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?