how many months may a U.S. Citizen stay in Canada each year?

Hi Don,

Welcome to Expat.com.

A brief introduction of yourself would be the most welcome for the other members to know you better.

Please note that as your post was a bit off topic, i created a new topic with it on the Calgary forum for more visibility.

Thank you,

Priscilla
Expat.com team

Hello Don,

Technically, a US citizen can stay in Canada for up to 183 days in a year. That said, it is really up to the Canada Border Services Agency officer that you deal with at your point of entry and the information and answers you provide at that time. You may get as little as 30 days to visit or the full 183.

Obviously the more you have to show that your intention is to return to the USA following your stay, have sufficient funds to support yourself and any dependents during the entire stay, the purpose of the stay, etc., the better your chances are of getting the maximum visit.

For example, if you own a home in the USA, have steady employment there or are retired and have a pension, if you have medical insurance, have substantial family and financial ties to the USA if you were to purchase or lease a summer cottage in Canada you'd probably get the full stay without any problems at all.

The following CBSA link should be helpful:

http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications … ng.html#s3

Where the real problem is, many Americans for some strange reason think that they can simply come to Canada to stay for prolonged periods or permanently without any immigration process at all. They soon find out the hard way that they're wrong.

Cheers,
William James Woodward - Brazil & Canada Expert, Expat-blog Team

We used to be able to come and go without even a passport.  Times change.

Yeah, those were the good old days... I remember when there wasn't a surveillance camera to be found at any border crossing. After 9/11 they installed 6 cameras for each lane at the crossing point. Once upon a time you used to get asked "what is your citizenship" if you responded either Canadian or American the next phrase you heard was, "have a nice visit". Not anymore! Now it's a game of 20 questions.

The Northwest Angle crossing into Manitoba used to just have a little booth where you signed a ledger whenever you came or went.  No one worked there and there was no way anyone would ever know if you didn't bother to sign in.

Well you can stay until your Visa stamp runs out, so that's 6 months, right?  Quite a few Americans are doing that now. They come to Victoria for the summer to avoid the infernal heat from places like Vegas. Enjoy it while you can.