A Saskatoon man has been banned from crossing the Canada-U.S. border for five years after authorities told him he didn’t have the correct paperwork.
Kyle Kuchirka was heading to Bellingham, Wash., in late August to volunteer at the Sh’Bang art festival.
He travelled through Alberta and B.C. and was going to enter the U.S. at the Sumas crossing in Abbotsford.
However, border guards denied him entry and temporarily banned him from stepping foot on U.S. soil.
“I started laughing,” Kuchirka told Global News. “I couldn’t believe it. I was like, ‘For what?’”
He’s been speaking with a lawyer and is unsure whether he will contest the decision, which would cost him several thousand dollars.
“I want to go back to New York City and I want to explore art and culture there. It’s so rich and vibrant,” he said.
Kuchirka said as the guard was filling out the paperwork, he told him if Kuchirka could prove he was volunteering with a non-profit organization, he would be allowed through.
The Saskatoon man couldn’t prove the group he was volunteering with was a non-profit and he was turned around at the 49th parallel.
Several Canadian immigration lawyers note that there is a grey area surrounding visas and volunteer work on this side of the border.
Davida Bentham said if you’re entering Canada to volunteer and another individual doing the same work is a Canadian resident earning a paycheque, a visa is needed.
However, if all people completing the same work are all volunteers, a visa might not be required.
Global News reached out U.S. Customs and Border Protection for comment, but haven’t heard back from the agency by Tuesday evening.
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