When I got back home I found some fine print in Canada Customs site mentioning no professional nor technical work is to be performed without a work permit.

For telling the truth, I was stuck in customs for 2 hours at 1AM, My US-based client doesn’t have footage of a conference and I’m out a lot of money. I gave my Canada Customs reject form to the US Customs guy, told him what happened, and he felt bad for me.

From what I now understand, Canadians have similar issues working in the U.S.

Is NAFTA just for stuff, not people? Working a week in another country (especially between US and Canada) shouldn’t be a big deal.

How is it for teachers / musicians / artists wanting to do a little something cross-border? Are you straight with customs?

Why is it that Americans think that adding “eh” to anything that has to do with Canada is funny? 99% of the time they don’t even use it correctly and end up revealing their embarrassing ignorance.

[James' Reply: That's funny. Until you commented, I was unaware that the sentence could be interpreted as a reference to Canadian speaking patterns. But perhaps it is. In Vermont and New York, where I went to school a few miles from the Canadian border, our speech was much influenced by Canadians. Perhaps it's why I speak the way I do. In any case, I do say "eh" sometimes when I'm trying to be gently persuasive, so don't take too much offense.]