Canadians and other foreign citizens who plan to remain in the US for 30 days or sooner must request registration and digital footprints with the National Security Department.
According to media reports, the draft rule is expected to be derived from an executive order on January 20 will be in force on April 11. Citizenship and Immigration Services of the United States (USCIS) did not respond to a CBC News request for publication time.
Although Canadians have long benefited from exceptions to some travel laws in the United States due to the close links of countries, citizenship alone will not exempt travelers, including snow birds, of these new regulations.
A Global Affairs Canada spokesman says he is “monitoring this development closely.”
The changes occur as the tariff threats of President Donald Trump continue to endanger the economies of the United States and Canada.
The immigration lawyer based in Montreal, Patrice Brunet, said the changes would mark “a very drastic policy change”, where Canadians will be considered, in the predictable future, “regular citizens who come from any other country” instead of friends of the United States.
Any foreign national over 14 years of age who needs to register or submit an application on behalf of your children must create a Online USCIS account. More information on how to create an account is available at the USCIS website.
The requirement applies to children under 14, but parents or guardians are responsible for signing them.
Snowbirds ‘treated as aliens’, says the lawyer
Rudy Buttignol, president of the Canadian Association of Removes (CARP), a defense organization that represents about 250,000 members throughout Canada, said that snow birds that routinely visit the United States for six months a year are “really shocked to be treated as aliens”, after establishing in communities south of the border.
“I hear that people are not only upset, but they are also insulted,” said Buttignol. “Together, with the idea that Canada becomes state 51, this seems a deliberate attempt to irritate Canadians.”
The examples of people who are already registered include permanent residents of foreign citizens and citizens who received employment authorization, border crossing cards and immigrant or non -immigrant visas. Foreign citizens who received I-94 or I-94W forms are also exempt, even if the admission period in the list expired.
Carrying registration vouchers at all times
Once the DHS issues registration evidence in an adult traveler, they will be asked to take it at all times while they are in the United States.
Brunet said that the emboldened order to the United States Police to “stop anyone who seems not to be American, which is anyone.”
A White House Declaration published on January 20 explains that people who violate immigration laws will face civil and criminal sanctions, such as fines and prosecution.
It seems that any Canadian who travels to the United States by land for more than 30 days will now have to register in the US government and be digital footprints.
Brunet pointed out the “hard language” used in the Executive order Describe foreigners who exceed their visas.
The document entitled “Protecting the American people against the invasion” affirms that many people who are in the United States in the United States “illegally present significant threats for national security and public security” and “their presence in the United States has cost taxpayers billions of dollars at the federal, state and local level.”
“It’s very different from, you know, the typical snow bird that goes to Florida or Arizona for winter,” Brunet said.
