the purpose of Schengen was to promote free travel among all members, there have been many times – and there will be more – when individual members have reinstated their own border controls for what they considered to be emergency situations. On to the ETA (Electronic Travel Authorization) for travel to the U.K. (England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland). It’s now mandatory for Canadians, Australians, Americans and many others to pre-register online for travel to the U.K. For Canadians, a passport has always been enough. But no longer. The ETA is a pre-travel application process reachable at www.gov.uk/eta/apply. It’s entirely online and paperless. Applications can usually be completed in about 20 minutes and responses generally take three days to process. At our latest check, each application cost the equivalent of £16 and was valid for two years, or until the holder’s passport expires – whichever is sooner. Once granted, ETAs are digitally linked to a traveller’s passport and allow for stays of up to six months at a time – including both short trips and more extended stays. But the ETA is not a visa, it is a digital permission to travel. Looking southbound to Canada’s biggest travel destination – the U.S., it looks a helluvalot simpler. True enough, there were justified concerns – and a lot of questionable decisions and information – about travel barriers and embargoes that caused serious travel deficits in the U.S. and, to a lesser degree, in Canada. But with the dust hopefully settling, cross-border travel should not be seriously impaired in the long run. Much of the initial concern about Canadians being “trapped” by political imperatives was fully justified, but it wasn’t unavoidable. There was some reason to fear a situation in which long-term visitors such as snowbirds would require a new layer of permits (specifically the I-94), and even relatively short-term visitors were limited to 30 or 50 days. And about that, there was also a lot of misunderstanding about what the rules were. The I-94 is nothing new. It’s primarily a record of an individual’s crossing into and out of the U.S. It’s also a record of how long an individual has been a visitor, or seasonal resident. Many Canadians have I-94s and don’t know it. If they flew into the U.S. by air, they were automatically issued an electronic 1-94 and that’s all that they felt they needed. But there is more to it. Here it is straight from U.S. Customs: A Form I-94 is needed by all visitors except: U.S. citizens, returning resident aliens, aliens with immigrant visas and Canadian citizens visiting for less than 30 days or who are in transit. Travellers will be issued an I-94 during the admission process at the port of entry. If you are travelling via a land border or by ferry from selected ports, you may apply for a provisional I-94 in advance here, saving time while at the port of entry later. If you are a crew member in need of an I-94, one will be issued at the time of arrival. If you cross the border by car, you should always ask for an 1-94 for each traveller, but that’s often impractical because of heavy traffic. Form I-94s are not automatically generated for car travellers as they are for flyers, so continue on your trip (as you described it to the U.S. customs agent who OK’d your entry) and, when you reach your U.S. destination, go to i94.cbp. dhs.gov/home, the official U.S. Customs website to verify whether an I-94 has been issued. If it has, print a copy and keep it with your passport for the duration of your visit. If it has not been issued, go to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) website and follow the steps to apply for a G325R, print off a copy of the application receipt and keep it with your passport for the duration of your visit. The short answer: If you want to have your I-94 in hand before you enter the United States, connect with the U.S. website and file for your electronic I-94 while in the comfort of your home within seven days before you leave Canada (if travelling by car). The fee is now US$30.00 per person. If travelling by commercial air, it will be done for you. And hold on to your passport: its still Golden – even in Europe that hasn’t changed. Milan is a dual Canadian/ American citizen who has been writing about international travel affairs for many years. He welcomes your comments at mkorcok@aol.com. News reports that U.S. border authorities will be phasing in a facial recognition program for non-U.S. citizens entering or exiting the U.S. as of December 26 need not be upsetting. The program, which will be implemented sporadically and is expected to take three to four years to complete, is not invasive (unless you feel that it is). It’s meant to verify that you are who your passport says you are. The technology to photograph you without your getting out of the car, or at the airport, is part of the three- to four-year phase-in period. Truth is, during that period, there will be few countries not implementing similar screenings in some way. Get used to it. It’s part of the price of travel. 26 | www.snowbirds.org Travel
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