How to get your travel history into Canada as a U.S. citizen

The United States and Canada each keep track of entries into and exits from the respective countries.

On July 7, I submitted a request for all of the records that the United States federal government and the Government of Canada have for my entries into and exits out of each respective country. In the U.S., I have the right to this data under the Freedom of Information Act. In Canada, I have the right to request this data under the Privacy Act.

As a citizen of the United States, I still have the right to request this data under the Privacy Act despite the fact that I don’t live in Canada. Here’s how I got all of my travel history from the Government of Canada.

How to request it

The ATIP portal, located at atip-aiprp.apps.gc.ca, is where you can file your request. ATIP stands for Access to Information and Privacy.

In Canada, two separate acts of law govern access to government-held information. The first is information about how the government is functioning (under the Access to Information Act), while the second pertains to information that the government maintains on data subjects, including Canadian citizens, residents, and foreign visitors (under the Privacy Act). This contrasts with the United States, where a single Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) governs requests for both kinds of information.

Despite the warnings on the website that only Canadian citizens, residents of Canada, and companies/organizations within Canada can file requests, that restriction only applies to requests filed under the Access to Information Act.

To file the request under the Privacy Act, you need to first choose that option instead of the Access to Information Act option. Next, you need to select which agency to make the request with. Choose the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). Then, you need to provide your personal details. To provide proof that you can actually request this data, you will need to provide them with your birthday and your passport number. You should also upload a picture of your passport when prompted to upload files to substantiate your request.

I used the following verbiage to make the request:

Detailed log of my entries to and exits from Canada, including my birthday, the travel document used (and its ID number), mode of transportation, date, time, and port of entry/exit, and individuals I entered/exited Canada with, as applicable.

Result

On July 31, I received this data in my email from the CBSA in a PDF for all entries and exits between January 1, 2006 (the beginning of the retention period of this data) and July 7, 2023 (when I made the request). This seems to just be a printout of a “Traveller History Report” that the CBSA maintains for me. It was compiled on July 18, 2023. The columns of data I received were:

• Passage date
• Passage time in Eastern Time
• Individual surname
• Individual given names
• Birth date
• Gender
• Citizenship country
• Border office name (i.e. the border crossing name)
• Border office province
• Document type (e.g. passport, electronic passport, enhanced driver license, etc.)
• Document number
• Document issuing country
• Passage direction (i.e. entry or exit)
• Immigration referral (i.e. was I sent to secondary or not?)
• Customs referral
• Cash referral (probably means currency controls of importing more than CAN$10,000)

The only information I was not given was the people whom I entered the country with. I suppose that makes sense, as that’s technically their private data, and the CBSA probably processes each person’s entry separately.

In the PDF, I was given some general information about why exit data might be missing. For my entries into Canada before July 11, 2019, there is no corresponding exit data for leaving Canada by land for U.S. citizens. That happens to be particularly interesting timing for me, as I had driven to Canada for a day trip on July 7, 2019 but Canada had no record of my exit. Then, on July 20, I re-entered Canada for a weekend trip. This time, my exit back into the U.S. on July 21, 2019 was indeed recorded.

These days, the U.S. sends entry data to the Canadian government for any entries that are done from Canada. This way, the Canadian government can create an exit record for me when I go through U.S. immigration controls. That allows the respective governments to avoid needing exit immigration controls, meaning we only have to pass through one set of immigration checks when crossing the border.

Insights into the data

First, the Canadian border crossings’ naming pattern seem to be wildly inconsistent.

• For Vancouver International Airport’s border crossing, the name of the border office is “VIA – Traffic”.
• However, the name for Montréal International Airport’s border crossing is “Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport – Traffic”.

At first, I thought VIA meant the preposition “via”, but it turns out that’s what they abbreviate Vancouver International Airport as. I have never heard of anyone refer to the airport as “VIA”. I would have assumed they would use the well-known IATA codes for the airports (YVR and YUL, respectively), because even the airport itself calls itself YVR. But apparently that’s not what the CBSA thinks! These names are not at all helpful for reference purposes. The only reason I could decode the VIA example is because I remember those were my trips to Vancouver International Airport.

• Then, for land crossings, the Peace Arch is known as “Douglas Passenger” but the nearby Pacific Highway crossing is known as “Pacific Highway – Traffic”.
• The next crossing along the border, Aldergrove, is only about 10-20 miles away from those two but it’s called “Aldergrove Travellers”.
• For the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit, it’s called “Ambassador Bridge Travellers”.
• For the Lewiston–Queenston Bridge and the Peace Bridge between Ontario and New York State, they are called “Queenston Bridge – Traffic” and “Fort Erie – Traffic” respectively.
• Meanwhile, the Rainbow Bridge in between them is simply called “Rainbow Bridge”.

What gives with all of this inconsistency?

Second, if one transits in Canada without leaving the airport’s secure zone, they are still counted as entering Canada. That makes sense, as we still had to go through a Canadian immigration counter each time we transited through YVR to a country that wasn’t the U.S. But at least for data between 2011 and 2014, there is no distinction made in the system for simply transiting in Canada as opposed to truly entering the country. And for my data prior to July 11, 2019, there’s no exit records, so the Canadians wouldn’t be able to tell if I only transited through Canada or entered Canada for those transits.

Third, whenever I re-enter the United States with my Global Entry card, Canada doesn’t recognize the document number and simply calls the type of the document “Unknown” while still recording down my Global Entry card’s ID number. This is because a Global Entry card cannot be used to enter Canada, but can be used by itself to enter the United States by land or sea, regardless of whether the NEXUS lane is being used or not.

Fourth, there is a distinction in the data between a passport and an electronic passport. I guess the border guard gets to choose which to use to scan your passport, and depending on whether they use the biometric chip or simply read the MRZ of the passport, that gets logged in the system differently.

Final thoughts

The Canadian government was able to deliver this information to me in 3 weeks, but the actual report was compiled 11 days after I submitted the request. While it would be nice to be able to get this information instantly, it is great to see that foreign nationals are still able to request their entry and exit data from the Government of Canada.

With this Privacy Act request, I can see what data is recorded on entry and exit. There might be further information that they keep on me, but this is at least what they are able to make public.

The data I find most important is the timing of the entries and exits. Canadian border guards are now able to instantly see when you left the country last, meaning they can tell when you overstay your visits. Furthermore, when they ask you about when you entered or exited the country, they are checking to see if you are answering truthfully, as their data can corroborate everything.

I find this super helpful, as it helps me remember when I went to Canada and it’s also good to see what kind of data a foreign government has on me.

In fact, I submitted both requests for information to Canada and the U.S. at the same time. It’s apparent from the CBSA’s faster response time that they are better equipped than the CBP to handle requests for this information. However, the fact that the U.S. can instantly provide I-94 data for nonimmigrant visitors to the U.S. on the CBP website indicates that the CBP simply does not care about providing this data instantly to U.S. citizens, nor do they make it a priority to respond to FOIA requests of this nature. Canada wins this battle, but both countries’ governments need to do better (and can easily do so if given the opportunity).

Now that I have the data from Canada, I look forward to receiving my data from the U.S. government. Once I get it, I’ll make another post about it.