Border Shutdown

I spoke to 3 BC borders yesterday and they have all told me that they are not taking any waiver applications since they are deemed to be a non essential service. So I am keeping a growing list of people to notify when the borders reopen and they can go down and file their packets. We do not push the esafe since it does our clients no benefit and does not speed up their cases any quicker since they tend to have complex cases that take a long time to adjudicate on a good day. We are still preparing their packets with the understanding that they will go down in a mass filing when the borders reopen.

[ KSCOTT appended this reply on June 17, 2020 @ 9:55 am ]

Also, just a side note in regards to travel. They are still allowing people to fly down for recreational purposes from YVR. Land border travel is still prohibited for recreational purposes but we have gotten a few people allowed to cross by land for humantarian purposes only. We have already had 4 fly down so far for recreational purposes and a 5th one is going down to get married to his fiance.He and I have already had a long discussion regarding this trip in terms of having the proper ties & equities on this kind of trip.

A 6th one yesterday was asking me about taking a trip as he wants to buy a high end sports car in the USA and drive it back to Surrey. His big concern was taking $160,000 cash down to buy it and what would CBP say because of his old criminal record. I told him that they can't say too much as long as he declared it and the fact that he has an approved waiver anyway.

We also have a client that did not listen and foolishly tried to go down to get his waiver filed 2 weeks ago. CBP yelled at him and ordered him to go home. They told him to not come back until the border reopened. He said that they would not even look at the paperwork.

So yeah there are provisions in place to even cross by land if you can articulate why your trip is essential. However, this should not even be attempted unless you are 100% qualified that your trip should be deemed an essential or humantarian reason. One person called us and learned this the hard way where he tried to cross and CBP discovered that his trip was non essential and that he used some false information in the process. Well he got a 5 year ban in April 2020 because of this.

@Kscott

Yes, the date for re-opening was June 21st. You apparently called on June 17th...why would you think they were suddenly open? They specifically said, and I posted here, June 21st.

Are you not keeping track of what Homeland Security is even saying? At least keep track of whats being said on the forum.

Again, I have been told anecdotally that they are allowing people to fly (circumstances vary) but usually not drive. Ontario border obviously.

Do you have any NEW information? Everyone here knows they aren't taking waivers, we want to know if the date is pushed from June 21st to July 21st?

eSafe is SIGNIFICANTLY faster for ALL cases BTW. The faster it gets to "secondary security" the faster the application will be, even if it is a more complex case.

Thanks for updates guys..I have not sent anyone to the border.. None of my clients are traveling to the USA right now, other then my truck driver clients, so not able to add any updated info.

Just a FYI.

A Globe and Mail poll found that 81% of Canadians say the US-Canada border should stay closed as the death toll tops 130,000 stateside.

Most politicians are probably going to listen to the vast majority of the populace. I don’t see this boding well for the opening of the border to tourists anytime soon.

Well as of now the US - Canada border is shutdown until August 21 so I’m going to surmise that entails the CBP not accepting waiver applications at the respective POE.

I will not be surprised if this doesn’t get extended once August 21 comes around.

Months ago I predicted at least September.

Thoughts anyone?