How bad will the exchange rates be wiring USD to my USD Canadian account since they will send the funds as CAD?

Just posting to say I moved to Vancouver about a week ago and had absolutely no problems. I believe it was because I flew in and didn't drive. I packed a **** load of stuff and just was completely upfront with them. They said a lot of poker players come through, and they deny quite a few because they lie about what they're there for. I told them I was a professional poker player and planned on staying for 6 months, and was going to go to Europe afterward most likely. They thought it was really cool, told me my government is idiotic, and wished me luck. I was maybe at customs for 10 minutes, probably less.

Who is wiring the money? You can use oanda fx global transfer and get a pretty good rate. That's what I did (with euros, not CAD). If you make a habit of just wiring CAD to USD from one bank to another you are going to be losing a ton of money.

I posted this question about a month ago in other threads like this, but have received no response. I'm hoping someone like piranha knows this stuff:

I am an American citizen who went through the whole process in Canada 12 months ago. Everything went smoothly and my PS>MoneyBookers>BMO bank withdraws worked fine. I stayed in Canada for 6 months, and then decided to travel abroad, which I've been doing for 6 months (playing almost no poker until a little while ago)

Now, for traveling in other countries outside the US, is it fine to do this with, lets say a South American IP: I want to do PS>MB>BMO bank>US bank.

Thanks.

There shouldn't be any problem, I've been to the Bahamas and now Costa Rica after being in Canada and have been able to withdraw to my Canadian accounts. The last step of getting it from BMO to the US is the toughest because there's no way of doing it online through BMO. You can write checks to yourself once you're back in the US and deposit them.

Oh also, a lot of US banks have something called Bank By Mail where you can mail in deposits to an address. I actually just received the deposit envelopes today in Costa Rica so I'm going to try depositing Canadian checks that way to my US accounts. According to my bank, Chase, they said it wouldn't be a problem.

Hey Ive been living in Canada for over 12 months now, about 9 months spent In the country. I was able to come in last month with them knowing Ive been here for 9 months and they did not issue me a written notice to leave on a certain date.

Although: I have been temporarily turned down at the border for a night until I could go to the bank in the morning and get a statement proving I had money, My brother was turned down for attempting to live in canada even though we had an apartment in Canada. And my friend was randomly turned down at the same border, but was able to make it in a month later.

The best way to get in: Fly in and only bring one suit case, say you are visiting friends or go the honest route and say you want to play poker for a while since you cant in the US.

Driving in works best if you go somewhere with a casino, like Niagara Falls.

Make sure to bring paperwork such as your lease / home ownership type stuff from the US and a bank statement. A couple thousand in cash always helps support the casino story.

Flying is 100% the way to go. Book a return flight even if you don't plan to return on that exact date.

Wow thanks for the info, piranha. I have Chase too, so ill look into that bank mail thing.

No problem and fyi - Chase allows you to deposit 5K in foreign checks per account every 10 days without it being sent to collections. It takes roughly 3 weeks to clear if it's sent to collections and there's about a $45 fee as well. Without it going to collections, it takes 1 day to clear.

What if I have Canadian and USD accounts at my Canadian bank? Would that be treated as foreign if I do PS>MB>BMO>Chase all in USD from start to finish? Any fees for this, if it does not go to collections? Thanks

Yes it would still be considered foreign regardless of currency because the check's drawn on a Canadian bank. There shouldn't be any fees aside from the small MB fee to transfer to BMO.

can someone give quick cliffs on two things:

1) what documents are necessary to open a Canadian bank account for an American? I'd rather bring extra than not enough. I'm understanding so far passport and driver's license, a bank recommendation that I'm in good standing... how about a utility bill? Is that a must? Anything else I'm missing?

2) What's the consensus for which banks in Toronto are the best to use (and which branches). Feel free to PM me, or shoot me any contacts you might have... would be much appreciated

Thx.

Has anyone overstayed their 6months in Canada?
I've been here for 9 months, I'm kinda nervous about what the border folks are going to say, and what if anything I should be prepared for. Also worried they won't let me back in again...anyone in or been in the same situation?

If you didn't get a visitor's record and you're driving you will be fine since you only check in with the US customs when you leave. If you are flying then I'm afraid you're going to get ****ed.

So what's the consensus as far as what to tell them when driving across the border? I live like an hour away from Windsor and would like to go back and forth quite a bit, sometimes i'll be there for a month, sometimes I'll just be there for a day. I went up a few days ago, signed a 9 month lease for a house, opened bank account, etc (just said I was going to casino since I was only there a couple days, and on the way back they stopped me for like an hour, searched the car, etc). If I do just tell the 100% truth, is there any documents i should bring other than a copy of my US bank statement and copy of the 9 month lease?

Utility bills for your place in the USA, bank statements showing you have enough $$ to support yourself, a statement for any property you own/mortgage.

And yeah just tell the truth.

Go online now and apply for a Nexus card. It's so much easier to drive back and forth with it.

Can you elaborate I was def planning to fly, as I have no car here

i submitted my online application like 2 months ago. a few weeks ago i got an email telling me to set up a time for an in person interview or whatever. the soonest available time they had was November. wtf

I just got done with my in person interview (originally scheduled 2 months like you) and was surprised that the Blaine, WA interview office allowed for drop-ins that was never advertised elsewhere. I think many of the other offices allow drop-ins as well.

There is no out-going customs for driving so they don't have any clue when you're leaving. If you're flying you will have to talk to Canadian customs as you leave and they are going to know you over-stayed when they scan your passport and they're going to be pissed. I don't know what the penalties are but I'm assuming it's some kind of fine but possibly a warning for a first time offense, google is your friend.

thanks. def gonna check on that at YVR and downtown (Dunsmuir St i think) offices. im too scared to leave Canada to go to Blaine.

Ya, that sounds pretty wtf-ish. What about other locations? I was lazy and only wanted to go to YVR, but still only had to wait like 3 weeks.

BTW the guy interviewing me for that was more interested in how many minutes left until his lunch break than anything I was telling him. 2nd guy not much worse. Pretty painless.

A friend of a friend I know works at customs at the Detroit/Windsor crossing and this is what he told me. (Yes the guy is a complete D-bag). When driving across, your license plate is automatically scanned and vehicle weighed. The plate info shows if the vehicale is stolen, who the owner is, and how often it is crossed. They weigh the vehicle to check for heavy loads people smuggling stuff. When you hand the custom officer your passport, they scan it to see if any warrants come up. They have to physically type in your info to see criminal history, if you have ever been denied crossing etc. They share this info with Canadian customs.