Canada · CBSA · United States to Canada
Canada border wait times, read against the CBSA’s own targets.
The CBSA’s page lists estimated waits for 30 land crossings as a long table. This page reads the same open-data file live and tells you whether each reading is inside the agency’s service target for your travel day.
Short answer: The CBSA file read on October 26, 2026 had 30 crossings: 23 showed no delay for travellers, 6 showed a delay, and the longest traveller wait was 15 minutes at Sault Ste. Marie. The CBSA aims for 10 minutes Monday to Thursday and 20 minutes Friday to Sunday from September to June; this page checks any crossing against that target.
Check a crossing
Result
Loading the live CBSA feed. Pick a crossing and press Show the wait.
What the CBSA file contains
The Canada Border Services Agency publishes current border wait times as an open-data CSV and as a web page titled United States to Canada. The file has one row per crossing with its location, a last-updated stamp in the crossing’s own time zone, and four columns: commercial flow and travellers flow, each for Canada-bound and U.S.-bound traffic. Only the Canada-bound columns are filled in. The U.S.-bound columns hold two dashes in every row I read, which matches the agency’s page title: it measures the wait to enter Canada, not to leave it.
The CBSA page adds two cautions worth repeating. Estimated wait times can vary with major events, holiday visitors and enforcement actions such as drug or firearm seizures. And the figures do not include delays on the roads leading to a port of entry, which is why the agency separately links to bridge and tunnel traffic pages for Ambassador, Gordie Howe, Peace, the Niagara bridges and the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel. The page also carries a notice that the Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle crossing is under redevelopment, with delays expected until winter 2027.
Open the official CBSA wait times page ↗ Open the CSV feed ↗
Worked example: the file on October 26, 2026
The file I read at about 7:11 p.m. Eastern on Monday, October 26, 2026 listed 30 crossings. Of those, 23 showed no delay for travellers, 1 traveller lane was reported closed (St. Stephen, last stamped October 16) and 6 showed a wait. The longest traveller wait was 15 minutes at the Sault Ste. Marie (Sault Ste. Marie, ON/Sault Ste. Marie, MI), stamped 2026-10-26 18:41 EDT. The Peace Bridge showed 16 minutes for commercial traffic and 2 minutes for travellers, stamped 2026-10-26 19:00 EDT.
Set against the targets, that Monday falls in the September to June weekday band, where the traveller target is 10 minutes. The 15 minutes reading at Sault Ste. Marie was above it, while the Peace Bridge traveller reading of 2 minutes was inside it. The 16-minute commercial reading at the Peace Bridge sits well inside the 45-minute commercial target. One reading above a target is not a failure by itself, because the CBSA aims to meet its standard 95% of the time, not every minute. These figures are a snapshot: the live lookup above shows the current file.
The CBSA’s own targets
The CBSA’s service standards for fiscal 2026 to 2027 aim for travellers to reach the primary inspection booth within 10 minutes on weekdays from Monday to Thursday and 20 minutes from Friday to Sunday and on holidays between September and June, and within 20 minutes every day in July and August; the aim for commercial highway lanes is 45 minutes every day. The target is to meet each standard 95% of the time for travellers and 90% for commercial traffic, under normal conditions. The standards page says the CBSA aims to meet them under normal day-to-day conditions and that factors such as a border security concern or an unforeseen and unusual border pressure may affect that. The lookup picks the traveller target from your travel date: July and August give 20 minutes, Friday to Sunday and a holiday you tick give 20 minutes, and other days give 10. The agency does not list the holidays that count, so the checkbox is yours to set.
All crossings, longest traveller wait first
The table below loads from the live feed when JavaScript is on. It is sorted by traveller wait, so a crossing with a delay rises to the top.
Loading the live CBSA feed.
Method
Your browser asks our server for the CBSA CSV. The server fetches the file from the CBSA, converts each row to a small data record, and caches the answer for five minutes. It receives no input from you, and nothing you pick leaves your browser. Wait text of the form “16 minutes” is read as minutes, “No delay” as zero, and “Closed” or “Not applicable” as no figure. The comparison with the target uses the date and holiday box you set and the thresholds above. The CBSA’s stamp for each row is shown as published.
What this does not cover
- Waits to enter the United States. The CBSA file does not report them, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection publishes its own wait times separately.
- Traffic on the roads leading to the crossing, the border officer’s decision about your own inspection, or how long your vehicle will actually wait.
- A forecast. The feed shows the CBSA’s current estimate, and this page does not predict later waits.
- Air and marine ports. The file covers land crossings only.
Sources
- CBSA, Border wait times: United States to Canada, 30 busiest land crossings (retrieved October 2026)
- CBSA, Current Border Wait Times CSV, the feed this page reads live (snapshot read October 26, 2026) (retrieved October 2026)
- CBSA, Service standards: Fiscal year 2026 to 2027 (retrieved October 2026)
- Open Government Licence - Canada (retrieved October 2026)
Common mix-ups
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Often assumedThe CBSA wait time tells me how long the line is in both directions.
What the source saysThe CBSA page is titled United States to Canada and measures wait times for travellers and commercial traffic entering Canada. Its open data file leaves the U.S.-bound columns as dashes, so it does not report the wait to enter the United States. [1]
Checked against these sources on .
Frequently asked questions
Where can I see current Canada border wait times?
The Canada Border Services Agency publishes them on its Border wait times page and as an open-data CSV. This page reads the same file live and adds a comparison with the agency’s service targets.
Do these waits cover going into the United States?
No. The CBSA’s file measures traffic entering Canada. Its U.S.-bound columns hold dashes in every row, so use U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s own wait time service for the other direction.
How often does the CBSA update the wait times?
Each row carries its own last-updated stamp. In the file I read on October 26, 2026 most stamps were from that afternoon or evening in local time, but St. Stephen’s was from October 16 and Lacolle Route 221’s from October 23, so always read the stamp for your crossing.
What is a normal wait at the Canadian border?
The CBSA aims for travellers to reach the booth within 10 minutes Monday to Thursday and 20 minutes Friday to Sunday and holidays from September to June, and within 20 minutes in July and August. For commercial lanes it aims for 45 minutes.
Why does the wait differ from what I experience?
The CBSA says estimates vary with events, holiday visitors and enforcement actions, and that its figures exclude delays on the roads leading to the port of entry. Traffic before the border is not in this data.
What does Not Applicable or Closed mean in the file?
The file uses Not Applicable where a lane type does not exist at a crossing, such as commercial traffic at the Rainbow Bridge, and Closed where a lane is shut. A dash marks a figure the CBSA does not report.
Is this data free to use?
The CBSA publishes the feed under the Open Government Licence - Canada, which allows reuse with attribution. This page republishes the wait figures with that source stated and no personal data.
Unofficial tool: not run by the CBSA
This page is not operated by the Canada Border Services Agency or the Government of Canada. It reads the CBSA’s open-data file, which may lag the agency’s own page by minutes, and compares it with published service targets. Always check the official page and any traffic advisories before you travel. General information only.