Canada Day: Survival Guide For Canada-US Cross Border Travel

The Canada Day long week-end will be here soon.  Canadians travel outside Canada to visit friends and family and to shop.  The Canada Border Services Agency ("CBSA") is on the lookout for contraventions of the Customs Act and other border laws.

Here is our survival guide to make sure the CBSA is happy with your declaration and does not seize your goods, vehicle and/or NEXUS card:

1. Know about personal exemptions that are permitted by the CBSA.  You still must declare all goods (even if you are entitled to a personal exemption).  Let the CBSA apply the exemption.  Entitlement to an exemption does not mean you do not have to say anything.
2. Organize your receipts before you arrive at the border. If you have gone shopping, organize all your receipts (that is, all the receipts of all people in the vehicle) together. The most common mistake is forgetting a receipt and under-declaring to the Primary CBSA Officer the value of the goods purchased outside Canada. Another