Travelling to Canada and the US

jasonb

Hi there,

My family and I are hoping to visit Canada next year, and also hope to hire a car while there and drive to the US for a few days before driving back to Canada and flying home.

I've read about getting the eTA for Canada, but what will we need to get for the US, will we need to get an ESTA for that portion of the trip? What's the border crossing like between Vancouver and Seattle? Finally, any issues with hiring a car in Canada and driving it across the border and back?

Thanks!

circular flexing

You don’t need ESTA when crossing US land borders, however it does save time as without ESTA you have to complete the declaration card.

Should be no problem driving a rental car to US and back.

jasonb

Great, thanks a lot for your reply.

salmocab

Might not be a whole lot of use but I got the ferry from Seattle to Vancouver island and I’m pretty sure they go to Vancouver too. It’s a nice way to travel between them if the car rental doesn’t work out.

jasonb

Cool, thanks!

circular flexing

salmocab wrote: »

Might not be a whole lot of use but I got the ferry from Seattle to Vancouver island and I’m pretty sure they go to Vancouver too. It’s a nice way to travel between them if the car rental doesn’t work out.

Ferry only goes from Sydney, BC to Seattle, there's no direct Vancouver to Seattle ferry.

salmocab

circular flexing wrote: »

Ferry only goes from Sydney, BC to Seattle, there's no direct Vancouver to Seattle ferry.

That's a shame although anyone going that way I'd recommend getting to Vancouver island it's really nice

cudsy1

Bump 2024

Anyone have updated info on crossing the border between Vancouver and seattle as a short term tourist on an irish passport?

And also with rented car

Or alternatively

Going by boat as mentioned above?

Thanks very much

jasonb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121979067#Comment_121979067

Hi there…

We did it two years ago, flying in to Vancouver. We needed to get the eTA for Canada, and the ESTA for the US. Bringing a rental car with us from Canada to the US and back was fine. We drove from Vancouver to Seattle, at the US border there were long queues for all the booths, and when we finally got to one, we had to park up and go in, fill out some forms and pay a fee (it was something like $20 each or something, I can't fully remember). With the queues on the road, and then having to get out and get the forms done, it took us about 1.5 hours to cross the border.

On the way back to Canada, the queues on the road were a lot shorter, and the guy in the booth just looked at our passports and waved us through, so it took maybe 5 or 10 mins max and we didn't have to leave the car.

circular flexing

One thing that has changed is you now need ESTA to cross a land border (only came in to effect in October 2022).

I believe you can avoid having to go in by applying for an I-94 before you reach the border - https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov/I94/#/apply-document