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Ottawa appears ready to establish its first Canada Border Service Agency (CBSA) preclearance site on U.S. soil in 2025.
Preclearance will allow travelers to Canada, a border crossing between Quebec and New York, to clear customs while in the United States.
U. S. border agents have maintained a similar presence in Canada since 1952 under agreements and lately operate preclearance sites at eight major Canadian airports and one maritime site in British Columbia.
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Similar to those interactions with U. S. Customs and Border Security officials, Canadian border security officials in the new preclearance domain will screen travelers and goods (inspecting harmful and illicit parts as they would in any staffed port of access) to determine if they can exit the US and enter Canada.
With the exception of asylum applications, the CBSA said it will process the maximum number of immigration documents through the preclearance site.
“Today’s announcement demonstrates our shared commitment to the United States to border security and streamlining valid travel and industrial flows between our two countries,” Public Safety Minister David McGinity said in a press release.
In March 2015, the two countries signed a new treaty regulating prior authorization in land, rail, sea and air transport. Canada’s obligations under this agreement came into effect when the Prior Authorization Act was passed in 2017.
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Both were ratified and entered into force in August 2019.
Like the US sites in Canada, the goal of heading south is to “facilitate the release of people and valid goods, including animals and plants,” across the border.
“It also complements the safety and security of Canadians and the Canadian economy by pushing back the border to prevent other inadmissible persons and goods from entering Canada. Inadmissible travelers or goods may be intercepted before entering Canada,” according to a presentation from December in the Canada Gazette.
Ottawa also believes preclearance may be a better way to spend cash at the border rather than making an investment in the “80 small and remote ports of entry” along the nearly 9,000 kilometers of border, “many of which are in various states”. in poor condition. “
As part of this two-year initiative, CBSA officers will be stationed alongside their U. S. counterparts at the existing Cannon Corners border crossing, just outside the small town of Mooers in upstate New York.
The crossing was established in 1925, but it was not until 1974 that the United States established an official border crossing. It was rebuilt in 2012.
Approximately two hundred meters on the Canadian side, the former open-air Covey Hill Station in the town of Havelock, Quebec, will remain closed for the duration of the project.
The crossing is an hour’s drive from Montreal, a two-hour and 20-minute drive from Ottawa, and a six-hour drive from Toronto.
The new site will cost Ottawa $7.4 million, money allocated in the 2021 federal budget.
Jag Johnston, director general of the CBSA’s Directorate of Traveler Programs and Policies, told the Montreal Gazette that the Covey Hill-Cannon Corners site was selected because it would give them the opportunity to refine the formula before a broader rollout.
A pilot project at a larger, busier crossing risks adding to wait times and traffic volume.
She noted about 80 per cent of the people using the crossing are Canadians, many of whom are local area residents.
Eight of Canada’s 14 airports host US Customs and Border Security officials: Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto (Pearson), Vancouver and Winnipeg.
Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, while not classified as a foreign facility through Nav Canada but still one of the country’s busiest departure airports for American flights, is expected to have its own preclearance in the U. S.
The airport previously predicted a late 2025 opening.
Meanwhile, in Prince Rupert, along the northern coast of British Columbia, the Alaska Marine Highway System ferry terminal will be Canada’s first maritime preclearance location in the U. S. in 2022.
The United States also has preclearance sites at airports in Aruba, the Bahamas, Bermuda, Ireland, and the United Arab Emirates.
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