Single Travelers Immigration

hansoff

BusinessStudent wrote: »

Hey all,

I travelled alone [20yo male] to Canada. As soon as I got off the flight there was an man checking everyones passport and It appeared that If you were a single male you would be pulled aside for futher questioning such as what I was doing while on holiday, where I would be staying etc - I then was allowed to go through to Immigration and was questionned again, only this time the Immigration officer marked my form with a pink marker after futher questionning.

As I went to go out the Immigration bit to collect my bag I showed my Immigration card and was again told to turn left to go into a room for futher questionning!

Has any other single traveler experienced this before. I am sure It was because I was traveling alone?

I was subjected to exactly this experience when I arrived at Ottawa airport in 2005 for my umpteenth holiday in Canada. It had not happened on any previous occasion.

I felt so unwelcome in the country that I cut short my stay by one week,never to return. Don't go there.

Tawahi-50

BusinessStudent wrote: »

Hey all,

I travelled alone [20yo male] to Canada. As soon as I got off the flight there was an man checking everyones passport and It appeared that If you were a single male you would be pulled aside for futher questioning such as what I was doing while on holiday, where I would be staying etc - I then was allowed to go through to Immigration and was questionned again, only this time the Immigration officer marked my form with a pink marker after futher questionning.

As I went to go out the Immigration bit to collect my bag I showed my Immigration card and was again told to turn left to go into a room for futher questionning!

Has any other single traveler experienced this before. I am sure It was because I was traveling alone?

That's interesting. Although it was no big deal with us, my wife (who is Oriental) was singled out at Toronto but then the lady (presumably immigration officer) saw me and said "Oh are you together?" and when she saw that we were, simply turned her attention to someone else.

Curious thing was that, because of the melee of passengers coming through
at that point, it seemed quite hit or miss whether you were pulled aside or not, even if you fitted whatever profile they were seeking.

Still, I guess it's up to them to take whatever measures they feel necessary. For that reason, I don't argue about the new restrictions the US place on visitors-I just don't go there anymore

Tojo_Ralph

worrypants wrote: »

worrypants wrote: »

Unlike the UK ,canada is very very very particular about who they allow in dont even think about coming to canada if you have a criminal record even if its 25 years old for a very minor crime and even just for a holiday, you would be inadmissable to canada and if you lie to immigration you are in big big trouble,,,,,,,

All I am trying to say is that it is all well and good having rules that prohibit someone with a 25 year old conviction for breach of the peace from entering a country, but if the authorities of that country do not have the tools to implement the rules, the rules aren't really of much use and the Canadian authorities, like the US authorities, do not have carte blanche to access UK Police records.

I fully accept that the Canadian authorities take a dim view of folk who may lie on applications for permanent residency, temporary residency, etc, but that is a whole diferent ball game to tourists. When it comes to tourism, if a British Citizen presents themselves at immigration, has funds to support themselves, can demonstrate the purpose of their intended visit and has a return ticket, it is very, very, very unlikely that an undisclosed 25 year old conviction for breach of the peace is going to hinder them in any way.

Unless of course you have evidence to the contrary?
.....

hansoff

Tawahi-50 wrote: »

That's interesting. Although it was no big deal with us, my wife (who is Oriental) was singled out at Toronto but then the lady (presumably immigration officer) saw me and said "Oh are you together?" and when she saw that we were, simply turned her attention to someone else.

Curious thing was that, because of the melee of passengers coming through
at that point, it seemed quite hit or miss whether you were pulled aside or not, even if you fitted whatever profile they were seeking.

Still, I guess it's up to them to take whatever measures they feel necessary. For that reason, I don't argue about the new restrictions the US place on visitors-I just don't go there anymore

Please be assured that it is not hit or miss whether you are pulled aside or not. They know exactly who they are targetting.

headpin

sturll wrote: »

Just out of curiosity do you fit the profile of a terrorist?

i.e, are you of Ethnic origin etc?

We are all of ethnic origin. Do you mean are you identifiable as a muslim, asian, arab, etc, etc?

Tawahi-50

hansoff wrote: »

Please be assured that it is not hit or miss whether you are pulled aside or not. They know exactly who they are targetting.

I'm sure that they do know who they are targetting, the hit and miss I am referring to is the pre-immigration counter filtering; given the limited resources employed when the pax disembark en mass at Pearson Intl it seems unlikely that they would be able to pull aside all those that fitted their profile, especially if a number of say, young individual travellers came through at the same time

Its not a problem as all would be required to go through the immigration officer anyway. My feeling is that the filtering is done, not to provide and extra hurdle, but is to cut down the wait at the immigration desk

worrypants

Tojo_Ralph wrote: »

worrypants wrote: »

All I am trying to say is that it is all well and good having rules that prohibit someone with a 25 year old conviction for breach of the peace from entering a country, but if the authorities of that country do not have the tools to implement the rules, the rules aren't really of much use and the Canadian authorities, like the US authorities, do not have carte blanche to access UK Police records.

I fully accept that the Canadian authorities take a dim view of folk who may lie on applications for permanent residency, temporary residency, etc, but that is a whole diferent ball game to tourists. When it comes to tourism, if a British Citizen presents themselves at immigration, has funds to support themselves, can demonstrate the purpose of their intended visit and has a return ticket, it is very, very, very unlikely that an undisclosed 25 year old conviction for breach of the peace is going to hinder them in any way.

Unless of course you have evidence to the contrary?
.....

the rules apply equally to all
tourist or not
weekend break in Niagra or someone wishing to immigrate

im not saying I agree or disagree simply stating a fact of law

yes unilely you will be questioned and at the moment the canadian landing card is worded differently to the US landing card but this will change
so the arguement "i didnt know it mattered Gov "will no longer apply

in fact the arguement that "I didnt know it mattered" does not apply now in the eyes of the law as all travellers have an obligation to familiarise themselves with entry requirements before attemepting to enter any country

I accept that many dont and travel in blissful ignorance

many many US citizens are turned back each year form the canadian border for very old minor offences as Canada and the US share all info
border guards have access to US crim records and some UK crim records

all this is since 9/11

going as UK visitor is an application for temp residence??? yes you do not have to formally apply for a paper visa but you sign your landing card to confrim that you are elible for the visa waiver
you are not eligble or the visa waiver if you have crim record so that would be a false declaration???