US to Canada Border Crossings

Authored by Glcc Office
 May 23, 2022

Great Lakes Cruising Club

Boaters crossing the Canada/US borders

during the summer 2022 season.

 

The GLCC is happy to report that effective May 20th 2022, it appears Canada has reopened most of its CBSA small vessel reporting sites on the Great Lakes.  Please refer to the two links below for the process and additional links internal to the web pages for a list of open locations:

May 2nd Reporting Requirements for Private Boats entering Canadian waters :  Reporting requirements for private boaters (cbsa-asfc.gc.ca)

May 19th New Release – CBSA resumes services at most small marine vessel reporting sites :  COVID-19: The CBSA resumes services at most small marine vessel reporting sites - Canada.ca

The process for re-entry into US waters after being in Canadian waters is provided at this link:

Pleasure Boats – Procedures for entering the United States (Eff 4/11/2022):  Pleasure Boats - Procedures for entering the United States (cbp.gov)

The Great Lakes Cruising Club is providing this information as a benefit to its members, but know, each individual boater must do their own research on this subject and know the risks and rewards of attempting a border crossing by private boat.   The GLCC is not a government agency and as such is not responsible for your due diligence about crossing international borders.  The GLCC also recommends continuing to research as your trip dates gets closer to look for additional updates from both the Canada and US border agencies.

US/Canadian Reporting

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Recently (Late May 22) went from Kelleys Island to Pelee and back to South Bass.  No issues with ArriveCAN or CPBRoam.   Only difficulty I had was finding the telephone reporting number for Canada on arrival as it doesn't appear to be anywhere in the ArriveCAN app.   Once I had the number clearance was routine.   On returning to the US Customs just cleared us through the app (no in person or 'FaceTime' type chat).

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Here is an update on ArriveCAN for Lake Michigan cruisers. Although many ports are open now,  I was unable to find a Port of Entry in the North  Channel on the required dropdown list—not even the Canadian Soo was  listed. Since a completed ArriveCAN is required to enter Canada nowadays I called a number of CBSA departments.  The first 4 people I spoke to said they had no idea what was wrong.  

The 5th suggested I call the Telephone Reporting Center number (888-226-7277, the same number that boaters have used to report their arrival in Canada in past years).  The officer who answered said that they were aware that the dropdown list needed to be updated, and suggested I use a nearby Port of Entry that was on the list.  The closest I could find was Toronto but she finally found Ben’s Bait an Tackle on the St. Mary’s R.  She told me to explain the problem to the agent we called when we arrived at Thessalon, the TRC port we have chosen.  We now have the required confirmation #.

 

Hopefully this problem will be fixed soon!

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Here is an update on ArriveCAN for Lake Michigan cruisers.  I was unable to find a Port of Entry in the North  Channel; the Canadian Soo was not even listed in the available dropdown list. Since a completed ArriveCAN is required to enter Canada now I called a number of CBSA departments.  The first 4 people I spoke to said they had no idea what was wrong.  

The 5th suggested I call the Telephone Reporting Center number (888-226-7277, the same number that boaters have used to report their arrival in Canada in past years).  The officer who answered said that they were aware that the dropdown list needed to be updated, and suggested I use a nearby Port of Entry that was on the list.  The closest I could find was Toronto but she finally found Ben’s Bait an Tackle on the St. Mary’s R.  She told me to explain the problem to the agent we called when we arrived at Thessalon, the TRC port we have chosen.  Hopefully this problem will be fixed soon!

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We hope to enter Canada in 2 days and I can't figure out how to do all the ArriveCan entries, particularly the Port of Entry.  Can anyone talk me through it?

Ginger Stevenson, s/v Alchemy