PR crossed the US/Canada land border and the passport was not stamped upon entry

[emamabd]

Hi all,

I'm a PR living in canada since two years, i recently traveled with my family to the US via land border for a few weeks holiday. Upon exiting Canada, the US officials stamped our passports, however when we returned to canada (also via land border) the officer did not stamp any of our passports. He just asked for our passports and pr cards and after a minute said we're good to go, we weren't asked to step outside the car or anything (i also thought he stamped the passports so i didn't ask..but later when we reached home we found no stamps at all).

My question is, will that cause an issue when we apply later for citizenship? Will it trigger questions and we'll be asked to prove how long we were outside canada? Is there a way to correct this? Should we? Or is it a non-event that we shouldn't be worrying about?

Any thoughts/advice/or experience sharing will be greatly appreciated!

 

[scylla]

This is normal. You are PRs so your passports aren't going to be stamped when you enter Canada.

 

[emamabd]

This is normal. You are PRs so your passports aren't going to be stamped when you enter Canada.

Thanks Scylla,
We did travel once via air (after we became PRs and received our PR cards) - at the time the canadian officials stamped our passports at Pearson, that's why i was wondering why they didn't do the same via land border.

 

[Diplomatru]

If you really want to get it stamped, you can always ask the BSO to do it. They never reject this request.

 

[Smile_Canada]

MY passports were never stamped by Canadian Officials in my PR time weather i traveled thru land or air.

It should not be issue if you don't travel frequently, and have enough buffer days when you apply for citizenship.

But if you still want to have piece of mind, order CBSA reports 2-3 months prior to applying for citizenship and attach it along , it will show the date you entered Canada. Although its not required as CIC do it themselves.

 

[Diplomatru]

But if you still want to have piece of mind, order CBSA reports 2-3 months prior to applying for citizenship and attach it along , it will show the date you entered Canada. Although its not required as CIC do it themselves.

Have you done it personally?

 

[emamabd]

If you really want to get it stamped, you can always ask the BSO to do it. They never reject this request.

Thanks, how to contact the BSO?

 

[screech339]

MY passports were never stamped by Canadian Officials in my PR time weather i traveled thru land or air.

It should not be issue if you don't travel frequently, and have enough buffer days when you apply for citizenship.

But if you still want to have piece of mind, order CBSA reports 2-3 months prior to applying for citizenship and attach it along , it will show the date you entered Canada. Although its not required as CIC do it themselves.

Citizenship application does specifically state not to include CBSA travel report as CIC can get them from CBSA themselves. They do require your permission to access your travel records from CBSA. You can order CBSA travel records for yourself for calculation purposes, but don't submit them with application.

 

[chikloo]

Thanks, how to contact the BSO?

Hi,
Did the border officer check your PR card? If so it will be entered and entry/exits are not that important. Even if you get RQ you can show proof of residence with utilty bill, credit card statement extra.,
slowly the RQ processing time will reduce. So do not worry much about stamping. Just track all your visits/days and you should be fine.

 

[emamabd]

Hi,
Did the border officer check your PR card? If so it will be entered and entry/exits are not that important. Even if you get RQ you can show proof of residence with utilty bill, credit card statement extra.,
slowly the RQ processing time will reduce. So do not worry much about stamping. Just track all your visits/days and you should be fine.

Thanks, the border officer did ask for our PR cards and he returned them back in less than a minute..not quite sure if he entered anything in a system or so. Sure i'm keeping track of my visits and stays, i'm also employed full time so that will certainly help in proving my residency. My worry was more towards my Wife as she isn't employed/nor studying at the moment since we recently had a new baby that's taking up most of her time. So it might be tricky for her to provide strong proof of residence.

 

[Canadiandesi2006]

Hi all,

I'm a PR living in canada since two years, i recently traveled with my family to the US via land border for a few weeks holiday. Upon exiting Canada, the US officials stamped our passports, however when we returned to canada (also via land border) the officer did not stamp any of our passports. He just asked for our passports and pr cards and after a minute said we're good to go, we weren't asked to step outside the car or anything (i also thought he stamped the passports so i didn't ask..but later when we reached home we found no stamps at all).

My question is, will that cause an issue when we apply later for citizenship? Will it trigger questions and we'll be asked to prove how long we were outside canada? Is there a way to correct this? Should we? Or is it a non-event that we shouldn't be worrying about?

Any thoughts/advice/or experience sharing will be greatly appreciated!

Its a big irritant for all PR's who travel by road to USA and return. Despite knowing the fact, the Canadian Border Security DOES NOT stamp the passport for PR returning to Canada by road, the CIC raises this point at the time of Citizenship. May be a pretext to give hard time.

You can ask the US Home Land security and Canadian Border Security for your travel history to submit along with application.

 

[Smile_Canada]

Have you done it personally?

I did ordered my CBSA report and recieved within 30 days, but before i could send it Decision was made on my file.

 

[Babi22]

Hi all,

I'm a PR living in canada since two years, i recently traveled with my family to the US via land border for a few weeks holiday. Upon exiting Canada, the US officials stamped our passports, however when we returned to canada (also via land border) the officer did not stamp any of our passports. He just asked for our passports and pr cards and after a minute said we're good to go, we weren't asked to step outside the car or anything (i also thought he stamped the passports so i didn't ask..but later when we reached home we found no stamps at all).

My question is, will that cause an issue when we apply later for citizenship? Will it trigger questions and we'll be asked to prove how long we were outside canada? Is there a way to correct this? Should we? Or is it a non-event that we shouldn't be worrying about?

Any thoughts/advice/or experience sharing will be greatly appreciated!

When you enter Canada as a PR, you don't really need to have a stamp on your passport, the border officer will take your PR (as you mentioned) will scan it (which take a couple of seconds) and gives it back to you. Once he has done that, it is recorded in your CBSA travel history, so you are good.

When you enter the US, always make sure they stamp your passport. However, there is an information exchange between the US and Canada of people crossing the border by land (since 30 June 2013), and your entrance to the US (By land) is given to Canada and recorded as an Exit from Canada. But just to be on the safe side, as there might miss a trip or 2 if you travel often to the US, always - at least - ask to have your passport stamped when you enter the US.

You can always request your Travel History from CBSA through ATIP. It will take about 30 days to receive it, and it will show you all your trips (Entering Canada by Air or by Land, and Exiting Canada by Road only since June 2013). I did request my CBSA Travel History few times in the past and it has always been accurate.

Just to mention, I am from Montreal and use Montreal Airport most of the time. Since they installed the Automatic booths for Canadian residents there, I do not get any stamp on my passport anymore. But I still have to scan my PR card (and this shows up on my CBSA Travel History).

 

[Babi22]

Citizenship application does specifically state not to include CBSA travel report as CIC can get them from CBSA themselves. They do require your permission to access your travel records from CBSA. You can order CBSA travel records for yourself for calculation purposes, but don't submit them with application.

Correct, it is said to not include it and you have to authorize them to request it themselves. But it does not harm to include it.

I did notice that in some cases, CO at the test/interview did not have the Travel History record (posts in this forum and others), and they needed to request it - Post Citizenship test/interview - which delays the citizenship process a bit.

So bottom line, it's not a big deal to not include it, but it does not hurt to do so.

 

[ERJOPA]

Well...it delayed my case for a month.

I was a PR from the US. I only traveled to the US once in my app period - no stamps from either side.

When interviewed after my test, the Citizenship Office nearly had a fit about no stamps in my passport. When I supplied to her my CBSA report I had obtained for just this occasion, I was told it was "out of date" and that she needed to get a report from her end. Apparently, they don't like treading on other agencies' information unless absolutely necessary. Maybe that's why, even though everyone knows they don't stamp passports in the upper reaches of North America any more, they still get upset about it because CIC has a rigid protocol they must follow which is different than CBSA's protocol. --- no cross jurisdictional procedures.

Maybe by the time your app comes up, it will change due to the new Government in place now -- I have already seen a different tone in a lot of aspects of the process since the election.

As stated, it only delayed everything for a month, but made my family angry enough to change their vote in the election. I am a Canadian Citizen now and all is forgiven...for now.