Canada-bound fishermen and recreational boaters on Lake Erie, the Detroit River and Lake St. Clair must be sure to fulfill reporting responsibilities to both U.S. and Canadian authorities.
The subject arises because of confusion and misinformation circulating about when and how to report, especially in this post 9-11 era.
Crossing into Canada by boat and stopping at a port is no different from driving across the Ambassador Bridge into Canada at Detroit. You have entered a foreign country, however friendly and familiar, and must establish your citizenship. Same for returning to the United States.
Boaters need to be concerned with three agencies - the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service and the U.S. Customs Service on the American side, and the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency on the Ontario side.
Canada reporting rules - If you are just fishing or boating in Canadian waters, there is no need to report to Canadian authorities. If fishing, of course, you must have a current Ontario license.
However, when you drop anchor or touch shore (dock, marina, port), you have “arrived” in Canada and must contact the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency. You can do so by phone. But you must use a land-line, not a cell phone. The toll-free reporting number is 1-888-226-7277.
Each person aboard must provide a declaration, including full name, date of birth, citizenship, and length of stay in Canada.
All travelers aboard also must declare any personal goods they are importing, including firearms and weapons. If duties and taxes are payable, the Customs officer will obtain a VISA or MasterCard number and a mailing address.
The Customs agent will advise whether you are free to leave the dock area and enter Canada, or must wait for an inspector. At the conclusion of the process, you will receive a report number as proof of reporting.
If you trailer a boat into Canada, you already have gone through Customs. However, if you launch from Ontario waters and cross over into Ohio or Michigan to fish, then return to Ontario, you must check back with Canada Customs on the toll-free land-line.
Canada Customs also maintains an office on Pelee Island if boat operators want to appear in person during business hours.
U.S. reporting rules - Both federal agencies with jurisdiction over legal entry into the United States must be notified on return from Canadian soil. The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service oversees people, and the U.S. Customs Service oversees “things.”
Note: Neither agency requires you to report if you simply have been motoring or sailing or fishing in Canadian waters without touching shore, making port, or dropping anchor. Frank Pangas, INS port director in Cleveland, likened such trips to flying over international air space without landing.
But Pangas stresses that once you touch foreign soil, including Canada, you legally are presumed to be an alien on return to the United States. Which in turn means you have to prove citizenship to the INS.
There are three ways to do so:
Three OARS videotelephone stations are located along western Lake Erie: At the dockmaster's office at Put-in-Bay on South Bass Island; at Cedar Point Marina at Cedar Point, and at Brand's Dry Dock Marina on the Portage River in downtown Port Clinton.
You must report by videotelephone every time you return from Canada unless you have a current Form I-68. Additional OARS videotelephones are located strategically in both the Cleveland and Detroit districts of the INS. The Cleveland INS office can be reached at 216-522-2265 for other locations.
With an I-68 in hand, you are not required to report each time you return from Canada. The form makes sense especially for boaters and anglers who travel to Ontario ports multiple times a season.
The I-68 form no longer is renewable by mail. Boaters must apply in person at an INS office. The Toledo office is in the Ohio Building, 420 Madison Ave. at Superior Street, Suite 530. The telephone number is 419-259-6474.
The Sandusky INS office is at 158 East Market St, Room 206. The telephone is 419-625-2194. In either case it is a good idea to call ahead to verify an inspector will be available.
Be sure to have a birth certificate and photographic identification, such as a driver's license, or a passport. You also will need three passport-style photographs.
An INS agent will inspect the citizenship papers and make a right index fingerprint, which will be attached with a photograph to the I-68. An I-68 costs $16 for an individual, or $32 for a family. Keep it with you on the water.
Everyone age 14 and older will be issued a separate I-68. Children under 14 will not need an I-68 and are not required to appear before the INS. But their birth certificates must be presented to verify parent-child relationship.
Other information on the I-68 program is available at the following Web site address: www.ins.usdoj.gov. Or call the INS national customer service center at 1-800-375-5283.
The latter, of course, is problematic if your return does not coincide with office hours or would involve inconvenient travel. Pangas said that if individuals are found to have failed to report as required, they may be forced to attend proceedings to prove their citizenship.
The U.S.Customs Service also requires boaters and anglers to report on returning from Canada. A toll-free telephone call will suffice, but it is separate from and in addition to the INS requirements detailed above.
Private boaters in the Port of Toledo-Sandusky area can meet the Customs reporting obligation by calling toll-free, 1-888-523-BOAT. Michigan-side boaters should call Customs in Detroit, 313-226-3810.
Craig Vette, port director for Toledo-Sandusky, said that any party actually visiting Canada - that is, stopping at Pelee Island or one of the north shore ports, for example - without question must report to Customs, by phone, on return. You also must report if in contact with another boat in Canadian waters.
Operators of vessels 30 feet and longer going to Canada also must purchase an annual U.S. Customs user-fee decal for $25. Operators may prepay the annual fee by sending in a completed Customs Form 339, annual user-fee decal request, to: U.S. Customs Service, Decal Program Administrator, P.O. Box 382030, Pittsburgh 15250-8030.
The decal also can be obtained via credit card at the Customs Web site: www.customs.gov, clicking on “traveler information” links. The decals also can be obtained at Customs offices in Toledo, 420 Madison, Suite 500 (419-259-6424), or in Sandusky at Griffing-Sandusky Airport (419-625-0022).
Failure to properly report a visit to Canada could incur stiff civil penalties from U.S. Customs, including a fine of up to $5,000 for a first violation, and $10,000 for each additional violation. A boat also could be seized in the process.
First Published June 9, 2002, 10:33 a.m.
