Compliments of Wayne from SMAK! Edmonton Punkers
Don't try to sneak across because you will be stopped and turned away. If they see a van full of music gear they know you are going to play and will ask for Visas. IF you do get across, you're lucky and if you get caught, you could lose your gear.

So first get your visas. This will cost you but you can claim in on your taxes. First you'll have to join the local musicians union which should cost about $130/person. There's a way to keep this cost cheaper and I'll tell you at the end of this.

Then you'll have to have contracts of where you are playing and how much. That's a little touch on the DIY way but it's nice to get contracts for shows you're playing and get them early. You dont have to ask for much, just get a contract saying you're booked to play. There's also another way to make this easier but again at the end.

The musician's union will then fill in a visa application for you and your band which will cost $110 US for the entire group. They'll also charge you a service charge of about $30 or so. Get all the receipts for tax purposes. It takes about 30 days for your visa to come. You'll get a copy in the mail but the actual visa will be at your crossing point so you'll need to know that before you go. The union rep can help you determine the actual name of the border crossing.

When yo get to the border, be nice like in the avioding run in with the police thing. You might get searched, but probably not. You'll be sent to immigration so have all your papers and passports ready. Get a passport because it's so much easier! Another $60 but good for five years. The INS officer will find you visa, check you out and then charge you $6 US for each person as a service charge. He'll give you your visa so you can keep it on tour and then send yo on your way. If you do everything right, it'll onlytake about 15-20 minutes to cross.

One way of keeping cost down is to get union memberships for two members of the band and say you're crossing to do some recording. Get one of your contacts in the US to send you a pseudo request and pretend they have a recording studio that you are recording in. You'll need an address and name but it won't be a big problem. This keeps your costs down and you won't need all those pesky contracts, But you should get some anyway. When you cross the border and the INS officer asks why there only two in the band tell you're recording and you need to bring all your gear. Tell him that you both play guitar and one of you also drums. The rest of the band can cross either by bus or get a friend to drive them across like normal tourists. When we did this in December, the guys in the van with all the paperwork got through faster than the band guys acting like tourists.