Flying into Canada and driving to USA - Visas?

emmajt81

Hi

wondered if anyone had the answer to this. Planning a trip for 2014 to fly into Canada, spend a good week or two there travelling across the country, go to Niagra Falls and then drive from there to Boston. We will spend a few days in Boston then fly back to London.

Is the ESTA only for America? As we are starting our trip in Canada how does that work on the ESTA as you normally have to write down your flight number, i.e. the international Virgin flight, and where you are staying for your first night which in our case will be Canada.

Do we need extra visas for Canada? And what is the process once we leave Canada and drive to Boston crossing the border?

Any help would be appreciated.

Kite2010

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Travel-g191-s602/United-States:Crossing.The.Border.html


"If you are entering the United States by land from Canada or Mexico, you will obtain your I-94W visa waiver form at the border crossing. There is a fee of $6 U.S. per person. On average the process takes 30-60 minutes, though it can take two or three hours at very busy times.
You do not require a pre-approval through ESTA (described above) when entering the U.S. by land."

Hope that helps, enjoy your trip

emmajt81

thank you

Dirk_Gently_2

Every time I've travelled from Canada into the USA on a UK passport the immigration staff have been absolute hitlers - even worse than I've experienced at airports. I think that must be where they deploy the rudest, most obnoxious, most uncooperative people that have.

I've also heard of tales of 3-4 hour queues for immigration at the land crossings, so allow plenty of time in your schedule.

opinions4u

So is a plan to walk in to Canada for 5 minutes and walk back not a good one?

(Niagara Falls)

shop-to-drop

We found getting into US by road a pain but getting back into Canada was easy peasy.

Indout96

There is a fee of $6 U.S. per person

Just make sure you have this in US$ and you will be fine, trying to pay on a card will take a lot of time.

dannny_2

opinions4u wrote: »

So is a plan to walk in to Canada for 5 minutes and walk back not a good one?

(Niagara Falls)

IMO, its not a good plan.

CBP have a web page that publish waiting times.

stevie11

To the OP,good advice given by others. In my experience if you are UK passport holder you wont need any visas to enter Canada. If you are driving the US from Canada you dont need ESTA. When you are crossing the border from Canada you will have to go into the Imigration office and be questioned, then hand over you $ and get a waiver visa, if you satisfy the US imigration rules.

Timing of your crossing could be crucial, wrong time of day you could be stuck for hours. Slack periods I have got through in less than 30 mins. Once you have the necessary stamp in your passport you can cross over without the need to visit the imigration office again for a set time. Crossing back into Canada I have found can take even longer, depending how fussy the imigration officer is.

opinions4u wrote: »

So is a plan to walk in to Canada for 5 minutes and walk back not a good one?

(Niagara Falls)

IMO for such a short time it is not worth it, having to answer all the questions each time trough border control.

dannny_2

stevie11 wrote: »

Once you have the necessary stamp in your passport you can cross over without the need to visit the imigration office again for a set time.

Which is how, alledgedly, Barbara Dixon and Richard Cross from Newtonmore got unstuck and ended up in jail for 5 weeks awaiting deportation.

http://news.stv.tv/highlands-islands/259197-dream-road-trip-turned-to-prison-nightmare-highland-couple-tell-of-their-ordeal/

jackieblack

dannny wrote: »

Which is how, alledgedly, Barbara Dixon and Richard Cross from Newtonmore got unstuck and ended up in jail for 5 weeks awaiting deportation.

http://news.stv.tv/highlands-islands/259197-dream-road-trip-turned-to-prison-nightmare-highland-couple-tell-of-their-ordeal/

But that was because they exceeded the 90 day limit on their ESTA.