How To Cross the Canadian Border by Car
On our trip to Banff National Park we decided to drive and needed to know how to cross the Canadian border by land. We had never done a border crossing via car before and were not sure how the process was going to go.
Luckily, it was a really easy to cross the border, but it’s always best to be prepared. Here’s what you need to know in order to cross the Canadian border by land.
What You Need to Have When You Cross the Canadian Border
You will be asked to present adequate identification documents for each person in the car when you cross the Canadian border by land. Canadian officials recommend having a valid passport as the best form of identification.
For United States citizens, tourist travelers need only a valid passport and not a visa. Children under 16 may only need a birth certificate or other proof of U.S. citizenship. However, according to the U.S. Department of State, Canadian border patrol officers have discretion as to whether or not they will accept documents other than a passport. So to be safe, make sure to bring your kids’ passports if they have them!
Please see the above link if you are traveling with minors that are not your own children or if you have any other unique circumstances.
If you are not a United States citizen, please see here for your visa requirements.
What is the Process to Cross the Canadian Border by Car
When crossing the border into Canada by car, you will pull up to a booth with a Canadian border patrol officer. It reminded me of a toll booth or parking booth. If there is a line, signs will direct you where to wait before approaching the booth after the car in front of you is done.
You can check border wait times for any of the 25+ locations here. This is a super handy feature! We crossed at the Coutts, Alberta/Sweet Grass, Montana crossing and we waited about 30 minutes to be seen by the border patrol.
When we arrived there were about 6 cars ahead of us. Despite that, it moved at a steady pace. Make sure to get in the travelers lane and not the commercial lane. You don’t want to be stuck between all the semi-trucks!
After we pulled up to the booth, we were asked several questions by the border patrol agent. Mostly questions about why and where we were traveling, how we were all related, about the kids and we had to declare whether we were bringing in anything against the rules, ie. firearms, alcohol, marijuana, large sums of money, etc. As you can see, it’s mostly the same questions that you get traveling into a foreign country by air.
One he checked all of our passports and scanned them, we were good to go!
You will not likely get a stamp by default (we didn’t!) when crossing into Canada by land. We learned this the hard way, but from our research if you want a stamp you can ask for it.
Crossing the Canadian Border Back into the United States
After our trip, we returned to the same border crossing and had a similar wait to cross back into the United States. This time we met with a U.S. border patrol agent and answered similar questions about what we did while traveling and what, if anything, we were bringing back into the United States with us.
We didn’t have any problems either way. We were questioned about our cooler on the way back into the United States, but when we told them it was full of Diet Coke and water bottles, we didn’t have any problems.
Good luck!
