this. Hence why even if as a commercial carrier they are supposed to check for these documents, many people report that they don't. As mentioned, bus company doesn't care since they will just continue on without the traveler if needed if they're stuck at immigration.

 

[keesio]

I think the biggest issue for the OP is getting pulled off the bus and being sent to secondary while the bus leaves him behind.

 

[zanny]

What if - I reach, say, Niagara Falls from US side on a bus, get off the bus, walk to the border, show my CoPR and passport, walk across the rainbow bridge, and enter canada?

 

[keesio]

What if - I reach, say, Niagara Falls from US side on a bus, get off the bus, walk to the border, show my CoPR and passport, walk across the rainbow bridge, and enter canada?

That should work.