Crossing the Canada/US border by bus

bairn7

Hi all

I'm looking to travel to ohio from the UK. Flights are crazy right now (roughly £800+) but I've found a super cheap flight from the UK to Toronto (around £500) and I'm thinking about flying to toronto, taking a Greyhound bus from toronto to Buffalo ($15) and then renting a car from Bufalo and driving to Cleveland. This appears to be the cheapest option as I'll be hiring a car anyway and timing isn't an issue.

Has anyone from the UK crossed over the Canadian border by bus? Just wondering if I'm allowed to do this and what I should expect.

Thanks!

Murphy_The_Cat

Baird, be sure to check the one way hire charge, as that could end up as a nasty surprise (plus the various taxes)

dawyldthing

I flew over to New York and went by bus to Toronto and back again. They just got us off the bus, through border control then went back on the bus. You might get cheap flights to New York then get a cheap flight to Ohio depending on timing. I often use Travelsupermarket to check for all the cheap flights

kathrynha

I went by bus from Nova Scotia to New York and the border patrol just came on the bus and looked at all our passports. They asked some people some questions about why they were travelling, and took one person off the bus for about 10 mins, but then let him back on.

PenguinOfDeath

dawyldthing wrote: »

I flew over to New York and went by bus to Toronto and back again. They just got us off the bus, through border control then went back on the bus.

I had a similar experience but in the other side of the country

They actually asked more questions coming back into Canada, but make sure if they ask you to discard anything with seeds in, ensure you are not eating an apple or a cheese and tomato sandwich whilst in the building

shown73

IIRC, we had to get off bus to file through the immigration office and have passport checked and stamped, for which there was a small charge. Hadn't yet changed money, and they wouldn't accept Canadian, which meant faffing around with cards etc., then back on bus. So, take a few dollars U.S., just in case.

jfdi

Check the bus company is a 'Visa Waiver Program signatory carrier' for the purposes of US Immigration - if not you'll need a proper Visa to get into the USA, & won't be able to do it on an ESTA.

You used to be able to fly to Cleveland from Toronto (I did it via London, Ontario many moons ago). Is that still possible?

callum9999

shown73 wrote: »

IIRC, we had to get off bus to file through the immigration office and have passport checked and stamped, for which there was a small charge. Hadn't yet changed money, and they wouldn't accept Canadian, which meant faffing around with cards etc., then back on bus. So, take a few dollars U.S., just in case.

There is no charge.

jfdi wrote: »

Check the bus company is a 'Visa Waiver Program signatory carrier' for the purposes of US Immigration - if not you'll need a proper Visa to get into the USA, & won't be able to do it on an ESTA.

You used to be able to fly to Cleveland from Toronto (I did it via London, Ontario many moons ago). Is that still possible?

You don't need to be on a "Visa Waiver Program signatory carrier" what with that only applying to airlines. You also do not need a visa to get into the US as the UK is a Visa Waiver country. You just need to show your passport at the border control - that is it. You don't even need an ESTA - which is just for flights.

alwaysskint96

callum9999 wrote: »

There is no charge.



You don't need to be on a "Visa Waiver Program signatory carrier" what with that only applying to airlines. You also do not need a visa to get into the US as the UK is a Visa Waiver country. You just need to show your passport at the border control - that is it. You don't even need an ESTA - which is just for flights.

I had to pay $6 and filled in i94 paper form crossing from Montreal to the US on a train in Oct last year- and i was the one who got lots of extra questioning ( joy of having loads of stamps in passport)

callum9999

alwaysskint96 wrote: »

I had to pay $6 and filled in i94 paper form crossing from Montreal to the US on a train in Oct last year- and i was the one who got lots of extra questioning ( joy of having loads of stamps in passport)

Ah, my mistake then. I thought I crossed under the same scenario but I believe I actually had a visa - so wasn't entering under the visa waiver scheme. Presumably why you had to pay and I didn't?

shown73

"There is no charge."

Why do people make such stupid statements, I didn't dream the whole scenario.