Border crossing info

As this will be the first time crossing from British Columbia to the US with our rv, was wondering if anyone can offer any tips to make the crossing smooth & uneventful (we have our passports). Used the search function and came up with nothing.

If you are going thru Sumas border x-ing just south of Abbotsford make sure you get in the right hand lane as there is a barricade just past border gaurd booth in the left lanes. A long rig like yours would have trouble so stay in right lane which takes you straight thru and by-passes barricade. No firewood that has any bark on it .Small pieces of dimensional lumber seem ok.
No meat products of any kind ie Lasagne ,meat stew,Also fresh fruit ie citrus oranges can be a problem.
If you have a pet with you make sure the pet food has no meat products in it. If possible bring pet food in its original container to prove there are no meat products in it.We find it best to buy all our groceries after we cross into Washington State
Also they will ask you are you bringing any firearms with you.Also asked one time if we were carrying any passengers in the 5 th wheel
Make sure that you have a destination that you can say you are going to.
Note: even though you may answer all the questions right they may still ask you to pull in and they will check your trailer out inside. Hope this helps
Best regards
Bill

Here's a useful link,

https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/82

However rules change, and it's best to minimize what food you take into the US. It's best to stock up after you cross.

Other things - shut off your engine while at the crossing. Be prepared to tell the CBP agent what you have in the trailer, and don't hide anything. Be prepared to be searched.They may ask you how much US currency you are carrying. We've had smooth crossings for the most part, but sometimes it takes a while if they decide to do a search. Just be patient, they are just doing their job.

Having crossed at least 4 times on our trip through Alaska and back I can say that meat was never an issue. Nor was any dog food. In fact, the only time the dog's papers were checked was going into Alaska the second time. Usually they handed them back after saying what is this? Firearms, firewood, fireworks seemed to be the biggies. Sometimes fresh fruit. The only time the rig was looked into was when we came back in thru North Dakota, the customs guy walked in, opened the fridge, walked out. Could not see much anyway with slides in, would not use Sumas anyway as we had heard that was a tough one. Nan

We have come through Sumas once. it was no big deal. NO issues with the dogs or their food either direction, just had to show rabies paper going into Alberta. Had no issues with lunch meats, breakfast sausage or chicken burgers. we didn't have any fruit.

thanks for all the great advise, yes we have a dog and will be getting his papers from the vet tomorrow, guess the next is to make sure all personal insurance needs are in place. thanks again.

We have crossed twice since the end of July:
MEAT: only asked about lamb or goat meat
FRUIT & VEGGIES: took some tomatoes from us first time, second time we didn't have any
$$$$$$: asked how much we had on us ($10,000 is the maximum allowable)
BOOZE: how much was asked
PROPERTY: on second crossing was asked if we owned property back home.

Take off your hat, take off sunglasses & shut off the engine of your TV.

CS

We crossed over at BC, in a truck camper, and was told to pull up in front of a building the officer pointed out. Sat there for 10 minutes and no one showed up. Saw cars going down another lane. Decided we were suppose to follow them. Next thing we were driving down the road to our destination. Figured we were going to get pulled over. Never happened. Going home we went another route. Got to the border and no one was in the booth. Some one came out and acted annoyed because we stopped and waved us on. So much for border security.