Flagpoling for landing procedure at Rainbow Bridge (Niagara)

[wannaKnow]

Hello,

I just received my PR Visa from Detroit. And just wondering how would I do landing procedure at Niagara's Rainbow bridge. Is it very difficult or is it very common to cross the border to the US side and get the paper for denial of entry since I don't have US visa and come back to Canadian side to complete landing procedure ? Does anyone have this experience recently or any rules have been changed ? Please share your experience. Thanks.

 

[lvladman]

That's very easy, but takes sometimes a few hours depending how busy they are the time you are going.
You just walk over the bridge, enjoy the Niagara Falls view over bridge, enter through the pedestrian entrance, let the US border officer know that you are doing it as a part of landing in Canada and they will know what to do. If you are from some specific countries that may take a bit longer (finger printing and stuff).
Go back through the bridge to Canada, have some coins to pay, and enter the glassy building in the Canada side, the officer will ask some questions, answer very simple and stupid. They are not friendly, a little bit of mistake will cause a trouble for you.
Don't forget the passport, proof of fund, study permit or work permit, and probably proof of address if you have.
Keep your landing docs always in a safe place, they are more important than your PR card.
Go to Casino Fallsview and play, you must be lucky.

 

[mhm4589]

I guess this is the right thread...
I did it in the morning at around 8am by foot. Very light traffic and quiet on the bridge. Pretty fast, easy and smooth -maybe it was the early Sunday morning. The officers at both side were pretty nice.
The rest is almost the same as others in CEC category. Things you need are the two-$0.25 to enter, passport(mine is with a valid work permit as well), COPR, a photo ID (ie Ontario ID Card) for address/phone number confirmation by Canada side officer and that's it - less than an hour process . My case should be the easy kind I think since I applied for myself only and I have already located in Canada for since University and with a valid WP.
The only question US officer asked was 'How do you apply this Permanent Resident?' simple- 4 years studies and 2 years working...something like that in a sentence plot of your whole life until landing.

Cheers.

 

[pongpong]

I guess this is the right thread...
I did it in the morning at around 8am by foot. Very light traffic and quiet on the bridge. Pretty fast, easy and smooth -maybe it was the early Sunday morning. The officers at both side were pretty nice.
The rest is almost the same as others in CEC category. Things you need are the two-$0.25 to enter, passport(mine is with a valid work permit as well), COPR, a photo ID (ie Ontario ID Card) for address/phone number confirmation by Canada side officer and that's it - less than an hour process . My case should be the easy kind I think since I applied for myself only and I have already located in Canada for since University and with a valid WP.
The only question US officer asked was 'How do you apply this Permanent Resident?' simple- 4 years studies and 2 years working...something like that in a sentence plot of your whole life until landing.

Cheers.

Im from edmonton. Is there any way i can fly to ontario and take a bus to Rainbow Bridge(niagra) U mentioned that u did it by foot. Can u pls tell me how to get there. The reason why im choosing Niagra for landing cause here in edmonton,to do my landing, i have to drive to the nearest Canada-US boarder but i dont have a drivers licence and there is no bus going to there. Pls. help me.

 

[mhm4589]

Im from edmonton. Is there any way i can fly to ontario and take a bus to Rainbow Bridge(niagra) U mentioned that u did it by foot. Can u pls tell me how to get there. The reason why im choosing Niagra for landing cause here in edmonton,to do my landing, i have to drive to the nearest Canada-US boarder but i dont have a drivers licence and there is no bus going to there. Pls. help me.

Sure you can take the flight and take the bus to there... Well I did the budget way. I took the bus (either Coach/Greyhound $15+tax one way) from the Bus Terminal in downtown Toronto. Once arrived at Niagara Falls' bus terminal, I took the Niagara Transit bus ($2.50, you can google their website for schedule) down on Victoria Ave. and get off near Casino Niagara which is nearest to Rainbow Bridge entrance(you can google map that...). Then I walked toward west from there to the bridge which took me about 5 mins or so. Hope this helps.

 

[ragluf]

Question - For those that are non-visa exempt - what happens at the US Border Crossing? Do they give you administrative refusal and stamp that on your passport?

 

[mhm4589]

Question - For those that are non-visa exempt - what happens at the US Border Crossing? Do they give you administrative refusal and stamp that on your passport?

I don't think the non-visa exempt matters because it is a flag-pole process. The US Border officer will give you a refusal letter and that's it after you told them you wanted to do the PR landing. Keep in mind flag-pole means that you are not entering into US.

In short, you DO NOT need to worry whether you need a US visa or not to do the flag-pole PR landing.

 

[yahoo7]

Does the US border agencies put a refusal of entry stamp in your passport if you do not have a US visa?

 

[mhm4589]

Does the US border agencies put a refusal of entry stamp in your passport if you do not have a US visa?

No I don't think so, for flagpole PR landing there will be no stamping on your passport by US officer at custom since you are not entering US anyway( you get the refusal letter right at the US custom counter and once they give it to you, you turnaround and go back to Canada side/custom). If you have an expired I-94 like my case they will get rid of that but that's not the main thing...

The US custom officers know what they need to do once you tell them you want to do the landing as Canadian PR process. Note that the purpose of this refusal letter (which is just an A4 paper and your details on it) is to 'proof' to the Canada custom officer that you have left Canada and you were in US but actually you were not.

 

[yahoo7]

few immigration applications have this question "have you ever been refused any kind of visa, admission or been ordered to leave Canada or any other country?". Would it not be a problem while answering this question if we are doing a flag-poling for gain Canada PR?

 

[mhm4589]

few immigration applications have this question "have you ever been refused any kind of visa, admission or been ordered to leave Canada or any other country?". Would it not be a problem while answering this question if we are doing a flag-poling for gain Canada PR?

You could answer 'NO'.
I strongly believe that flag-polling does not mean you have a refusal entry. Though, I have never heard if anyone got rejected just because he/she did flagpolled before.

 

[yahoo7]

ok.

 

[pongpong]

Sure you can take the flight and take the bus to there... Well I did the budget way. I took the bus (either Coach/Greyhound $15+tax one way) from the Bus Terminal in downtown Toronto. Once arrived at Niagara Falls' bus terminal, I took the Niagara Transit bus ($2.50, you can google their website for schedule) down on Victoria Ave. and get off near Casino Niagara which is nearest to Rainbow Bridge entrance(you can google map that...). Then I walked toward west from there to the bridge which took me about 5 mins or so. Hope this helps.

Thank u so much mhm4589. What did u bring with u? Just passport, COPR and work permit? How about bank statement? I only have less than $1000 in my account. Do i have to bring an statement of account? Do they ask for it?

 

[mhm4589]

Thank u so much mhm4589. What did u bring with u? Just passport, COPR and work permit? How about bank statement? I only have less than $1000 in my account. Do i have to bring an statement of account? Do they ask for it?

I brought extra things like a passport photo, printout of my online banking; but all they need from me are the passport with valid work permit, COPR, and my Ontario photo ID.

 

[ragluf]

I brought extra things like a passport photo, printout of my online banking; but all they need from me are the passport with valid work permit, COPR, and my Ontario photo ID.

Thanks for the info - appreciate this as I will be doing the same come late December...