The move to Niagara Falls is complete. After a month of filling a dumpster with stuff I no long want or need, I got my place packed-up on Wednesday. The movers came on Thursday, and delivered my stuff on Friday. The guys on the truck were wonderful, but the people in the office need to get an education in international moves. They failed to mention that they would not act as a customs broker, which meant that I had to go to the Canada Customs clearing centre by Pearson International Airport in Toronto.
The customs agents apparently are clueless about immigration rules, because they would not accept my work visa as proof of residency in the States. They weren’t going to give me my stuff until I could prove that I have been living in the States for the last 15 years. I let the customs officer know that I was offended. All that she could say is that I should have checked the rules before I moved back to Canada.
Needless to say, I am not pleased with the moving company, whose slogan is “Leave the worrying to us” or something like that. They even left their truck driver hanging by failing to give him the copy of my passport that they made for him. At 9:00 on Thursday night, I faxed him a copy of my passport, while he was at the border, because nobody in his office was available after hours.
As for the customs officer, I walked out to the car, found my box of important papers, and walked back in, 5 minutes later. She couldn’t even find the year on the federal tax return that I presented to her, even though it appears in big, bright red letters in the top right-hand corner. The return was from 2004, so she asked to see my most recent one. I told her that was not possible, since it was filed electronically. Then, she cleared my stuff to enter Canada. The final step was to pay $100 “tax” to bring my stuff into the country. What service the Canadian government is providing for this so-called tax is beyond me. It is legalized extortion.
In any event, the move to Niagara Falls was successful. I am busy unpacking my stuff. I am still working on getting an Internet service provider, and should be back on-line at home in a few days.
The Falls are beautiful. My apartment is less than four miles away, and is conveniently located close to almost everything you can imagine.
A work visa is not a proof of residency, only a green card or a passport are. Any tax return can be printed out at any time, just go to your online account and click a print button. No reason to call people clueless. Just saying.
Well, Alex, when the customs officer can’t find the year on a federal tax return, I would call that clueless. I’ve been playing this game for 15 years and met my share of customs and immigration officers, and am well-aware of the paperwork.
When I encounter an officer who decides that I am guilty until proven innocent, I give them a hard time. It is our duty to not be complacent to such government idiocy. If she treats me badly, and I give her a hard time, she will talk about it with her boss & co-workers, and maybe they will realize they need to treat people with dignity & respect, and not treat them like criminals.
Great teachers of the world are not teaching by aggression. They are leading by example. Isn’t it what a lightworker’s supposed to be embodying as well?
Alex, how do you know that I was aggressive? Were you there? I think not. Even if I was, who are you to judge me, or anyone else? As for leading by example, well… Let’s just say there is no excuse for idiocy. My example is to make people think, to challenge the status quo.
What example are you setting Alex? Whining, criticizing, and judging? Is that your intent?
My intent was to ‘remind’ you how to print out a tax return before telling somebody that it was ‘impossible’ and calling them clueless for saying otherwise. And the residency proof, the same thing. But I understand why nobody leaves comments on this blog. Looks like you have a lot of steam against your visitors. Don’t mess with an angry ‘lightworker’…
Alex, quite to the contrary… I do value the comments left on this blog, to the extent that they are helpful or contribute to an on-going dialogue. What I don’t appreciate is condescension.
Not trying to take sides here, but, seriously, what was described in the post could have been easily avoided and the poster above tells you how. I don’t see any condescension here, just basic knowledge. I would’ve said thank you and moved on.
Yes, it could have been avoided, and I had the documentation they wanted. The point was that the moving company was supposed to take care of all of it–that is why they were hired. I was blind-sided by the events that unfolded. I have used other movers that took care of this, as they advertise. Nowhere in my post did it say that I didn’t have proper documentation–it was in the car, I simply wasn’t expecting to need it. The fact that the customs officer couldn’t find the year on my 1040 was not exactly a confidence-builder, or a demonstration that she knew what she was doing. I have encountered dozens of customs officers over the years, and was stunned by her lack of knowledge.
Forgive me if I was unclear in the article. Yes, let’s move on…