Crossing into Minnesota A Kenyan passport needs a US visa before you drive south.

1. A Kenyan passport needs a US visa

Grand Marais and Duluth are farther south on Highway 61. Some trips continue to a flight at Duluth or Minneapolis–St. Paul. The document rule is the same whether the plan is shopping, a weekend, or a flight.

The State Department says permanent residents of Canada must have a nonimmigrant visa. None of these replaces it:

• A PR card does not replace it.
• A Canadian study permit does not replace it.
• A Canadian work permit does not replace it.

For shopping, a weekend or tourism, the visa to apply for is a visitor (B) visa. People often travel on a B-1/B-2 stamp. Apply and receive it before you go.

A visa lets you drive to a US port and ask to enter. The State Department says it does not guarantee entry. The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer can refuse admission.

A US airport connection has its own rule, already in our flying guide: Kenya is not in the Visa Waiver Program, so changing planes in the United States also needs a US visa.

Sources: US Department of State, "Citizens of Canada and Bermuda"; Visa Waiver Program; Visitor visa; DS-160 frequently asked questions

2. The I-94 at Pigeon River / Grand Portage

Form I-94 is the US arrival and departure record. USAGov says everyone entering the United States needs one except:

• American citizens;
• returning resident aliens;
• non-citizens with immigrant visas;
• most Canadian citizens who are visiting or in transit.

A Kenyan passport is not in that exception. "Returning resident alien" on that page means a returning US permanent resident, not a Canadian one.

At a land border you can apply:

• at the booth, or
• up to 7 days before you arrive. Use the official site, i94.cbp.dhs.gov.

CBP's I-94 page, updated July 22, 2026, also names the CBP Link app. USAGov's page, updated April 14, 2026, still describes the same step in the CBP One app. Use the official website, or the app named on CBP's current I-94 page.

The land-border fee is US$30. USAGov says it rose from $6 to $30 on September 30, 2025.

• A Federal Register notice for the fiscal year that started October 1, 2026 says the total is still $30: a $6 land-border charge plus a $24 statutory charge.
• CBP does not charge that application fee when you arrive by air or sea, because the officer creates the I-94 there. The land border is the trip that costs $30.

An application you pay for online is a provisional I-94. The I-94 site says pre-paying does not guarantee admission. CBP says you finish the process at a land port within 7 days of applying:

• biometrics, if they apply, and
• an interview with an officer.

If you miss that window, or you are refused entry, CBP says the provisional record expires, you apply again, and the fee is not refunded. The dollar figure in that older CBP announcement is not today's fee. Use $30.

Carry these in the car, not in a bag you cannot reach:

• Your passport, with the valid US visa in it.
• The I-94 application, or the receipt, if you applied ahead.
• Evidence of residence, work or study, and of your travel plans, if the officer asks. CBP tells travellers to be ready to show those. CBP's page does not list specific documents. Carrying a lease, a letter from your school or employer, and the Canadian document you will use to come home is our suggestion, not a CBP list.

CBP's Grand Portage port page gives the address as 9403 E Highway 61, Grand Portage, MN 55605. A US Department of Homeland Security list of land-port hours, dated January 2024, shows Grand Portage open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Check that port page, and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) office directory for the Canadian booth at Pigeon River, before you leave Thunder Bay. One side being open does not open the other.

Sources: USAGov, Form I-94, updated April 14, 2026; CBP I-94 website; CBP, "Arrival/Departure Forms: I-94"; CBP Link; Federal Register, I-94 fee for fiscal year 2027; CBP, online I-94 at land ports; CBP, Grand Portage port; DHS, land port hours (PDF); CBSA, check port hours in the office directory

3. Coming back into Canada at Pigeon River

The Canadian officer decides whether you re-enter. Bring your passport. Temporary residents: a study or work permit does not replace it. Permanent residents: see below.

Permanent residents. Bring your valid PR card.

• IRCC says that in a private vehicle (a car, truck, motorcycle or RV you own, borrow or rent) you may use your PR card or other documents.
• On a plane, bus, train or boat you need a valid PR card and a valid passport, or a permanent resident travel document.
• A flight back to Canada from Duluth or Minneapolis is commercial travel, so the card has to be in your hand before you board. IRCC cannot mail a PR card outside Canada.
• A Record of Landing and a Confirmation of Permanent Residence are not valid travel documents.

Students. IRCC says you may be able to re-enter as a student with:

• a valid study permit, or approval of a study permit or an extension;
• plus a valid passport;
• attendance at a designated learning institution;
• and the visitor visa or electronic travel authorization your citizenship requires. Kenyan citizens need a visitor visa.

You show the officer that you meet the requirements. The officer decides.

Workers. IRCC says a work permit is not a travel document and does not authorize you to re-enter Canada. You still need the visitor visa or electronic travel authorization your citizenship requires. A visa does not guarantee re-entry.

The same limit is in the regulation:

• the visit has to have been solely to the United States or St. Pierre and Miquelon;
• you held a study permit or work permit issued before you left (or you were already allowed to stay as a temporary resident);
• and you return by the end of that stay.

A valid multiple-entry visitor visa lets you ask to come back while it is unexpired, without relying on that exception. You still need a valid permit or status, and the officer still decides.

A flight from Duluth or Minneapolis to Kenya, or to any country other than the United States, is not a visit solely to the United States. After that trip the expired-visa exception no longer applies: to come back into Canada, you need a valid visitor visa.

If you are waiting on an extension or renewal:

• Study permit. If you applied to extend your study permit before it expired, and the extension is not approved yet, IRCC says you may still be allowed to enter if you meet the other requirements, but you cannot study until it is approved.
• Work permit. If you applied to renew a work permit and it is still in process, IRCC says you may be allowed back as a visitor, and you cannot work until the renewal is approved.
• Already expired. If your permit has already expired and you are waiting on that decision, get advice before you go.

Read those two IRCC pages before you leave.

Sources: IRCC, travelling outside Canada as a permanent resident; IRCC, Guide 5445 (PR card); IRCC, students travelling outside Canada; IRCC, workers travelling outside Canada; IRCC, entry requirements by country; IRCC help centre, "I have a visitor visa. Can I leave Canada and come back?"; Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, section 190(3)(f)

4. The car, and what you bring back

Minnesota law lets a nonresident who is at least 15 years old drive there with a valid driver's licence issued in their home state or country, if the licence is with them.

• If you live in Ontario and hold an Ontario licence, bring it.
• We could not confirm how Minnesota treats a Kenyan licence held by someone who lives in Ontario.
• How long a Kenyan licence works in Ontario is a separate rule, in our driving guide.

Papers for the car:

• The ownership. Ontario's Highway Traffic Act says the driver must carry the vehicle permit, or a true copy, and hand it over if a police officer asks. That permit is the ownership.
• Insurance. Ontario's Compulsory Automobile Insurance Act says the vehicle must be insured, and the driver must keep an insurance card in the vehicle and hand it over if an officer asks. Ask your insurer, before you go, whether that policy covers a drive in Minnesota.
• A rental. A rental company's agreement decides whether that car may enter the United States. Read it before you leave the lot.

On the way back, CBSA's personal exemptions apply to a Canadian resident, a former resident returning to live here, or a temporary resident, coming back from a trip outside Canada.

• A child has their own exemption.
• You cannot add yours to someone else's, and you cannot transfer it.
• Goods have to be for your own personal or household use. Something you are carrying for another person, or for commercial use, does not qualify.

After 48 hours or more, CBSA allows one of these amounts of alcohol, duty- and tax-free, if you are of legal age in the province where you enter:

• up to 1.5 litres of wine, or
• up to 1.14 litres of liquor, or
• up to 8.5 litres of beer or ale (about 24 cans of 355 ml).

Tobacco that counts as duty-free in the exemption has to be stamped "duty paid Canada / droit acquitté", which is how duty-free shops mark it. CBSA says residents can still owe a special excise duty on tobacco that does not carry that stamp, even when it sits inside the exemption.

The stamped amounts, after 48 hours, are 200 cigarettes, 200 grams of manufactured tobacco and 200 tobacco sticks (all stamped), plus 50 cigars.

Keep every store receipt. CBSA tells you to know the value in Canadian dollars and to have the receipts ready for the officer. Declare what you bought.

Sources: Minnesota Statutes, section 171.03(e); Ontario Highway Traffic Act, section 7(5); Ontario Compulsory Automobile Insurance Act, sections 2 and 3; CBSA, personal exemptions for residents; CBSA, alcohol and tobacco limits; CBSA, port signage (exemptions and tobacco duty); CBSA, receipts and firewood

5. Cannabis, food and firewood

Cannabis stays on the side where you bought it. Health Canada says it is illegal to take cannabis, or any product that contains it, including CBD, across the Canadian border in either direction.

• That is true even where the place you are going has legalized it, and a medical authorization does not replace a Health Canada permit.
• If you have any with you when you enter Canada, you must declare it. Not declaring it is a criminal offence.
• CBSA says US federal law still prohibits cannabis even in states that allow it, so do not cross into Minnesota with any amount, in any form.
• CBP says US federal law supersedes state law, and crossing with marijuana can mean a refused admission, seizure, fines and arrest.

Food and firewood. Declare food, plants and animal products.

• From the United States, CFIA allows retail-packaged poultry for human consumption, and retail eggs, when they are clearly labelled "Product of the USA". Raw table eggs in that retail pack are on the allowed list.
• Restaurant leftovers, homemade food, farm eggs and backyard-flock poultry are not.
• Firewood from outside Canada is not allowed. CBSA says it can carry insects and disease, and tells you to buy it and burn it locally.

For anything you are unsure of, check CFIA's Automated Import Reference System before you buy it.

Sources: CBSA, receipts and firewood; CBSA, cannabis at the border; CBSA, cannabis penalties (2021); CBP, marijuana and the border; CFIA, poultry and eggs from the United States; CFIA, Automated Import Reference System

6. Pets (dogs and cats)

A day trip still counts. If you bring a dog into the United States, even for a quick drive to Grand Marais or Duluth, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) requires a CDC Dog Import Form for that dog.

You complete it online. Show the receipt, printed or on your phone, at the border. CDC Dog Import Form instructions and cdc.gov/importation/dogs.

These rules have been in effect since August 1, 2024. A dog that has been only in Canada, a low-risk country, for the last 6 months can cross if you complete the CDC Dog Import Form and show the receipt, printed or on your phone. It must:

• be at least 6 months old,
• look healthy, and
• have a microchip that a universal scanner can detect.

A dog in that situation may enter at a land border, including Grand Portage. The same receipt covers repeat trips from Canada for 6 months, unless the dog visits a high-risk country.

CFIA says the dog has to spend 6 months in Canada first, or enter the United States from that high-risk country. Stricter CDC rules apply beyond the form.

Coming back into Canada:

• A dog 3 months or older needs a valid rabies vaccination certificate in English or French.
• A cat 3 months or older needs a veterinarian's certificate that it is currently vaccinated against rabies. The cat's certificate has to be in English or French.
• A dog or cat under 3 months is not under that rule.

Check the animal in CFIA's pet import tool before you go, and carry the certificate for the officer at Pigeon River.

Sources: CDC, Dog Import Form instructions; CDC, bringing a dog into the U.S.; CDC, dogs from rabies-free or low-risk countries; CDC, high-risk countries for dog rabies; CFIA, dogs travelling to the United States; CFIA, bringing animals to Canada; CFIA, import reference document (dogs and cats)

This page is general information, not legal, tax or insurance advice. The officer at each booth decides. Visa rules, the I-94 fee, port hours and exemption amounts change, so confirm the linked page before you drive down or pay anything.

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