I mean, say, you want a really nice camera, or a drone, or maybe a gaming laptop, and since those things are made in China, they are too expensive to buy right now in the US, since tariffs are over 100%. So you just go to Canada, buy the thing, unpack it from the packaging, and pretend like its just personal items. Just like a smartphone.
AFIAK, border agents usually don’t ask if you bought your phone in the US or from outside, they shouldn’t ask about other personal electronics, right?
“What are you in for?”
“Smuggling dark soy sauce.”
I used to work with a guy from Syria who had US/Canadian citizenship. He said every time he crossed the border he budgeted in 3 extra hours while he was detained.
OP discovers smuggling.
“Pssst pssst, I’ve got Shaoxing wine, Three Crabs brand fish sauce…”
Once you’ve unlocked smuggling, you can start researching the next nodes in the tech tree: drug trafficking, human trafficking, international weapons trade etc. I’m pretty sure OP is heading for the Lord of War achievement.
Unless you can fly the Kessel run in twelve parsecs, you should probably leave the smuggling to career criminals.
This work between certain states. For instance, you can drive into Oregon and shop with no sales tax then return to California or Washington with your goods.
Liquor is also much cheaper in some states than others—you can really stock up if you are already driving through a state.
Fireworks are legal in New Hampshire but not Massachusetts. The MA police will stake out NH firework shops near the border before July 4 and pull over MA cars they see loading up once they cross back into the state…
I did that once, when the Nexus phones weren’t available in Switzerland but they were in Germany. I ordered it to a location close to the border that specifically offers a postal address as a service and went to pick it up.
The correct thing to do would have been to go to the border agents, get a confirmation that I’m bringing the merchandise out of the country and pay the Swiss VAT. With the confirmation I could theoretically get the VAT back from the seller I paid it to. Except that was Google and they weren’t intending to sell it for export, so I doubt they would have helped with that.
What I did was unpack the phone, throw away the packaging, put my old phone in one jeans pocket and my new one in the other, and drive back over the boarder. Having two phones isn’t that weird, so I thought I could get away with claiming them as personal items if I was asked. But I wasn’t even stopped (they only do sampling at the crossing) so it was easy. But it was technically smuggling. Anything over 300 CHF needs to be declared and VAT paid, the phone was around 400 €.
My mom once went clothes shopping to Austria and didn’t declare them. The border guard asked what she bought. She claimed clothes, but not over the limit. He was like no way, I know that brand, they must be worth more, checked the stuff, and discovered it was worth too much. She had to pay VAT plus a pretty decent fine.
I only crossed the US Canadian border once in each direction, but to me it seemed like they were way more strict and thorough than here in Europe within Schengen. So I’d be scared I think. But overall I still think your plan could work if you’re careful with it. Maybe gaming laptop would be suspicious if you went for a one day trip, would be better if it was longer. But a phone not really.
It’s been years since I’ve crossed the Canada/USA border, so things may be different today. But when I went, the Canada side was more concerned about smuggled weapons, while the USA side was more concerned about smuggled drugs. Still, it doesn’t take much to trigger a border patrol search.
Apparently if you go from New Brunswick in the morning, spend the day driving through Maine/New Hampshire/Vermont, and cross into Quebec the next day, that’s suspicious enough to get detained for several hours and to have your entire car searched at the border. To me it just made sense to do a straight line drive through those states, since staying inside Canada between those two points would have been a much longer, more convoluted route. Silly me, being logical about my route without considering how others break international law.
People in border towns are always on alert for people walking remote roads, hitchhikers, etc. The border strip itself is cleared and monitored with remote cameras, drones, patrols on horseback and ATVs, etc.
My wife and I were bored and it was raining in northern NH so we decided to explore the far north end of NH. Then we decided “Since we are this close to the border lets go to Canada.” We told the border officer that we were going for the day for lunch and he paused for a sec then waved us through. lol We ended up eating in a Greek restaurant and found out they still smoked in restaurants in Quebec.
Borders are patrolled by CBP (customs and border protection). Part of CBPs job is to charge you tarrifs on the stuff you’re bringing into the country.
Sometimes I’ve had to pay import tarrifs many times when crossing back and forth (for the same thing over-and-over). Its best not to cross the border with expensive stuff.
Sometimes I’ve had to pay import tarrifs many times when crossing back and forth (for the same thing over-and-over). Its best not to cross the border with expensive stuff.
Bruh, that’s is so scummy.
No because once outside of the US people realise the country is shit and they don’t want to come back anymore, so this will not work sadly enough.
Well you see, the problem is, you can just say “I want to leave” and go wherever you want. You need visas.
A work visa is only temporary and you get kicked out as soon as you get fired.
So only immigration visas are viable for long term emmigration. Those are very hard to get.
If you go without permission, you will get deported back to the US.
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Yes. But only one or two things at a time. It’s illegal but like you said if you just say you had it when you entered Canada you’ll probably get away with it.
If you come over with 100 laptops in your trunk you will almost certainly be forced to pay import duties on them.
Basically if you’re trying to save some money personally yes it’s possible. Under a certain dollar amount you can usually even do it legally as long as you don’t intend to sell it. But if you’re planning on making a business out of doing this and selling it in the US cheap then you’re gonna get caught
The border patrol doesn’t really care as long as the amounts are small. A lot of times, border patrol will even provide the limits.
If you are going to go over and you get inspected, you’re going to need a good reason for what you’ve got. For instance, going for a day trip but coming back with a week’s worth of clothes are going to be a red flag. Border patrol is also going to look at condition of the items if they are at the point they are inspecting the items.
Come visit the EU. People drive to other countries to get cheap gas and cigarettes all the time. Hell, when I lived near the border, 95% of my groceries were German.
Yea, I read about Schengen and I love the concept.
Unfortunately the rest of the world has not been enlightened and still have border control.
I hope one day, there will be a world-wide Schengen area.
I live near ze French border in BW and half the customers in the supermarket are French or Swiss.
Believe it or not, straight to jail.
Only for a few weeks before a judge tells them to release you. And so they send you to a black site in another country with no trial.
Don’t mind me officer, I am just carrying my personal TV and washing machine with me
Don’t mind me, I’m just carrying my um…
glances at my stuff
Personal Portable Gaming Desktop PC, 4K 144hz Monitor, Mechanical Keyboard, Gaming mouse, etc…
👀
whispers to border agent Btw, I’m a real gamer 😉
That’s easy. Your friends had a LAN party 🤓
If they also consume it over the border, sure.
If they bring it back, they are importing it and that’s when you have to pay the tariff. If you’re thinking “just keep it in your trunk how will anyone know?” just consider how long smuggling has been a thing and ask yourself if you think border guards have thought of this. They have.
Well for some items it’s definitely easy. Laptop for example just say it’s your laptop. No box or receipt you brought it with you. But it has to be like 1. And it’s still illegal.
So, I live right on the Canadian border. Right there.
If I went over to Canada, somebody gave me a bunch of product for free, then I took that product and gave it to someone else for free, would that be legal? No money was exchanged.
Let’s say the product was plushies. A large amount of them. What’s the legality of that?
That’s a federal crime. If it’s for your personal or household use and under $200 you’re fine(unless you’re coming from China).
Doesn’t seem like a good time to fuck with border control.
Not saying I’d do it. Just proposing a hypothetical to get answers.
How is it a federal crime, though? No money was exchanged.
Because they care about the value of the item, not what you paid for it.
Because they’re not stupid, and stupid people have been trying to find easy loop holes forever.
Because they care about the value of the item, not what you paid for it.
Ahh, that makes sense! Thank you!
Do you have to declare your car if you drive across the border?
No because you brought it over with you. You only declare things you bring back that you didn’t have when you left.
You can do whatever you like, I’m just explaining the rules. Whether you get caught or not is up to how reckless you’re being.
Because it’s the law, that is why it’s a crime.
