I5 crossing to Canada
 

We are staying in Anacortes 19th to 22nd July and planning a day trip to Vancouver, BC. What are the Immigration / Customs times like? We will be travelling on a mix of UK and US passports.

Thanks for any information.

It totally depends on day of the week and time of day. If you go early on a weekday and come back late, you should have shorter waits. It's rarely longer than 30 minutes going into Canada, but can often be an hour or longer coming back. Consider alternative crossings such as the truck crossing coming back and the Lynden/Aldergrove crossing.

Here are the websites that give wait times into Canada and back into the US at the various crossings. You can get a sense of what the wait's going to be by checking them on the day of the week and time of day you're planning to cross in the weeks before your trip.

http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/general/times/menu-e.html

http://apps.cbp.gov/bwt/index.asp

NWWanderer - thanks for that info - especially the web sites. After looking further on them we have decided not to bother due to the issues that appear to surround taking a child (niece) who is not your own through both sets of immigration. Now have to find more to do around Anacortes so will create a new thread.

When taking a child who is not yours, best to have a copy of his/her birth certificate and a notarized letter from her parent or guardian that you have permission to do that..We found this out the hard way.

Try to avoid the truck crossing-- it is typically much slower. They are currently doing construction at the main crossing and it is a bottleneck.