Entering the U.S. from Canada: Documents, Border, and Customs

Canadian citizens entering the US from Canada can visit for up to six months without a visa, but every traveler still has to show approved identity documents and satisfy a US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer that they qualify for admission.¹ What counts as an approved document depends on whether you’re flying or driving, and a handful of rules — around registration, cannabis, criminal history, and customs declarations — trip travelers up more often than the paperwork does.

What Documents You Need

The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative requires every traveler entering the United States to present a document that proves both identity and citizenship.² The list of what qualifies is different for air travel than for land or sea.

Flying into the US, Canadian citizens need either a valid passport or a NEXUS card. NEXUS cards are accepted at designated air, land, and marine ports of entry in both countries.³ Nothing else substitutes for a passport on a flight.

Crossing by land or sea, you have more options. CBP accepts a valid passport, an Enhanced Driver’s License from a participating province, or a trusted traveler card such as NEXUS, SENTRI, or FAST.² Enhanced Driver’s Licenses contain embedded technology that confirms citizenship and are designed for land and sea crossings. A standard provincial driver’s license does not qualify.

Children under 16 crossing by land or sea can present a birth certificate — original, photocopy, or certified copy — instead of a passport. Children under 19 traveling with a school, religious, or youth group qualify for the same exception.²

If you’re not a Canadian citizen, a Canadian passport won’t help you. Foreign nationals must present a valid passport from their country of citizenship plus a valid US visa, unless they qualify for the Visa Waiver Program. Canadian citizens are specifically exempted from the visa requirement for most nonimmigrant categories, which is why a passport alone works for them.⁴

How Long You Can Stay

Canadian citizens entering for tourism or business are typically admitted as B-2 (pleasure) or B-1 (business) visitors and can generally stay up to six months.¹ The officer at the border decides the length based on the purpose of your trip. Six months is a ceiling, not a default.

At air ports of entry, travelers receive an electronic Form I-94 that shows the date you were admitted and the date you must leave. At land ports, an I-94 is not always issued unless you ask for one. That gap causes real problems: without an I-94, there’s no paper record of your authorized departure date.

You can check your electronic I-94 record at i94.cbp.dhs.gov to verify your admission class and authorized stay.⁵ If you’re crossing by land and expect to stay longer than a short visit, request an I-94 at entry. It creates a clean record of your authorized period.

Overstaying is a status violation. It can bar you from future entry, and a CBP officer who sees a pattern of long stays may shorten future admissions or deny entry entirely. Leave when the purpose of your trip is complete, even if the I-94 gives you longer.

The 30-Day Registration Rule

This is the rule that catches the most Canadians off guard. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, non-citizens who remain in the United States for 30 days or more in a single visit must register with US Citizenship and Immigration Services.⁶ It especially hits Canadians who crossed by land without receiving an I-94, because they’re the least likely to know the requirement exists.

USCIS runs a free web-based registration process. You have to register before the 30th day of your visit. If you’re already past that mark, register immediately. Willfully failing to register becomes a criminal violation beginning on day 31 after entry.⁶

Once you’re registered, anyone 18 or older has to carry evidence of registration at all times inside the US, and any change of address has to be reported to USCIS within 10 days. Canadian citizens are exempt from the fingerprinting requirement that applies to most other foreign nationals.⁶

What Happens at the Border

p>Crossing starts with primary inspection. A CBP officer reviews your documents, asks about the purpose and length of your visit, and decides quickly whether you’re admissible. Most travelers clear primary in a few minutes.

If the officer needs more information, you’ll be sent to secondary inspection. That’s not automatically a problem; it just means the initial questions didn’t resolve everything. Secondary can include detailed questioning about your finances, travel history, employment, and luggage.

CBP also has authority to search electronic devices. Policy separates a basic search, where an officer manually reviews what’s on the device, from an advanced search, where equipment is connected to copy or analyze the contents. An advanced search requires reasonable suspicion of a legal violation and must be approved by a senior CBP manager first.⁷ Device searches aren’t routine, but the authority to conduct one is broad.

Many Canadian air travelers finish their US inspection before boarding. CBP operates preclearance facilities at nine Canadian airports, and the inspection there is identical to what you’d face at a US port.⁸ Once you clear preclearance, your flight arrives in the US as a domestic arrival with no further immigration processing.

Criminal Records and DUIs

A criminal record can get you turned away. Under federal law, a person convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude is generally inadmissible. So is anyone convicted of a controlled substance violation. Two or more convictions of any kind, with combined sentences of five years or more, also trigger inadmissibility regardless of moral turpitude.⁹

There’s a narrow exception. A single crime involving moral turpitude may be forgiven if the maximum possible penalty was no more than one year in jail and the actual sentence was no more than six months. This “petty offense” exception helps some travelers with minor, isolated convictions.⁹

What about a DUI? A single DUI conviction, by itself, is not grounds for CBP to deny you entry. Multiple DUI convictions, or a DUI combined with other misdemeanors, can make a person inadmissible and require a waiver before crossing.¹⁰

If you’re inadmissible, you can apply for a Form I-192 waiver. The filing fee is $1,100 and processing can take 12 months or longer.¹¹ Lying to a CBP officer about a criminal history is treated as fraud and misrepresentation, which is its own ground of inadmissibility and can produce a permanent ban. Honesty at the border, even when the conversation is uncomfortable, is the safer path.

Cannabis

Cannabis is legal in Canada and in many US states, but it remains illegal under US federal law. CBP enforces federal law. Bringing any amount across the border, including edibles, oils, and medical marijuana, is a federal offense regardless of its legal status on either side.¹²

The exposure goes past what’s in your bag. Admitting to a CBP officer that you’ve used cannabis, even legally in Canada, can trigger inadmissibility. Under federal immigration law, anyone determined to be a drug abuser or who admits to acts that violate controlled substance laws is inadmissible.¹² Once that finding is made, a record follows you and future entries get much harder.

For Canadians who work in the legal cannabis industry, CBP has said a worker traveling to the US for reasons unrelated to that industry is generally admissible. If the purpose of the trip is related to the cannabis business, the traveler may be found inadmissible as a controlled substance trafficker.¹²

The Canadian side has teeth too. The Canada Border Services Agency can penalize travelers caught with cannabis at the border. Penalties for failing to declare it or providing inaccurate information can reach $2,000 CAD, and a penalty can cancel your NEXUS or other trusted traveler membership.¹³

Customs: Money, Gifts, and Prohibited Items

Every traveler has to declare goods and currency to CBP, even when nothing is owed. Skipping the declaration is worse than filling one out.

You can carry any amount of currency across the border legally, but if the total exceeds $10,000 you must file a FinCEN Form 105.¹⁴ The threshold combines US and foreign currency, traveler’s checks, and other monetary instruments carried by you or anyone traveling with you as a group. Failing to report can result in seizure of the entire amount, civil penalties, and criminal fines up to $500,000.¹⁵

Duty-free exemptions work differently depending on which side of the border you call home. Returning US residents are entitled to a personal exemption on goods bought abroad, typically $800 from Canada.¹⁶ Nonresident visitors can bring personal effects like clothing and toiletries duty-free, and those staying at least 72 hours can bring up to $100 worth of gift items without duty or tax.¹⁷ Alcohol and tobacco don’t count toward the gift exemption. Gifts sent by mail to people in the US are duty-free up to $100 per recipient per day, and a single package containing gifts for multiple people is fully dutiable if any one item exceeds that limit.¹⁸

Some items are prohibited outright: illegal narcotics, merchandise that infringes intellectual property rights, and certain firearms. Agricultural products such as fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, and soil are restricted to keep out foreign pests and plant diseases. When in doubt, declare. CBP officers treat an honest declaration far more forgivingly than an undeclared item found during inspection.

Prescription Medications

Bringing prescriptions across the border is more complicated than most travelers expect. Under FDA rules, importing unapproved drugs is technically illegal, though enforcement depends on who’s carrying what.¹⁹

Foreign nationals visiting the US may bring up to a 90-day supply of medication for personal use. For longer stays, additional medication can be mailed. The FDA recommends keeping medication in its original labeled packaging and carrying a copy of the prescription, in English if possible, along with documentation showing personal use.¹⁹

Controlled substances — opioids, benzodiazepines, stimulants, and similar drugs — fall under the Drug Enforcement Administration. DEA and FDA coordinate on whether a specific controlled substance can enter the country. If you take a controlled medication, carry the prescription documentation and keep the drug in its original pharmacy container.¹⁹

Medical marijuana is not FDA-regulated and cannot be brought into the US under any circumstances. CBP treats it the same as recreational cannabis at the border.

Bringing a Dog

As of 2026, every dog entering the United States requires a completed CDC Dog Import Form, regardless of origin. Canada is classified as a low-risk country for dog rabies, which simplifies things. For dogs that have only been in low-risk countries during the six months before entry, the CDC Dog Import Form receipt is the only documentation needed.²⁰

The form is completed online. After you submit it and confirm your email, you get a receipt you can print or display on your phone. Airlines check the receipt before boarding, and CBP checks it on arrival. As of February 2026, each receipt is valid for six months and covers multiple entries from the same country during that window. A new form and receipt are required for each additional dog, for future entries from a different country, or once the six-month window expires.²⁰

If You’re Not a Canadian Citizen

One boundary worth flagging. If you live in the US on a visa such as F, J, O, or H-1B and you’re taking a short trip to Canada, a separate rule called automatic visa revalidation may let you re-enter the US on an expired visa stamp. It has its own conditions around trip length, prior status, country of nationality, and how you originally entered the US, and it doesn’t apply to visitors coming from Canada as tourists. If that’s your situation, look up the specific rules for automatic revalidation before you travel — the document requirements above are not the full picture for you.

1
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Visiting the U.S. – Documents Required for Canadian Citizens / Residents / Landed Immigrant
2
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative
3
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. NEXUS Cards
4
eCFR. 8 CFR 212.1 – Documentary Requirements for Nonimmigrants
5
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. I-94 Official Website
6
U.S. Embassy & Consulates in Canada. Alien Registration Requirement
7
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Border Search of Electronic Devices at Ports of Entry
8
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Preclearance
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1182 – Inadmissible Aliens
10
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Entering Canada and the United States with DUI Offenses
11
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Fee Schedule
12
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. CBP Statement on Canadas Legalization of Marijuana and Crossing the Border
13
Canada Border Services Agency. Travellers – Penalties for Cannabis-Related Offences
14
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 31 USC 5316 – Reports on Exporting and Importing Monetary Instruments
15
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. FinCEN Form 105 – Report of International Transportation of Currency or Monetary Instruments
16
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Duty-Free Exemption
17
eCFR. 19 CFR Part 148 – Personal Declarations and Exemptions
18
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Gifts
19
Food and Drug Administration. Personal Importation
20
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC Dog Import Form and Instructions