In a message dated 4/9/02 12:31:59 PM, seabird@olypen.com writes: << From: "M. Kenneth McQuage" > | I phoned the Customs House in Baltimore to request a | I 68 decal --- no problem - come right down - no problem - When I | arrived - no one had ever heard of such a thing - 3 1/2 hrs later after | much telephoning to every where one could think of - including ports of | entry along the Canadian Boarder - I paid my 25 bucks and obtained a | decal --- what a hassle !! I think you are confusing the Customs Decal with the Form I-68. The Customs decal costs the $25. I don't know if the Immigration Form I-68 costs anything. I don't even know anyone who has one except a friend who lives in Canada.>> I tried to explain this thing but obviously failed miserably. Must be writing in Klingonese again? But I'll try one more time: There are two nations of people boating on North American waters: Those that live south of the US/Canada border and those that live north of that border. Those that live south are called Americans and those that live north are called Canadians. Now on this list (TWL) are many people from either nationality. Many like to travel across-border to visit their neighbouring country. Since there are two governments involved, there are two sets of bureaucracies to accomplish "easy" entry into their neighbouring country. It would have been way too much to expect for Canada and the US to work out one common set of procedures. That would put too many civil servants on both sides out of work. <grin> So, what we have is an "easy" procedure for American sailors to visit Canada and return home, and that is centered on the CanPass and the magical decal for $25 per year per boat. For Canadians none of this applies. Canadians use form I-68, which is issued by US immigration and is a wallet size card, costing $16 per year per person. I-68 is an American form for Canadians and can be viewed and downloaded from the US government website. It too is intended to provide "easy" access to neighbouring ports. There are other means of visiting each other's countries, usually requiring to enter at regular or specially dedicated ports of entry (both sides). But that will only confuse the issue even more, so I won't talk about it, not in Americanese, not in Canadois and definitely not in Klingonese. <smile> George of Scaramouche, looking at the border crossing situation from a Canadian perspective and somewhat restricted because of his local knowledge which mostly applies to the Great Lakes basin.