Waiver to cross U. S. border isn’t a simple affair

Re: Wild side comes back to haunt photographer, Column, Jan. 16

Mike Milne, a spokesman for U. S. Customs and Border Protection, refers to the need for a waiver to enter the U. S. if someone has a conviction for a narcotics offence.

The waiver is an “Application for Advance Permission to Enter as Nonimmigrant” which requires fingerprints taken by the RCMP for a Canadian record check, also sent to the FBI and the U. S. Justice Department, details of the offence, court records, family history, letters of character reference, evidence and/ or a written account demonstrating rehabilitation, advance request for date( s) of entry, and fingerprints taken again ( by U. S. officials).

Some forms are photocopied so poorly as to be practically illegible. The $ 585 fee can change unannounced, obliging you to send more money. When submitting the application ( in person, at a port of entry), you may be told of new requirements.

The “Permission to Enter,” if granted, is from the date issued, which might be weeks before you receive it.

Begin a new application immediately — it can take longer than two years! Each time you enter the U. S you will be pulled from the line, questioned at length and made to pay another fee for processing.

Six hundred thousand Canadians have criminal records of possession of marijuana. Even if you don’t have a criminal record in Canada any more, because of a conditional discharge or a pardon, Uncle Sam neither forgets nor forgives. JAN JANZEN Tofino