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Originally posted by yellowknife

One of the weirdest posts I have seen in a while. Going to Ft.Erie to take a peak at how the US looks? Doesn't look that different does it?

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Yes it does, especially if you wear glasses. It gets bigger and clearer as you get closer

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Originally posted by yellowknife
One of the weirdest posts I have seen in a while. Going to Ft.Erie to take a peak at how the US looks? Doesn't look that different does it?

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Well! When i grew up in India/ Africa and worked in Saudi/Malaysia , USA was considered to the greatest place on Earth (It still is). We all grew up , knowing that it would be a status symbol to have visited / see USA (Mind you, this was before the IT boom and i am not an IT person). I have been to USA 2 times (one was 18 days stay and the other was a 1 hr. walk into the USA at Niagra falls- I had visited Niagra falls in May 2002 when people were allowed across the border even if you are just a PR. The Immigration agent whom i met, refused to allow me in since i had no job in Toronto. He then took my passport, saw it and saw that i had a Anglo name. He then let me in. He also saw that i had a return bus ticket from Niagra to Toronto)
The last time when i was in India (6 months back), every one of my relatives/ friends asked me if i had visited the USA. They did not care a damn about me being in Canada. Once i told them that i visited USA, their feelings were always joyful. If they had served sweets on the table and once i told them that i visited USA , they would implore me to eat more sweets. Even the last time i told my mum that i saw USA from Fort Erie, she was very pleased. She told me to leave Canada and go to the USA for finding better work. I also have a fancy anglo name as my surname and hence hope that i will not be discriminated at the border/ interior of USA. Fort Erie looked like a ghost town while across the border i could see tall buildings and lot of traffic.
The reason that i could not cross the border was that i was with people who had no papers to go to USA.
Sankaracharya will agree with me that USA is better than Canada for many people.
TK A
Sidenote: BTW there is a Chinese buffet at West side of fort Erie known as "Tim" where the price is $5.99 dinner and $4.99 lunch. Also if you go at 8:00 pm for dinner, they start sellling (after you finish buffet) and at around 9:00 pm takeouts in a box for just $2.00 + tax. You can fill in what ever you want in those take out boxes. Most of the buffet eaters were people from USA and they paid for their buffet in Us $.

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Originally posted by yellowknife

One of the weirdest posts I have seen in a while. Going to Ft.Erie to take a peak at how the US looks? Doesn't look that different does it?

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apparently you get served sweets(free) in some parts of the world, if you touch US soil...even with your eyes. Its all about making others happy and getting freebies.

Jeez! Where do these people come from?

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Originally posted by sudesingh


Seems like you had an interesting experience. It goes without saying that whenever you plan on visiting a border city, always keep your citizenship card/pp with valid visa on you, just in case you feel like crossing border.

I have to disagree with your point on keeping a lot of cash on you. All you need is some $ for the toll and may be some for the Tim Horton's coffee (In your case you're lucky you didn't have to pay toll on both sides. Since there's construction going on at the bridge, the toll booth for exiting Canada is closed.) You also mentioned about tank filled with gas - the worst I've experienced on Peace Bridge is a 45 min wait, that was on a long-weekend Sat around 10pm.

I was at Peace Bridge too last Sat around 7pm. Travelling to Buffalo Airport to receive my in-laws. The wait time at the border was around 10 mins. which is pretty normal. An hour later I was back. At that time the wait time was less than 5 min.

Moral of the Story - Think twice before entering a Tim Hortons

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Guys,

The border wait time can be as long as a nightmare. Recently I had to wait for 100 minutes on the Lewiston border. Now I always check the traffic on this site http://www.niagarafallsbridges.com/ before departing. It could change when you reach the border, but generally it is a good indicative. I don't think is a big problem unless you are really very low on it.

I am sure we all do have stories, but we are not open like TK, who is ready to share everything he has.

I crossed the border several times - both by air and ground. I have a general impression that the Canada Officers are asking more questions than their US counterparts. My car trunk was opened only once and that too while entering Canada.

My first border crossing was within 5 days of landing in Canada. At India I was working for an US startup's development center and they asked me to join them in the USA once I am in Canada. Being new to Canada, I never heard horrible (could be fake) stories about people denying entry to the USA. So without any fear (and with a knowledge that a Canadian PR can enter USA without Visa) I went to Pearson international airport. The first immigration office asked me few question. I explained him the thing as it is - that I was working for this company and now they are calling me to arrange future employment in the USA and/or Canada. He sent me to second immigration officer. The guy was really big and having rude voice. He was very polite in his manners though. He asked me the same thing, my answers were same, He asked me to open my bag, which I opened and he found some Java and Oracle books. He let me go in just 5 minutes. Note, I didn't had any so-called proof - residence, utility bill, pay-stub. I even didn't had SIN. I stayed in the USA for 10 days came back and again flew to USA after a gap of 3 days. This time the same story happened. Only thing this time they asked me to have a letter faxed from the company (for the purpose of my visit). The airlines arranged for this (to receive the fax), However as it was 6.00 AM in the morning, I had to wait for 2 hours before the office starts and someone could fax it to me. Once I receive it, I again went to the immigration line. This time the lady officer told me that if you are going to travel quite often like this, it is better for you to have applicable Visa. They let me in.

Now them denying entry based on the race is also baseless. Once from my office three guys were going to California (to customer's site) One was a Gujarati chemical engineer, one was engineering manager and one was chemical engineering lead. They both were whites. The officer let Gujarati guy without any problem but detain the white guys for two hours.

So it can happen to anyone.

Those guys are doing their job. And they are doing it nicely. And they trust you so much. But they are smart enough to catch the crooks.

Once I was going to New Jersey in a charted bus. The bus was full of youth (with some uncles like me). All were desis. It was about 11.00 PM at the border. One officer stepped in the bus, asked a few questions to the youth sitting in the front rows and let go everyone without checking anything.

Morale: Be frank. Don't hide anything. Never misuse the system.

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Originally posted by tamilkuravan
I also have a fancy anglo name as my surname and hence hope that i will not be discriminated at the border/ interior of USA.

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Huh? Even Richard Reid(British Shoe Bomber) and John Walker Lindh (American Taliban) have fancy Anglo names.