Diver Deported in Canada, Beware

[marcbeaudry]

as a canadian with a 20 year old DUI - i have aplied for a Pardon - which i was granted - which allows me to travel the world without problems -
except the united states. for which i am required to apply for a Waiver ( I 92)
since 9/11 you can no longer get 'life long' waivers and are required to file regularily depending on the time allowance of your waiver . ( 1year - 2 years, etc )
it runs me about 800$ said and done for every application.
When i dive from canada - in US waters - normally -all divers need to provide their passport info a few days prior to the trip - by the time the boat gets to customs - i get pulled off the boat to play 20 questions and provide my waiver - and off we go -
if i dive form the US side - i do this step at the border and dont have to deal with the
hassle of holding up a boatload of divers.
It's interesting to see that the canadians' are now playing the same card to visiting Americans -
Sign of the times i suppose.

 

[DCBC]

as a canadian with a 20 year old DUI - i have aplied for a Pardon - which i was granted - which allows me to travel the world without problems -
except the united states. for which i am required to apply for a Waiver ( I 92)
since 9/11 you can no longer get 'life long' waivers and are required to file regularily depending on the time allowance of your waiver . ( 1year - 2 years, etc )
it runs me about 800$ said and done for every application.
When i dive from canada - in US waters - normally -all divers need to provide their passport info a few days prior to the trip - by the time the boat gets to customs - i get pulled off the boat to play 20 questions and provide my waiver - and off we go -
if i dive form the US side - i do this step at the border and dont have to deal with the
hassle of holding up a boatload of divers.
It's interesting to see that the canadians' are now playing the same card to visiting Americans -
Sign of the times i suppose.

If you have been granted a Pardon, the RCMP are required by law to take you off the computer. I wonder how the US Customs / Immigration is finding out information about you? Seems odd. I'd ask to see if you are on their observation list as a terrorist. LOL

 

[B Lo]

The problem isn't necessarily with the law, even thought it seems excessive, but the fact they have started enforcing it in this particular area. This area has a lot of tourism, including dive and fishing charters. If they are going to enforce it, they should notify the charter operators, hotels, etc. so they can in turn notify their customers. If there is a simple process to avoid being kicked out of the country, that's great, but suddenly kicking people off charters and out of the country is going to hurt the local businesses. I already know a couple divers that didn't go to Canada for this particular reason.

I don't mean to be a jerk but I'd rather not dive with someone who has ever had a DUI.

 

[tregrrr]

I don't mean to be a jerk but I'd rather not dive with someone who has ever had a DUI.

did you ever get into a playground fight in school?? if so i don't want to dive with you... You probably not have changed or learned your lesson either, and you might start a fight on the boat based on your history.

 

[sablefish]

Last summer the Canadian side was still: "Hi, Where ya going - Have a nice day" and passport back in 45 seconds with a smile. Now everybody actually asks the guns/fruits questions and might even go as far as "what's the name of your hotel, are you diving for pleasure or what is your instructor's name?" Seen people pointed for inspections. Things have changed.

I noticed the biggest change in Canada Customs when the US started requiring passports for all ports of entry. Before, i could drive down to the states or get on a plane with a birth certificate and a driver's license. When the US ended this special arrangement, i perceived Canada tightening up the borders at the same time.

They've been turning away American DWIs for a long time, though.

 

[ScubaSteve]

I don't mean to be a jerk but I'd rather not dive with someone who has ever had a DUI.

Seriously? It is your perogative I suppose but I personally could not imagine having that sort of attitude. Serial Killer I could see, but a 20+ year old vehicular offence? The good thing is, we will all have people to dive with after everybody applies their own prejudices.

 

[David_57]

I don't mean to be a jerk but I'd rather not dive with someone who has ever had a DUI.

Heaven for bid, hope your doing a backround check of your dive buddies that goes back 25 + years before you dive with them

 

[flots am]

So how do you get from Canada to the US or vice versa to catch a boat? Border crossings are guaranteed....it's just if you cross by car or boat (as was clearly stated in my previous post). It's not that complicated.

I'm not sure if I'm not making myself clear or if you're just trolling.

• I live in the US, like the OP.
• If I want to dive on the US side (like the OP), there is no reason for me to cross into Canada to do so.
• If I want to dive on the Canadian side, then I drive to Canada. However this requires only two crossings, not four.

Yes, border crossings are required if you want to dive on the other side of the border, however "stupid" border crossings are not required. "Stupid" border crossings are where you drive from the US to Canada just so you can catch a boat back to the US to go diving.

flots.

 

[ScubaSteve]

......It drives me crazy when I see people setting up a dive that requires four border crossings when none are actually necessary.

Not trolling at all. The quip quoted above is where I was stuck. It seemed as though you were saying that no border crossings at all. This latest post (below) has cleared up what you were saying. Thanks

I'm not sure if I'm not making myself clear or if you're just trolling.

• I live in the US, like the OP.
• If I want to dive on the US side (like the OP), there is no reason for me to cross into Canada to do so.
• If I want to dive on the Canadian side, then I drive to Canada. However this requires only two crossings, not four.

Yes, border crossings are required if you want to dive on the other side of the border, however "stupid" border crossings are not required. "Stupid" border crossings are where you drive from the US to Canada just so you can catch a boat back to the US to go diving.


flots.

 

[parzdiver]

I'm not sure if I'm not making myself clear or if you're just trolling.

• I live in the US, like the OP.
• If I want to dive on the US side (like the OP), there is no reason for me to cross into Canada to do so.
• If I want to dive on the Canadian side, then I drive to Canada. However this requires only two crossings, not four.

Yes, border crossings are required if you want to dive on the other side of the border, however "stupid" border crossings are not required. "Stupid" border crossings are where you drive from the US to Canada just so you can catch a boat back to the US to go diving.

flots.

I don't drive to Canada just so I can cross back over, but the last trip I was on, we were staying at Caigers on the Canadian side and had a weekend of dives booked with 1000 Island Pleasure Diving. The dive schedule was set so on Saturday we did the crossing to the US side after one dive in the morning in Canada. I don't consider the crossing's "stupid" or excessive, US and Canadian Customs are set up to handle boat crossings. Sunday's dives were all scheduled on the Canadian side.

To do a trip as you suggest, we would have to deal with additional logistics (different hotels, dive operators, etc.) that for a group of twelve people would have been more of a pain than a couple extra crossings.