In the midst of travelers who face obstacles or even being arrested on the border of the United States, some immigration lawyers say that Canadians should expect additional questioning, have many documents available and carry a burner phone.
Two lawyers interviewed by CBC News say they are sending many questions about air and land trips from and to the United States, with many worried about cleaning customs and border protection of the United States as the change of rules under President Donald Trump.
Heather Segal, immigration lawyer and founding partner of Segal Immigration Law in Toronto, said Monday that his entrance tray is flooded with questions.
“There has been much higher security and high investigations on the border,” he said. “There is great fear, fear for numerous reasons. First, there is fear of stopping. There is fear of not entering the United States.”
Segal said people are afraid of being arrested, worried about what they will be asked and worried to say or do the wrong. Canadian citizens who entered the United States, US citizens return to the United States, transgender people, and permanent residents of Canada and Canadian immigrants with work permits.
“There is a fear, but nobody is exactly sure of what they fear. They do not know what they have done wrong. There is a sense of guilt, but ‘I don’t know what I did.”
Segal recommends Canadian travelers to the US. She said that going through “prevention” offers rights to Canadians while on Canadian soil.
“I may be stopped to interrogate him, but he can say at any time: ‘You know what, I don’t want to travel.’ And while he tells them he is not interested and gives him a good reason, he can leave.
However, according to the Canadian government, there are exceptions. Its website says that a person can withdraw his request to enter the US.
“The officer can stop him for violations of the Canadian law.”
Segal said that Canadians can also be arrested in a land entry port when they pass through the customs of the United States because they are on American soil and do not have the same rights they would have in Canada.
Global Affairs Canada, in a statement on Monday, said that the Federal Department updated its orientation on March 21 to advise Canadians about a new US requirement. Uu. That those who visit the country for more than 30 days are registered with citizenship and immigration services in the United States.
Segal said he is also listening to Canadians’s concerns about whether they are duly recorded for stays of more than 30 days, such as people who start a business or those who care for sick relatives.
Immigration lawyers warn Canadians to wait for additional questions, have many documents available and carry a burner phone before traveling to the United States, either by land or by air. Lorenda Reddekopp of CBC explains why.
When Canadians fly to the US, a copy of their I-94 form, a departure arrival registration form that indicates how long they can remain in the United States, he said. The form indicates that they are registered and documented their “date of entry and exit” from the USA.
But the Canadians who enter the US. She said that travelers can get a copy or request it in advance, when going to the US Customs and Border Protection website. UU.
You can search for mobile phones, lawyers say
Segal also suggests that people travel with a burner phone and leave their real phones at home.
The United States Customs officials can look through a mobile phone, verify comments made on social networks and look through a laptop, he said. They can also take devices or download all their contents, he added.
“To protect yourself, more now than ever, I think it is a great idea to take a burner phone, not take its technology, not take anything from its technology that is afraid that any government entity knows or has,” he said.
“The concept of privacy is completely different when you enter the United States.”
Canada must issue a travel warning, says Lawyer
Ravi Jain, an immigration lawyer and founder of the Jain Immigration Law in Toronto, told CBC Radio Metro tomorrow On Monday, you agree that people should take burner phones when they go to the US.
Given the changes in the border, Jain believes that the Canadian government should issue a travel notice to the United States
“It’s a very scary moment,” he said. “I think people should be a bit more aware that the United States is not playing.”
Jain said he is advising his clients, including those who have been critical of the Trump administration on social networks or who were born in Iran and Syria, which is not a good idea to go to the United States.
A travel agent says that traveling to the United States. Uu. Among its customers, it is partially drying out the concerns about the crossing of the border.
Azin Mohajer, manager of Atlas Travel in Toronto, who specializes in trips for Iranian Canadians, said that people born in Iran or who were recently there have been questioned at the border and that their customers simply do not travel there.
“I can say that perhaps it has been for zero the last four weeks that we have not even sold a single ticket to the US. Or the transit through the US.”
Mohajer said customers spend hundreds of dollars more per ticket to avoid an American scale.
If your customers fly south of the border now, Mohajer said she recommends arriving earlier and being prepared.
“Have additional documents that show that you are working here, you have houses here and some additional documents in addition to your Canadian passport.”
