I'm really hoping someone from the Pacific Northwest can answer this... (especially anyone from the Seattle area).
sorry for the long story, I'll try and make it short.
So, as some of you already knew, I'm originally from Southern California... the past 2.5 years, I've been pretty much living here in Vancouver BC taking care of some family business. Technically, I do NOT have permanent residency here. The law says... that I'm NOT allow to stay past 6 months. So, since I started taking care of this family business, this is what I've been doing...I'd staying for 5 months, then return to California for 1 month, at which point, I'd come back again to Vancouver. I've been coming home in the months of June and December. BUT... this December I didn't because I had things I had to take care of. The initial plan was for me to come home early in January and still keep the "visit" under 6 months. But at this point, it doesn't look like I'll be able to leave Vancouver next month either.
I don't want to (technically) stay pass 6 months because I'm worried that it might get me into trouble, so I thought of an idea... I figured, I can "hop the border" and go into Washington State for a day or so, and then return. Initially, I thought about just driving into Seattle or whatever... but I thought about it, my car here (an 06' Ford Fusion) has a BC plate and registered to a BC address. I'm still driving with a California's driver's license. I think this might look kinda fishy to the Canadian customs on the way back into British Columbia. So, I came up with another idea... I'm thinking of just taking the bus down to Seattle... from my understanding, at the border, they have everyone get off the bus and go through some kind of customs/immigration checkpoint... At which point you'd go through the same procedure as if you were traveling by plane at the airport.
So, here's my question... when I come back into Canada WITH my U.S. passport (by bus), will they stamp my passport like they do at the airport? I WANT them to so that there's a new date on there.
I'm hoping someone that has gone back and forth from Washington State and British Columbia can chime in....
thanks in advance.