USA Bus Lines

Traveling to Canada via Greyhound?

I will be traveling in the near future to montreal on a greyhound bus from Mass. Does anyone know what procedures are done at the border? Do I have to get off bus to be seen by customs? How long does it usually take? What questions do they ask?

Public Comments

1. You don't even need a passport at the border to do a land crossing until next June, 2009. Customs at the airport usually just has you fill out a little form, and then they look at it and wave you through. Easy as pie. A greyhound huh? I'd never again take one so far. Splurge on the plane ticket seriously.
2. I did this once about 2 years ago. They stop the bus at the border crossing and everyone gets off the bus. You walk into the small building, and everyone goes through customs and wait in a second room until everyone has been seen by customs. Then once everyone is through, you get back on the bus and continue on. The whole process took maybe 20-30 minutes but this could vary depending on how many people are on the bus, and how busy the customs checkpoint is (they also have cars going through customs so it depends on how bad traffic is). They usually don't ask you too much - they look at your passport, and they will ask what you are carrying into Canada (to see if you're carrying food, animals, or anything illegal), and they'll probably ask how long you're planning on staying in Canada, and what the purpose of your visit is (vacation or work). That's generally it - it's usually an easy border crossing. The Canadian customs officials are generally nicer than the US ones.