Do German visitors in US need visa to go Canada
 

Please, help.
Friends form Germany are coming to visit us in US. They want to see Niagra Falls from Canadian site. Do they need visa?
Thanks

P.S. I am concern because they were told to exchange their new passports for newer version with fingerprints. So I am wondering.

You will have to check with the Department of US Homeland Security..I have read of people from outside North America having troulbe when doing this re-entering the United States (in another year also you are aware that thanks to our paranoid President, you will need a passport too simply to cross the border into Canada and back into the United States...in an era where European countries are deliminating routine border checks a la the Schengen agreement, the USA is instituting them along what it has always bragged is the longest undefended border in the world.

Such is life.

>Friends form Germany are coming to visit us in US. They want to see Niagra Falls from Canadian site. Do they need visa?

No.
Just as with USA, German visitors don't need a visa for up to 90 days. But they have to have newer passports (machine-readable ones at least, and from the summer or autumn also with encoded biometric data). I think the new German passports already incorporate this, but your friends should double-check with their Einwohnermeldeamt.

I'm confused. Do they need these newer passports with biometric data to get into Canada, the U.S. or both?

The Canadians don't care for this biometric nonsense. Again some companies made good money supplying the technology.

To get into Canada, they need the same passport they used to get in to the US in the first place. That passport will also get them back into the US because it's the same passport they used to get into the US in the first place.

Of course, the passport cannot expire.

>Do they need these newer passports with biometric data to get into Canada, the U.S. or both?

They need it to get into USA. Canadian immigration office thankfully isn't interested in recording your farting pattern or whatever these biometrical passports are supposed to be useful for.

Thanks to all.

I think the question is whether they need a visa to enter Canada. If they are German citizens, the answer is no; their passports are sufficient. I assume that they have not been convicted of a criminal offence, in which case they may not be admitted.

http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/E/pub/cp/.../rc4161-e.html

Will they need a visa to re-enter the United States? It they are travelling to the U.S. from Germany without a visa, in most cases, they can make a short visit to Canada and return to the U.S. However, check with US Customs and Border Protection to make sure.

>However, check with US Customs and Border Protection to make sure.

A friend of mine (German) was on an internship in Canada and had to go for a visit to the USA. She had to pay 8$ "border tax" but beyond that - no problems (except pointedly unfriendly staff).
Of course it was just before 9/11

Assuming they qualify for the Visa Waiver Program and they are only staying in Canada for a few days then DON'T surrender the I-94W form when you leave the US otherwise US immigration may say "Nein" when you return

>She had to pay 8$ "border tax"
I had to pay 8$ "border tax" and asked if they take canadian or a credit card... No way, cash only! I had to drive back about 150km to the next town to change 8 USD. So much for "tourist friendly" treatment. Those border guards, it seems, hate tourists.

alanRow is correct. Don't need to surrender the I-94W form when going to Canada for a short while.

Not much else mentioned in this thread is relevant. They don't need a Canadian visa, no problem coming back to the US if they don't have problem entering in the first place.

"Those border guards, it seems, hate tourists"

Claptrap.

The US charges $8 to visa waiver nationals each time they enter, just like many other insular fringe-third world countries. Like Turkey, or like Romania used to before it got civilised.

We don't see this if we enter by plane, as the airlines handle it. But at a land border, we have to fork out.

This requirement (including America's bizarre aversion to the fee's being paid in hard currency. You'd have thought it needed all the real money it could get these days) is clearly explained on the website of US Embassies in most visa waiver countries. Passport control officials have no say in its being imposed.

It was introduced, BTW, way before the Shrub's coming to power.

So would you recommend we watch from US side?

Just pay the reentrance fee, don't forget to hand them USD8 per person. Tell them, they must not complain or it may take a while before you see them again.

So would you recommend we watch from US side? :-)

The Canadian side is so much nicer...

You could tell them to fly to Toronto and just visit Canada and skip the US :-). Why don't you just meet in Canada, you'll be tolerated and they are very friendly towards Germans. This way you all could see the nicer side. :-)

lav,
we were just having fun with logo. Why haven't you flipped over
"Tell them, they must not complain or it may take a while before you see them again"?

Missed that large part?

No one insulting anyone. I would love to visit Canada and isn't there always a friendly bikkering about US-CAN? Chill, ok?

What are we arguing about now? Is the view on the Canadian side worth paying $8? Is that it?

Why even make the trip to Niagara Falls, NY, if $8 is an issue?

>if $8 is an issue?
There are two (ore more) of them, so it's at least $16 :-)

There are 3!!! Do the math...Geez!
(BTW none of them picking money off the trees).

Hm... Why don't the OP goes over to the otherside, take some pictures, come back and tell the other three what it looks like over there? And perhaps charge each of them $4! :)

Try explaining to them, they should pay $24 for nothing in return. They are German, so it will be very difficult. We're not used to "entrance fees" unless there's some big show. Maybe that's why this fee is hidden when arriving by plane.

rk,
I am mentally exersizing possibility of your suggestion. If I went and waters called me and I gave in and bent over little more then I should have...does it mean I paid for nothing? Not even pictures? Hard to decide...

logos,
did you mean it as an insult when you wrote "They are German, so it will be very difficult"? I want to make sure prior to jumping in your throat...(and I am not even German!) I am sure lav will appreciate the answer also.

Since I'm German, I'm entitled to make fun of Germans. :-) and it will all be a 100% politically correct, even make fun of Prussians, though I don't like them at all.

Prussians? You meant Russians? Funny typo:-)

Your guests are German, so you can demonstrate some knowldege about Germany: Prussians are all non Bavarian german speaking people, except Tyrolians, who are simply Tyroleans and Saxons (from Saxony) who are tolerated (maybe because of their funny language). :-) Then there are "foreign Prussians" called "a ausländischa Preiß", those are people from foreign countries that behave like Prussians :-).

Oh, boy!
Are any of those more violent then others?:-))
And who makes better brut- and knockwursts?

P.S. Do you really think they might ask me about it? Thanks for the warning.

You basically ask a German, where he/she is from, if the answer isn't Bavaria they're Prussians. Just tell them: "I was told you're a Preiß" they will understand.
Bavarian Wurst is the best. The Thuringians claim they have good Bratwurst, but don't believe them, they a just Preißn! Other words for Preißn are "Saupreiß" sometimes this comes with a "damischer or verreckter". :D. Just greet them with "Servus ihr damischen Saupreißn" when they arrive at the airport.

BackFrom: I'm happy to know that your post was without malice aforethought.

Just try to relax, noting bad happened. Driving 300km to get $8 in cash is a lasting impression of US border guards and "insane" regulations by uncle sam. Same goes for this biometric nonsense that doesn't help anybody. What you could do is write to your comgressman/woman. Tell them you don't like the way "friendly" tourists are treated. That might help.

And the Swiss keep telling me that Germans have no humour.

Or are you just feeling the Fasching season?

They just don't understand the complexity of German humor ;-).

I have to say (not without a pride of some sort) that I dig British humor so to me anything else is a piece of cake.

I just remember I'd never heard German humor! :-)) Any examples?

And yes, thanks for clarification about sausages quality.
I had lived in Noishtrelitze (sp wrong I am sure - very Northern of germany small village) and there I had tried best knockwursts ever.
Later being in Berlin I liked them.
Not as much but ok.
Later in Hamburg we bought it fresh from the butcher - nothing! Nothing like I had ever tasted before! If it wasn't for the rivers and lakes I would hate this city. But I couldn't because I loved it...maybe I've used wrong mustard?

It's always wet and rainy up there, so how could anybody like it there...
And they're talking funny and far too fast ;-). As long as you havn't been to southern Bavaria, you havn't been to the real Germany :D

And I thought Bavaria was just a suburb of Austria.

Why go?
As a Canadian we always went to the States to see the falls - much prettier view of the horseshoe falls from the American side. No?

rob,
keep talking...I like it! So we can keep $8? Yahooooooooo!!!

OK, Germans, what is Bavaria? Where should we go? Give me the cities...I bet they make beer to kill for.