eapis heads-up

[Greg Arehart]

Just a heads-up for anyone going through the border. I filed an eapis form last Saturday to come through Moses Lake, WA and then got stuck in Smithers BC because of weather. I called customs several times over the next 24 hours and they were generally very accommodating. I changed my port of entry to Oroville, WA because Moses Lake is not open Sundays. Turned out that wasn't necessary since I didn't get out until yesterday noon, but that's the weather story.... When I did get out yesterday and called customs in Oroville, the lady could find NO RECORD of my eapis filing.

"Do they get purged if not used?"
"No, they are in there forever."
"Well, I talked to three other agents yesterday and they all were able to find the filing."
"I have looked back over several weeks, and it's not in the system. You'll have to file this before I can access it."

Note that I had given her my name, tail number, birthdate, etc. but she could not find the filing in the system. (and at this point, I'm wondering how the heck I'm going to find a computer in Williams Lake airport and get anything filed in time to get across the border). To her credit she put me on hold (15 minutes of long-distance from Canada) and finally figured out the problem. "Oh, you didn't tell me that you originally filed into Moses Lake!" No, but the other three folks were able to figure that out and I (duh!) assumed that this kind of thing would be somehow linked to my name or tail number. I guess not.

Moral of the story is that if you have to amend your eapis filing to a different airport, when you call to cross the border make sure that the person knows what your original filing airport was. Maybe knowing this will help someone down the road. Also, for the record, the listing of US customs airport hours is not strictly correct. Apparently at Oroville at least, one can cross the border at any time since they just send someone down from the highway station up the road. Worth checking on this at other airports if you anticipate an off-hours arrival.

cheers,
greg

[flyboy1963]

thanks for that Greg,
hope your trip was enjoyable......too bad about the weather.....and our apologies (if that helps!!!!)
it's been a stinker this year for weather, not sure whether to chalk it up to a tsunami, volcano, or the feds!
..when I was a kid, pretty much the interior of BC was CAVU from the time school let out in June until we returned in Sept...( of course my memory may be a little selective!)