Quebec student shaken by U.S. border ordeal
- Thread starter Praxius
- Start date
That might be the reason she was denied entry. A valid Canadian passport allows you to set foot on US soil, but that's it. She was not going as a tourist but to volunteer, and that might be the issue there.
But honestly, would it have been so difficult for the border guard to say:
"Miss, you need a B1 visa to volunteer in the US, and since your stated purpose for entering the is to volunteer, I have no choice but to see your valid B1 visa before I can allow you entry."
Yes she may have had a fit, but still that would have been well within the guard's mandate, and he could have advised the address of the nearest US consulate, most likely in Toronto, and at least expressed some empathy for her plight and his inability to allow her entry. Compare that to:
"Yeah, you bloody Canadians are taking all our good volunteer jobs. Do you know how many people in our country would kill for room and board in exchange for work. Go back home."
Of course I'm exaggerating his response in the article, but you need to consider that these guys represent their country. What kind of image do you think he gives of his country if he can't even give a valid legal reason to deny her entry and show a little human compassion for her plight?
A valid Canadian passport allows her to set to travel to the US, not do what she wants. There are also ineligibility criteria such as drunk driving or other criminal records. Though granted the article mentions nothing of that.
As for volunteering, it seems to be a grey area:
Canadians who require U.S. visas
It really depends on whether volunteering is classified as employment I suppose. But if in doubt, she should have found out directly from the embassy and that way at the border she could have challenged the border guard (in a friendly and respectful tone of course) to contact the US embassy or wherever he confirms these laws to see for himself, in which case he'd apologize for the error on his part and she'd be on her merry way.
Your link doesn't work, but I suspect that because you know it's BS. You may want to track that wiki article back to the source so you can see where you went wrong. Although I think you'll likely get hung up on the wording involved.
There are no laws regarding respect. Behavior is an internal matter for ones employer to handle.
There are exemptions as juan tried to indicate. But as a member of an international organization, the matter changes.
Nope, not at all.
But we don't know what she did, when informed she was going to be denied. Not that that negates the inappropriateness of his opinions. But over the years I've learned, when dealing with people who can cause you to be legally stripped searched, and have cavities probed. Discretion is always the better part of valour.
I understood that and I agree, to some extent.
We don't know he didn't. We only have half the story.
It's not really grey.
It is isn't, it is classified as "work". You are considered an employee of an international organization, if you are acting or working under there guidance.
Border Guards are pricks, regardless if they are Canadian or American it seems.
http://www.thestar.com/news/insight...r-rudeness-maybe-the-jerk-method-doesn-t-work
A friend of mine travels to the US for work regularly and claims that border guards have been quite vigilant of late in ensuring that you are not "stealing US jobs". So he ends up having to show a Visa, letter from the contractor, bills etc everytime he crosses.
http://www.thestar.com/news/insight...r-rudeness-maybe-the-jerk-method-doesn-t-work
A friend of mine travels to the US for work regularly and claims that border guards have been quite vigilant of late in ensuring that you are not "stealing US jobs". So he ends up having to show a Visa, letter from the contractor, bills etc everytime he crosses.
Some aren't that bright either. I had one confuse my NRCan I.D. as some sort of narcotics officer I.D. and was moved to the front of the line and walked right through airport security without any hassles.
That's fair enough as long as the border guards let him in if they have no valid grounds to refuse him entry. To ask for id is perfectly reasonable. It's just the attitude that comes with it sometimes.
You know I hear this a lot. Right along side the whole Cops and CO"s are dicks too.
I will agree that they can be ignorant, but if you help escalate the situation, you're going to lose in the short term. Sure, some point down the road you might be vindicated, but why put yourself through the misery.
And Durka, I can totally relate to your friend. Which of course punches more holes in juan's post.
In that case she needed the B1 visa and the border guard thus had no choice but to deny her entry as was his mandate. In the end, it still sounds like he was a prick though in the comments he'd made. There is a kind way to deny entry and a rude way. He just chose the rude way.
It's amazing how some of these people get employed. Makes you wonder if some branches of Gov't service really do hire from the bottom of the barrel.
Likely. As Durka pointed out and I personally can attest to myself, border guards, US or Canadian, sometimes come off as ignorant as one can possibly be.
All our pot exports could be considered a natural resources but that would be stretching it.
I haven't crossed the border in years so I can only comment on what I read or hear from friends. Dealing with border guards is much like dealing with cops in my opinion, they'll usually only be dicks if you give them a reason to.
That is true. Emotions can distort our memory of reality. If she was particularly distraught, she may have developed a false memory of the situation, in which the guard was kind and sympathetic, but she was acting out, and he gradually upped the ante as necessary. If that's the case, and she just has a blocked memory (and I'm not accusing her of lying here, but emotions and distort sincere recollections of events as they change our state of mind), then though she might not necessarily be intentionally lying, she may very well not remember how she contributed to the escalation, or only vaguely.
My buddy hasn't claimed to be abused at all in the process or denied entry, it is just a matter of coming prepared and being patient during the process.
Sometimes they give you a good reason to. Don't get me wrong, I'm not oblivious to the fact that some people in positions of authority, should be allowed to herd sheep.