Quote:
Originally Posted by dkrhardy
Barefoot - how close do they watch that 182 days? Don & Kaz
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Good question! I have no idea. But they do track Canadians' length of stay in the US. We show passports at border crossings.
Here is the scary part. Any time we cross into the US, the US Border Crossing Agent can decide the length of time we're allowed to stay in the US. It is at their absolute discretion. 182 days would be the maximum we'd be allowed. I've known Canadians who were told they could only stay 60 or 90 days.
If we were to stay longer than 182 days, and we were somehow "flagged" in the system, the next time we attempted to enter the US, we could be refused, for a year or two, or more. And then if we went to a different border crossing and tried to enter after being refused, we could be thrown in jail.
As Resident Aliens, Canadians are required to file a form each year with the US IRS stating the number of days we've spent in the US (maximum of 182). I think that lying to the IRS would have fairly serious consequences.
So we don't abuse the system or take any chances. And we bite our nails every Fall until we're safely in the US and headed for The Bubble. And we are extremely nice to the US Border Agents.