A friend of mine is a Canadian citizen, and plans to visit the U.S. for a few months. He wants to do everything totally legally. How long will it take to get a passport? What kind of restrictions will he have here? How long can he stay? Will it be possible for him to get a job here?
He should already have his Canadian passport. What he will need to work or go to school is the appropriate type of visa, which he can apply for now. I’m not sure if people who are strictly short-term tourists need a visa.
Why would he necessarily already have a passport? The OP pretty strongly suggests he does not.
It took me about two or three weeks to get mine.
My Canadian passport has been in the works since October; hoping that we’ll get it in time for our non-refundable trip in early February. It seems to be taking up to 12 weeks at the moment, based on other Canadian ex-pats’ say. Your friend may be able to get expedited service, as he lives in Canada, this is not an option for those of us living abroad.
Canadian visitors do not need visas for visiting the US. They do require work visas, which are (IIRC) job-dependant, so he can’t come and take any old job.
As to restrictions, I don’t really know what you mean. I am not a US citizen, but I am afforded all of the benefits of being one aside from the ability to vote.
Sorry- I was assuming he meant “visa.” My bad. I always recommend that people have a passport whether or not they are planning to travel outside of their home country… just habit, I guess.
Not necessarily- there are some legal protections that you don’t have, IIRC.
So does this mean that he has to have a job lined up before coming here?
I’d be interested in hearing what legal protections they do not have.
No, you only need a work visa if you’re planning to get a job there.
If they’re at a land or sea crossing, all they need is government issued photo id and proof of citizenship. No passport, no visa, nothing else. A passport generally makes things easier, but it’s not a necessity.
Well, protection against being shipped to Syria to be tortured, for one.
What makes you so sure you actually have that protection yourself these days? :eek:
Your friend should apply for a passport yesterday; it can take quite a while, especially with the holidays. He’ll probably need expedited service if he wants it within 2-3 weeks. A visa is not generally required for Canadians visiting the U.S., the major exception being if they want to work there. If he does want to work, and has training in one of a list of certain professions, he might be able to get a NAFTA visa to work in the States; however, I believe that this would require having the job arranged ahead of time.
I haven’t been able to find any definitive information on how long a Canadian citizen can stay in the States without a visa; the standard length for a tourist visa for those nationalities that require it seems to be six months, so I can’t imagine that the time limit would be less than that. There’s a host of useful information on the website of the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa that I haven’t dug through all the way; you friend can also try to contact his local embassy or consulate directly and ask them.
This 404 - Page Not Found looks like the source for all the US-side info your friend will need.
This http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/vacation/ready_set_go/land_travel/reqs_canmexber.xml & this 404 - Page Not Found & 404 - Page Not Found talk about what he/she needs to get in.
This 404 - Page Not Found would seem to indicate that working in the US is flat illegal (as in “illegal alien”) without a suitable visa, which effectively isn’t available for casual labor. This matches with my experience in hiring IT folks who were non-citizens. Candians are in the same boat as Indians: no magic visa = no job.
ETA: Here’s some more on the details of working on a visa 404 - Page Not Found . It ain’t pretty.
IIRC, a citizen can be convicted of a crime without being deported. That came up for a Canadian friend of mine, during a discussion of the dangers of defending a girl’s honor in a bar argument. That may be out of date, though.
In an effort to keep this response within the realm of GQ, I will note the following distinctions, inasmuch as they are relevant to both the OP’s question and GingerOfTheNorth’s assessment.
The legal status and protections afforded to a person already admitted into the country and living here legally are different than the protections afforded to a person at the border, seeking to enter.
For example, GingerOfTheNorth may not be searched without a warrant or probable cause to believe a crime has been committed. But a Canadian at the border, seeking to legally the United States, is subject to a search for no articulable reason at all.
So – when GingerOfTheNorth says that she is afforded all of the benefits of being a citizen aside from the ability to vote, she’s largely correct, in that she has already legally entered the country and is legally residing here.
One thing I do know is that an American coming to Canada for a specific short term imployment gets the work permit at the border and I assume this is reciprocal, since it is part of NAFTA However, he may need a passport; my research visitors always have them. The work permit is strictly limited to the position described in the formal offer I send them.
When dealing with the consulates, remember that the U.S. issues permits to Canadians, not visas. They look the same and act the same, but the many consulate-types get all sticky when Canadians start talking about visas.
The generally recognized maximum stay without a permit is six months. Longer than that and a Canuck should apply for one of umpteen residency permits. Some permits come with a work permit attached (eg. J-1) – other residency permits (like a J-2) let the bearer apply for a work permit, which can take up to six months to be processed, and can only be applied for once in the U.S.
I’m not sure the US has restrictions on how long a Canadian can stay as a visitor, but the Canadian provinces do. I assume it’s the same for every province/territory, but I know for a fact that Québec and Ontario require you to be in the province for half the year (plus a day, maybe?) in order to qualify for the provincial health care system. This is largely why the Florida snowbirds actually come back to Canada for the summer!
My passport contains a Visa (it has the word “visa” in the upper right hand corner), which permitted me to emigrate to marry my husband. This is a type K1.
As an update, my Canadian passport arrived on 12/31/07. It had been in the works since late October.
Congrats on the passport arrival.
And all my permits were marked ‘visa’ as well. It’s just the people I dealt with were always ornery…