When things don’t go as planned (Part 2): The mix-up at Niagara

Sightseeing leads to a passport pickle!

I was fascinated by Tanda Falls, a modest waterfall by world standards. Photographs in foreign magazines like National Geographic kept tempting me: Victoria Falls, Iguazu, Niagara–all so enormous in height, water flow, and hopefully preserving their natural ambience. I hoped that I would get a chance to see them while on academic excursions.

A chance came when I was in Cambridge, UK, and planning to visit the United States. It was an academic visit to the University of Maryland at College Park. The year was 1967 and the World Fair in Montreal was being hyped as a tourist attraction. So Mangala and I decided to do some clever routing: Fly from London to Montreal on Day 1, Visit the World Fair on Days 2 and 3, then fly to Buffalo for the Niagra Falls, and after two days fly to Washington National. As advised by a friend in Buffalo, we contacted a well-known car rental company that had a booth at the airport. The company made a reservation for a compact car and was assured that an agent would contact me on arrival at the Buffalo Airport.

All this worked out as planned. The car rental agent gave me the key and informed me that the car was parked in the company’s airport car park. As a special courtesy, he accompanied us to the location. As I saw the car parked there, I was shocked. Although listed as a 2-door compact car, it was enormous compared to any car I had driven in England. However, I quickly got used to its size and right hand drive and traffic on the highway on the ‘wrong’ side of the road. Also, being an automatic car, it was a pleasure to drive. There being no traffic congestion, we reached our downtown hotel within half an hour.

In the evening with the car at our disposal, we made a short trip to the Niagara Falls area. There was hardly any crowd at that time of a weekday. A footbridge across the Falls provided an excellent vantage point. At each end, there was a security post:  for, by crossing the bridge one ‘migrated’ from the USA to Canada and vice versa. Two bored-looking ladies reading comics(?) supposedly watched these outposts. As we crossed, they waved. There was no checking of documents. This should have surprised us, but it did not. For our attention was wholly focused on the magnificent scene of falling water. In a peaceful setting, the loud noise of water is exhilarating. This was what we had come to see!

The spectacular Niagara Falls

The next morning, after breakfast, we again went to the Falls area, now much more alive than last night. After playing the tourist, we decided to go for a short drive on the Canadian side. Again, as we drove past the security posts we were never stopped for check. So we drove for some twenty miles when we spotted a bridge on the right pointing to the USA. Crossing it, we came across a barrier. A politely worded notice asked those wishing to enter the USA to show their passports. Going past the barrier we came to the immigration office. There was no queue as this was not a popular entry point for the USA.

The officer greeted us and had a short chat about our travel. Then he took a look at my passport first. A puzzled look came on his face as he turned pages back and forth. He said: “Sir, you have a single-entry H-1 visa, and that entry point was used up when you crossed from Canada two days back. So you cannot enter the USA again on this visa.”  He also looked at Mangala’s passport and said: “Madam has a multiple entry visa…but I cannot stamp it because that would show two entries without an exit in between.” 

So it seemed that our trip to the USA was over after this short excursion. The problems loomed before us: What about my 3-month academic visit to Maryland University? More immediately, how can I return a rented car if I cannot get across? How to deal with my hotel room with our luggage there? I outlined these problems to the Immigration Officer and awaited his response. 

He explained that certain laxity was permitted in the Falls area where it was common for people to move between the two countries. The Immigration Office there could have issued a temporary permit for multiple entries if we had approached it. As things stood, he was helpless.

There was silence and suspense as he kept turning the pages of my passport while I also debated whether to contact a friend in the Indian Embassy in Washington DC. But in the end, the officer gave me back our passports and said: “There will be problems for me too whether I stamp your passports or not. So I will assume that I have not seen them. I will press this button to lift the barrier for you to go to the USA. Only don’t get into any trouble. Good luck!

Lucky indeed!