Boaters face new INS requirements Permits to cross U.S.-Canada border to include ID, fingerprint procedures

MONTPELIER, Vt. – Boaters who travel between the United States and Canada will have a new requirement to deal with when the summer recreation season gets under way in a few weeks.

In another post-Sept. 11 border security enhancement, the Immigration and Naturalization Service is requiring boaters who want to reduce the formalities of entering the United States to apply for a permit.

The Canadian Border Boat Landing Permit allows boaters entering the United States to bypass customs and immigration stations. In the past boaters paid a $16 fee for the permits and mailed in an application.

Now, all boaters older than 14 must apply in person, present three forms of identification, and be fingerprinted. The cost remains $16, and $32 for a family.

Those who don’t get a permit can still sail into the United States. But they will be required to stop at the border and report to immigration or customs officials or use an automated televideo station available in certain locations.

Canada is also tightening the requirements for cross-border boaters. After Sept. 11, Canada suspended a similar system to the one in place in the United States last year.

The Canadian pass system is being restarted this spring with an emphasis on increased security. Boaters who have received the passes may call Canada Customs up to four hours before their arrival and obtain clearance to enter Canada.

But the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency said there would be an increased security presence on the waterways along the border.

The Richelieu River drains Lake Champlain north into the St. Lawrence River. Many Canadians sail their boats up the river into Lake Champlain, which also connects, by way of the New York state canal system, with the Hudson River and points south.

Farther east, Lake Memphremagog straddles the border, with most of the lake in Canada.

Some fear the additional requirements for a Canadian Border Boat Landing Permit could reduce the number of Canadians who visit the United States. Tourism has already been reduced over the last few years because the exchange rate of U.S. and Canadian dollars made it more expensive for Canadians to travel south.

“It’s already a conscious decision on the part of Canadians to come visit and spend money because of the exchange rate. This will be another hurdle they will have to overcome before they decide to come,” said state Sen. Vincent Illuzzi, R-Essex-Orleans, who represents Newport, the southern end of Lake Memphremagog. “I don’t know if that’s necessarily good news.”

But Wayne Gross, the director of the Burlington Department of Parks and Recreation and the city harbor master, said he didn’t expect any long-term reduction in the number of Canadian boaters tying up in Burlington, the largest city on Lake Champlain.

“It may have some immediate impact, especially in the early part of the summer. Anybody who invests as much money as the Canadian boaters do in their boats, they’ll go through whatever hoops they have to boat on Lake Champlain.”

In Newport, the city is eager to promote Canadian tourism, but those efforts have been hurt by the exchange rate.

Parts of a new state office building on the Lake Memphremagog waterfront that had been earmarked as a restaurant catering to boaters are vacant.

Illuzzi said he wasn’t criticizing the INS policy, just discussing a possible unintended consequence of the increased security.