Do I need a US visa to spend a winter in Canada?

Hi, Im a NZer heading to Canada for a season, from November til whenever the snow runs out.

I have heard rumours that i need a US visa as a well as Canadian one as im staying in Canada for so long. Is this correct? Obviously i would like to avoid having to pay for a visa i would never use.

This sounds ridiculous to me but i have heard it from a couple of different sources. Any clarification would be most appreciated!

Thanks

Just to let you know - Canada is one country and US is another. It is like me needing a visa for New Zealand if I was going to live in Australia for the winter.

Hehehehehe.

If you are going through the US on the way to/from Canada, you may need a US B1 tourist visa. This is because you will probably have to go through US immigration if the plane stops at a US airport, even if you are only stopping for a few hours and aren't leaving the airport. You can use the visa waiver, if you qualify, but it is only good for three months, so if you are staying longer than that, you have a problem. The time you spend in Canada counts towards the 90 days of the visa waiver.

You get around this by getting the B1 visa or by avoiding transiting through the US, in which case you won't need the visa.

Aero has it right. The US is being pretty strict on this right now so I strongly suggest you get the visa. You can get more information on www.amcits.com

You can certainly access the Visa Waiver Program, which gives you access to the states for up to 3 months (available at the border or airport). Dont forget to hand your visa in as you leave, because they will assume youre still in the states and this can be an issue for subsequent visits. If you choose a land crossing into the states, it will cost you 5 bucks. The time spent in Canada only counts towards the Visa Waiver IF you have gone through a US border before coming into Canada (fairly standard if doing a trans pacific flight). So if, as above, you arrive in Canada via the USA, then the visa period is ticking because even though you`re only transiting, you still need the bloody thing (this makes me mad). I hope this isnt too confusing for you, but to cut to the chase, you dont need to organise a US visa before hand if youre intention is to transit the States to reach Canada, as you are eligible for the VWP. The ONLY issue you may have, is if the lovely border staff ask to see evidence of onward travel ie a ticket out of Canada to verify youre not going to stay in the States as an illegal alien. Having a ticket to Canada satisfies this for stop overs and transiting, but for visits post Canada arrival it can be a pain in the butt.

troll

Thanks very much andybox, secretcover, and aero. Big help as we were a bit worried homeland security getting medevil on us for our ignorance.

To cathyandgordon, of course Canada and the US are different countries but thanks for pointing that out for anyone out there who doesnt possess your obviously amazing geographical knowledge. People ask questions for a reason.

Thanks

Hi i'll be doing something similar soon and made a similar post recently:

LInk

To long and short of it is if you are transiting the US (in my case honolulu) on the way to any country bordering the US (canada, mexico, the caribbean countries) you are not eligible for the VWP if you are staying in those countries for more than 90 days and you will need to apply for a visa, which i left to late of course...

So i've basicly changed my return airfare so that if US immigration in honolulu question me i will have an airfare that exits canada in less the the 90 day VWP period.

Hope you trip goes well,

Drew.

You might already know this, sorry if you do!

But Air New Zealand have started up a new flight direct from Auckland to Vancouver - no stopover!!! We are on the first flight, which starts on 2nd November and it runs a few days a week I think. A little later than we wanted to head over to find jobs and stuff, but worth it not to stop in America and get into that whole visa waiver stuff.
Means you don't need to actually start wasting your 30 day US visa and you can save it!