Bank statement, Utility statement/bill, phone. No lease, no statement about a lease. If you want to use that in lieu of the bank statement or utility bill, ask stars.

Hello sledghammer,

Thank you for your email.

We can also call you on a cell phone number provided this is a cell phone registered in New Zealand.

We look forward to hearing back from you shortly so we can assist you further on this matter.

Kind Regards,

Mandy
PokerStars Security Team


Maybe it's because canadian cell phones are too similar to US cell phones? The registry might be the same? Or stars is just being inconsistent.

Yes, you could be wrong.

Not everybody who thinks they are playing poker professionally are doing what the CRA would classify as running a business, and some people who think they are not playing professionally may also be classified as running a business. See the Canedian online poker tax thread ITF.

Im not taking any of that crap (sheets, dishes and junk). But id really rather not spend 4 grand on monitors and computer when I get to Canada, but I cant really bring 3 monitors and my can in my car and say "just checking out the scenery for a couple weeks"

Im brining a box of clothes, my guitar, my dog, my camping ****, my laptop and id REEEEAAAALLLLY like to bring my computer setup, without that I can easily just say im camping in squamish for 3 weeks and my **** will fit perfectly with that story. But I dont wanna grind for 6 months on my laptop

Well yes,the cities near the border are like war zones due to all the drugs and weapons being pushed up there to try and move across the border. But there are a ton of touristy places that are very americanized that are very safe. I'll try and find the article but I read some of these cities I was looking at were some of the safest. Cabo is a very nice city which is relatively cheap and it is a big tourist area and very safe. Google some pictures and you can see how amazing it is.

I don't plan on playing poker forever, so I think moving to a country thats not so similar to america would be a fun experience and something not many people are able to do in their lifetime.(Kids,marriage,job). So I think I would get more out of it than say moving to Canada.

That being said, I'm not one who likes change too much and I am kinda lazy so moving to Canada would be a lot easier . Ahhhh decisions

Yeah I am not sure too what I would say if I were to decide to move to Canada. I was thinking of saying I was going to visit a friend for a few weeks too. I guess I could only bring clothes,my small TV,monitor,laptop and thats it. How hard do they look into your car? I drive a big SUV so I could cover some things with a blanket but I'm sure it would cause huge problems if they were to try and look close or go through your car(if they can do that without reason,which I'm sure they can).

A few things here.

- When I moved from Michigan to New York (cutting through Ontario), my car was absolutely crammed full to the ceiling, and I had no problems. Not sure if the "moving to Alaska" line works or not. It'd be fairly common for them to follow up with "Why the hell would you do that?"

- Once, when I went to visit my girlfriend in Canada, they demanded her phone number and physically called her to confirm. So, the "visiting a friend for a few weeks" story can backfire.

I dunno. I've kind of gotten lost over the many pages/weeks of this thread. Why isn't telling the truth working?

That's the thing -- telling the truth has been working. Anyone ITT telling you to lie is giving you terrible advice. When they ask you what you're doing, say you're going to Canada for 6 months because your government is oppressive. They'll ask to see a bank statement, you show them that and you're good. A small percentage of the time you may get sent to customs for extra questioning if the original person didn't really understand and thought you were taking a job away from a Canadian. Just explain exactly what you're doing and you'll be fine.

When showing them your bank statement,what are they looking for? X amount of dollars? If so,how much do you need? 2k?,5k?,10k?25k?

don't just pass it all over... Cancun hotel zone down the coast line to Playa Del Carmen and Isla Mujeres/Cozumel islands off the coast are good options. Not a large native population--most of it moved in with the hotels. The heavy Mayan influence is far from the narcotrafficos plaguing the central big cities and Pacific side.
Good rental market for longer visits from Canada/US/Europe (mainly scuba visitors).

For those doing the temporary plan with Canada and thinking long-term back to US when it's regulated, a few winter months in the mexican state of Quintana Roo along the coastline is a fabulous option. You'll find all the western conveniences you need. Plenty of English speakers (though a few words of Spanish obv helps).

good place to go after 180 days in Canada


the Eastern seaboard of the Yucatan peninsula is still hotel/resort owned and quite safe

Whatever arbitrary amount they decide means you have enough to support yourself for 6 months.

I believe that the answer is "a reasonable amount to cover the length of stay." I don't think short-term visitors will get asked about this, but those who indicate a stay of multiple months might. A bank statement showing funds in your account will be adequate proof of solvency. As I suggested earlier, everything is at the discretion of the particular customs official you encounter.

looked into this, the ferry is actually pretty expensive, if I were to truly move to Alaska, driving would definitely be the best option.

So im gunna tell the BP guys that Im gunna hang out in squamish for a couple weeks for some rock climbing, then I'm heading to Alaska to stay with a friend for a while. So that will explain some of my longer term items (basically just my computer and clothes). Ill have a friend on standby in case they wanna call and confirm. But talking to some people and reading some stuff really seems like Im being paranoid and that most likely im just gunna get waved on through without any hassle.

Alobar - Yeah, you'll probably get waved in fine. They might ask you the address of the guy you are staying with or something else. So kind of be ready I guess. I would still go with the truth myself but if you are insistent on doing some sort of semi-elaborate lie that will probably work too.

Your other "lie option" I guess could involve making multiple trips across. Works if your new place is close to the border. Get a storage shed on the U.S. side and store your monitor-stuff. Taking less makes you slightly less suspicious and you can say whatever. Then when you go back to get a couple monitors and throw them in your trunk you don't even acknowledge they are there. Just say you are going to casino in Vancouver to gamble or whatever. If they ask to look into your trunk you just open it...and then if they ask about the monitors you just say, "oh yeah. I bought those from a dude on craigslist a couple days ago an just haven't unloaded them." Meh, whatever. That sounds more elaborate than it really is. Mostly it's just having a couple of trips involved...and having some stupid story ready just in case they actually ask you about it which they probably won't.



Mexico option - When we went on our cruise down there in 2005 or so it seemed like Puerto Vallarta on the pacific side was reasonably nice and super-touristy. Very Spring Break-ish so lots of partying which might get loud and annoying I guess (I wouldn't really mind). Not sure if this is now in the heart of drug-cartel-central but I kind of suspect that it is likely somewhat safer for Americans as far as Mexico goes.

I'm guessing Cabo is pretty goo too.

Most of the places in Mexico that would be more American-friendly and less scary wouldn't be very drivable though. Pretty much any place these days near the border seems likely to be a place you shouldn't want to be. So obviously can't take much stuff with you if you are flying down. But you can probably have your computer shipped to you relatively cheaply if you need to do that. It's a lot more common these days for people to ship stuff to themselves rather than take it with them on the flight because of baggage fees, etc.

I know what you mean man, I'm not driving up for another month and already I'm just going over the conversation in my mind sort of compulsively. It's just such an important moment for everything to go right. I'm sure that just doing the research we're doing and asking the right questions like we are in making the preparations, we'll be fine.

I envy u guys

You could always leave the computer and monitors with family or friends and if you get into Canada and find a place, have them mail the items. This would be cheaper then selling them and purchasing new ones in Canada. Also if you get turned away at the border for some reason you would still have them.

Yeah, that works too. Probably better than storage shed I guess. As I said, it's much more common now for people to ship heavy items to themselves like that.

I believe you can arrange the date for it to arrive to you. So you don't even need to leave them with family. Just take it to the shipping place and arrange for it to be sent on whatever date.

Of course, if somehow you don't make it in then your package will still get delivered. But that seems so unlikely to me I wouldn't worry about it.

Here's my suggestion to you and others if asked about your electronics: say that you enjoy online gaming and play online games intensively.

No lie!

One thing worth noting here is the general difference in mentality of American Border Guards vs. Canadian Border Guards.

American border guards want to keep out terrorists, illegal weapons, and drugs. When you go into the US from Canada, this is what they are paranoid about.

Canadian border guards want to keep you from moving in, operating an illegal business, and/or selling your stuff in Canada.

Seeing someone making multiple trips, moving monitors, etc., looks like you could be trying to turn a profit. (A roommate of mine actually WAS moving stuff over a little bit at a time to sell under the table at a Canadian antique store he owned with his girlfriend, and he got turned around and had to bring a **** load of paperwork to prove he wasn't doing, well, exactly what he was doing.)

Way better to do it all at once, imo. Assuming some level of risk in crossing (which there is when lying, I'm not really convinced there is if you're upfront and honest), doing it multiple times has got to be just tempting fate/lowering your odds.

I'm still with Bob on this one - telling the truth = win.

I want to move to Windsor, in the next week or so, but i need to be at a wedding in mid July. Not really worried about getting in the first time, just say I'm going to the casino and bars for a day or two, then stay a month. But when I leave Canada, go to a wedding, and then try to reenter Canada three days later, after spending 4 to 6 weeks there, I'm worried it will look weird, and I can't really think of a good story other than I'm playing internet poker in your country.

jnye - It's not weird to go back and forth from the U.S. to canada. People cross back and forth all the time for meetings or to go to the casino or any other number of reasons. There are literally thousands and thousands of people crossing back and forth at every border thing every single day.

I'm not even sure they will know that you were there for 4-6 weeks your first time through. On my ten or so trips into Canada in the past 2-3 years I think they might have entered my passport or license-plate on two of those. And I think both times it was when I was coming back into the U.S.

I'm pretty sure that each time I've been coming into Canada they have just looked at my passport, saw that it was the same pic of me, asked where I was going and maybe a couple other Q's...and then told me to move along.

I really don't believe they typically enter the info on time and date you entered or stamp your passport. They are holding it in front of them the whole time each time I have gone in. They don't really care that much.

Maybe I'm wrong on that and they actually did scan it somehow without me noticing. It's possible I guess as I admit I really don't pay that much attention.

This changes I guess if you happen to be randomly searched more thoroughly or they decide to log your info for some reason.

But your best bet seriously is probably just to say, "I'm getting a separate place in Canada for a couple months to play poker on the internet." That's what I think anyway but I have to admit I'm not an expert o border-crossing and stuff like that.

But it really seems to me that lying is dangerous and potentially sketchy...and if you are bad at it then you are making a bigger headache for yourself when they think you look sketchy and nervous. It's at THAT point that they really will log all your stupid information or maybe stamp your passport or something.

The part that will look weird will be the part where you said you were coming in for a day or two but stayed 4-6 weeks. Coming back for more won't look weird.

http://www.scorpioncase.com/estore/i...oduct_id=30347

This seems like a solid pickup for the purposes of travel. I cant seem to find any used ones anywhere or any mention of them on 2+2. If you don't want to click the link it's a durable-lookin' case for shipping two big lcd monitors in.

Ya might want to think about opening up an account on a different site, just saying.

Have any Americans been successful moving to Europe or is the consensus that it's pretty much impossible to overstay the 3 or 6 month temporary stay requirements unless you're a student or sponsored for a job? I've e-mailed the US embassies in Poland and Czech Republic hoping for some insight, but so far have just received form replies or been ignored. If someone were to try the student visa route would it be possible to get one while only going to school a small amount like 5-10 hours a week taking language classes or something?

I want to move in a couple months, but don't really want to have to go to a third world type place. I'd definitely prefer Europe (or NZ/Aus) and would probably even settle for a country in the Balkans.