Montreal to Upstate NY drive

[Mthornt]

Hello all,

Quick question, has anyone made the drive from Montreal to Plattsburgh on a normal basis? My spouse and I are both American citizens, and may be relocating to Montreal for study purposes this fall, and after researching our work options in Montreal, it may be a bit limited there (20 hour limitation for students, and French required for many jobs). We may need to drive to work in the US over the border as a last option if necessary.

 

[CDNPR2014]

unless you have permission from Canadian immigration to live in canada, your ability to cross the border frequently will be limited. Permission to live in canada includes a study permit, a work permit or Permanent Residency. If you try to cross into Canada too frequently without a proper visa or PR status, CBSA can deny you entry and even issue an exclusion order that bans you from entering for a year or more. When you cross frequently without a visa, they will want to see proof of ties to the us. The only proof of ties they care about at the border are work contracts/recent paystubs and a lease agreement/mortgage that shows you are working and living in the US.

That said, if you have a legal right to study/live in canada, there generally is no issue crossing the border regularly for work. Many people do this. CBSA will certainly tell you if they don't like what you are doing.

 

[Bs65]

Plus i expect that if you hold a study permit then regardless of whether you cross to the US to work that the 20 hour work condition at least might still apply as that is a specific condition for the study permit.

 

[Mthornt]

Thank you for your responses, however my question wasn't related to legal status in Canada, I certainly would never try to live there without going through the proper process to acquire the right and legal documentation. I guess I should rephrase my question, since it was related to the actual travel, and not whether I had legal status to live in Canada, or legal status to work in the US.

Has anyone actually made this drive on a regular basis? If so...

- have you experienced trouble with weather or driving conditions, perhaps during the winter?
- How is the traffic getting into/out of Montreal?
- Any traffic at the border crossing in the mornings?
- I've found Google maps to be inaccurate on travel times, any idea how long this drives takes to make?

Any other info would be appreciated. Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[knowledge101]

Thank you for your responses, however my question wasn't related to legal status in Canada, I certainly would never try to live there without going through the proper process to acquire the right and legal documentation. I guess I should rephrase my question, since it was related to the actual travel, and not whether I had legal status to live in Canada, or legal status to work in the US.

Has anyone actually made this drive on a regular basis? If so...

- have you experienced trouble with weather or driving conditions, perhaps during the winter?
- How is the traffic getting into/out of Montreal?
- Any traffic at the border crossing in the mornings?
- I've found Google maps to be inaccurate on travel times, any idea how long this drives takes to make?

Any other info would be appreciated. Thanks in advance for the help.

Hi, I actually live in Burlington, Vermont (across the lake from Plattsburgh) and actually make this drive a lot between here and Montreal. I don't do it on workdays usually but I will tell you upstate New York + Vermont have virtually no traffic. Even most of the Quebec areas you will drive through will not be any problem. The only traffic you may encounter is when entering/leaving Montreal. Without traffic its about an hour and 10 minutes between Montreal and Plattsburgh. With Traffic it might be 1 hour and 30 minutes, maybe a bit longer. It's not that bad of a drive. The only thing you have to account for is the border. Border traffic can vary, it usually is most crowded on weekends (longest I have had to wait was 40-50 minutes during end of day on a 3-day weekend holiday). Usually it's a 5-10 minute wait. Not sure if its any busier on weekdays but my guess is its not as most visitors usually come across on weekends to do shopping. You can always apply for NEXUS to make it faster anyways.

No issues with the weather, even in the worst conditions its never been bad at all. The drive is really smooth and mostly barren until you hit Montreal. I wouldn't worry about it at all. If you speed you can make the drive in under an hour (but there's lots of cops so probably not the wisest idea).

 

[Mthornt]

Thanks the for the great info, +1. I'm actually a Nexus card holder since last month, and I was recently accepted to a University in Montreal. My spouse would need to make the drive if her company doesn't let her work from home so the information is very useful. Looks like you just landed a couple days ago, congratulations! Did you move to Quebec?

 

[knowledge101]

Thanks the for the great info, +1. I'm actually a Nexus card holder since last month, and I was recently accepted to a University in Montreal. My spouse would need to make the drive if her company doesn't let her work from home so the information is very useful. Looks like you just landed a couple days ago, congratulations! Did you move to Quebec?

Actually planning on moving to Ontario. My job contract in Vermont doesn't end till June so I landed and came back to finish. Should be in the Toronto area ideally in June if I can find a job there! Wife's family lives there so would be ideal for everyone, maybe Ottawa!

Montreal is a great city you'll have loads of fun and great food there too! Culture is so different than most of North America so it's a nice change of scenery haha

 

[knowledge101]

Actually I remember now I did have 1 experience Crossing on a workday around 8 am. Took no more than 5 minutes literally only 2 Cars ahead of me. Not a good sample size but I bet it's like that most work days.

 

[Mthornt]

Actually planning on moving to Ontario. My job contract in Vermont doesn't end till June so I landed and came back to finish. Should be in the Toronto area ideally in June if I can find a job there! Wife's family lives there so would be ideal for everyone, maybe Ottawa!

Montreal is a great city you'll have loads of fun and great food there too! Culture is so different than most of North America so it's a nice change of scenery haha

Funny you mention those areas, we have family in Toronto as well, and it's an area that we've discussed alot. I grew up in the Buffalo, NY area, so I'm pretty familiar with it. The other option would be the Ottawa - Gatineau area, which would probably be our second choice behind Montreal. I'm just trying to put all of our possible options together before making a final decision. We're just starting the e-APR, so we've still got a long way to go before we get through the process.

 

[Sneakydriver]

Hello all,

Quick question, has anyone made the drive from Montreal to Plattsburgh on a normal basis? My spouse and I are both American citizens, and may be relocating to Montreal for study purposes this fall, and after researching our work options in Montreal, it may be a bit limited there (20 hour limitation for students, and French required for many jobs). We may need to drive to work in the US over the border as a last option if necessary.

I have been driving from Albany to Montreal every weekend since September, no issues so far. But I guess you want to do it everyday so that's different. With the nexus card you should be able to do it with no issues. Canadians are nice now if it was a Canadian trying to do the same thing then it would be different.

 

[Mthornt]

I have been driving from Albany to Montreal every weekend since September, no issues so far. But I guess you want to do it everyday so that's different. With the nexus card you should be able to do it with no issues. Canadians are nice now if it was a Canadian trying to do the same thing then it would be different.

That's a pretty far drive, about 3 hours I'm guessing... Sounds like the Montreal to Plattsburgh drive is around an hour which we could handle. Have you had any issues with winter driving making that trip? That was my primary concern, driving in unsafe conditions.

 

[Sneakydriver]

That's a pretty far drive, about 3 hours I'm guessing... Sounds like the Montreal to Plattsburgh drive is around an hour which we could handle. Have you had any issues with winter driving making that trip? That was my primary concern, driving in unsafe conditions.

Oh ya, snow is a problem. Pretty much every weekend since december I had to deal with some snow. Sometimes light sometimes heavy. Last weekend was AWFUL. I took my car for a wash 2 weeks ago thinking it was not going to snow heavy again. I was wrong. Right now my car looks like trash, my tires are half black half white.


Cars registered in Quebec are required to have snow tires in winter. I have all season but if I was going to do this EVERYDAY I would probably get snow tires or a good set of all season. If you go with the cheap option of just getting all season, make sure they perform well in the snow.

Crossing the border back to the states last sunday http://imgur.com/a/TZvJg

 

[Mthornt]

Oh ya, snow is a problem. Pretty much every weekend since december I had to deal with some snow. Sometimes light sometimes heavy. Last weekend was AWFUL. I took my car for a wash 2 weeks ago thinking it was not going to snow heavy again. I was wrong. Right now my car looks like trash, my tires are half black half white.


Cars registered in Quebec are required to have snow tires in winter. I have all season but if I was going to do this EVERYDAY I would probably get snow tires or a good set of all season. If you go with the cheap option of just getting all season, make sure they perform well in the snow.

Crossing the border back to the states last sunday http://imgur.com/a/TZvJg

Wonderful... I live in AZ now, so even though I grew up in Buffalo, I have to admit I don't miss the snow

 

[knowledge101]

Wonderful... I live in AZ now, so even though I grew up in Buffalo, I have to admit I don't miss the snow

I highly advise you get snow tires with studs. I can't live without them in Vermont and Plattsburgh isn't any different and neither is Montreal (if anything it's worse there). They usually are only an extra $10 or $20 per tire but you can't really put a price on safety. They can break through ice and everything in between. Perfectly legal in the winter in New York, Vermont, and in Quebec as well. Long-term you end up spending the same as an all-season because when you swap them out in the winter you pretty much double the life of your all-seasons since you only use those 6 months a year, so long-term they end up costing the same. Totally worth it!

 

[Mthornt]

I highly advise you get snow tires with studs. I can't live without them in Vermont and Plattsburgh isn't any different and neither is Montreal (if anything it's worse there). They usually are only an extra $10 or $20 per tire but you can't really put a price on safety. They can break through ice and everything in between. Perfectly legal in the winter in New York, Vermont, and in Quebec as well. Long-term you end up spending the same as an all-season because when you swap them out in the winter you pretty much double the life of your all-seasons since you only use those 6 months a year, so long-term they end up costing the same. Totally worth it!

Thanks for the info everyone