Last Sunday we drove to the US-border. Emma has a workpermit now too, and to get that you have leave and re-enter Canada. It's a 6 hour drive from where we live, so 12-13 hours in total. Actually it is a very nice drive down there, many different landscapes, south of Calgary it is barren, hardly any trees, a real prairie. Sometimes you expect Winnetou and Old Shatterhand to cross the highway. Hi ho Silver... Arriving at the US-border we had to drive thru a battery of camara's who scan you vehicle, you have to hand over your passports and shut-off the engine, explain the purpose of your visit and meanwhile a second officer is visually inspecting your vehicle. We were directed inside where a, to my surprise, very friendly US-customs officer explained the procedure. "When you leave here you will see a sign Return to Canada, and thats what you'll do, right". After being inspected for drugs we made the U-turn when we were met by a very unfriendly and blunt Canadian officer who directed us also inside. There it got really exciting, as it turned out Emma was in overstay. We were told that applying prior to the expiry date, 6 months after arrival, for the workpermit would be sufficient. Not true, you could be arrested and sent back, the officer replied. Fuck me, that will not happen. Right?? Luckily it did not came to that and after explaining to us that we did not have make the run to the border again, for our PR visa, we took off to pick up Joka and Johan who we had left behind in the town of Coutts, if you could call it a town. When reading the webpage on Couts you expect it to be something, but its really nothing, wind and snow tortured houses. Blink you eyes too long and you will miss it, a bit like Rolly View that is. It has one advantage, its Canada's only border-crossing thats open for 24 hours. I learned one thing, again I must say, on Sunday: Allways trust your own gut-feeling, better safe than sorry. If I had done so it would have been a very smooth operation, instead of re-entering being steamblowing angry. Emma and I have been in the US, for what it's worth.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
I've been in the US
Last Sunday we drove to the US-border. Emma has a workpermit now too, and to get that you have leave and re-enter Canada. It's a 6 hour drive from where we live, so 12-13 hours in total. Actually it is a very nice drive down there, many different landscapes, south of Calgary it is barren, hardly any trees, a real prairie. Sometimes you expect Winnetou and Old Shatterhand to cross the highway. Hi ho Silver... Arriving at the US-border we had to drive thru a battery of camara's who scan you vehicle, you have to hand over your passports and shut-off the engine, explain the purpose of your visit and meanwhile a second officer is visually inspecting your vehicle. We were directed inside where a, to my surprise, very friendly US-customs officer explained the procedure. "When you leave here you will see a sign Return to Canada, and thats what you'll do, right". After being inspected for drugs we made the U-turn when we were met by a very unfriendly and blunt Canadian officer who directed us also inside. There it got really exciting, as it turned out Emma was in overstay. We were told that applying prior to the expiry date, 6 months after arrival, for the workpermit would be sufficient. Not true, you could be arrested and sent back, the officer replied. Fuck me, that will not happen. Right?? Luckily it did not came to that and after explaining to us that we did not have make the run to the border again, for our PR visa, we took off to pick up Joka and Johan who we had left behind in the town of Coutts, if you could call it a town. When reading the webpage on Couts you expect it to be something, but its really nothing, wind and snow tortured houses. Blink you eyes too long and you will miss it, a bit like Rolly View that is. It has one advantage, its Canada's only border-crossing thats open for 24 hours. I learned one thing, again I must say, on Sunday: Allways trust your own gut-feeling, better safe than sorry. If I had done so it would have been a very smooth operation, instead of re-entering being steamblowing angry. Emma and I have been in the US, for what it's worth.
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2 comments:
what is the meaning go out the country, so you can get in....?
You have to leave the country and thus re-entering it to get your workpermit. Only a cusstoms officer can issue that. There is another way but that took to long, 25 days atleast. So we opted for the border. The other advantage, besides getting the permit quickly, is seeing some of Canada's landscapes. And that's nice too.
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