Will Santa Be Stopped at the Border?

With the U.S. cracking down on border security and undocumented workers, do we need to worry about Santa being stopped at the border?

Santa has been called "a citizen of the world." He lives at the North Pole, a place that according to international law, belongs to no one country. But therein lies the problem: How do you prove citizenship if you're not native to a country? Unless Santa can produce proper identification, CBP isn't going to let jolly old Saint Nicholas into the U.S.

Canada to the rescue! Today, Jason Kenney, the minister of Canada Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, made Santa a Canadian citizen. “The Government of Canada wishes Santa the very best in his Christmas Eve duties and wants to let him know that, as a Canadian citizen, he has the automatic right to re-enter Canada once his trip around the world is complete,” Kenney said in an official statement.

Well that should make things easier for the dear old man. Santa's regular Christmas Eve route takes him directly from Canada into the United States (so says NORAD, who has been tracking Santa's flights since 1955), so he'll be able to enter the U.S. as a Canadian citizen. I'm sure the Canadian government will expedite a passport in his name in time for the 24th - a required document if he's entering the U.S. by air.

The Canadian citizenship might not have been necessary, though. While Americans generally agree that Santa lives at the North Pole, a lot of Europeans tie Santa to Finland. If Santa has the documentation to prove his residency there, he could enter the U.S. under the visa waiver program (VWP).

Santa's immigration needs haven't gone unnoticed in other parts of the world. Australia has already cleared St. Nick for passage down under. The Australian Government Department of Immigration and Citizenship has issued St. Nick a special visa "to engage in limited work, of a highly specialized and non-ongoing nature while in Australia."

Regardless of how Santa enters the U.S., he will need to declare his sack of gifts at the border. The reindeer will also have to go through agricultural inspection (hopefully their rabies vaccines are up-to-date). But what about a work visa? We haven't yet heard of a temporary worker petition coming in from Mr. Claus and his seven four-legged dependents. Does this mean we'll have to put Santa on the naughty list? Since Santa's work is voluntary, unpaid work and doesn't take away a job from someone in America (who else does this work but Santa?), he should be able to get by without a separate visa. The final decision, however, will rest with the CBP officer.

So will Kris Kringle be denied entry into the U.S. this year? Likely not. It looks like he has everything in order. And that makes this a very merry Christmas, indeed.

Photo: Al Bello/Getty Images