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Soft PR Landing - drove from US

ajj123

Star Member
Jan 4, 2018
81
20
Thanks for answer,
I am planning to do the same i.e I will disclose them that I will return to USA and come back later hope that will work.
One question which day and time is preferable to do soft landing at Peace Bridge?
Hi @yashG Did you cross the peace bridge border on a weekday or weekend? We need to do our soft landing before april 9th. Not able to find concrete info is crossing from USA to canada do we need to enter tue/wed/thur or any weekday.
If you have any info please do share! Really appreciate it.
 

inder.online

Star Member
Sep 22, 2017
130
18
Hi @yashG Did you cross the peace bridge border on a weekday or weekend? We need to do our soft landing before april 9th. Not able to find concrete info is crossing from USA to canada do we need to enter tue/wed/thur or any weekday.
If you have any info please do share! Really appreciate it.
For Soft landing, you can drive anytime weekday or weekend.
I drove on Saturday (Nov 3rd) reached around 7 pm at Fort Erie, landing happens all the time.
There is only condition for weekdays for people doing flagpoling ( these people are within Canada and want to update their status etc )
For anyone travelling from US to Canada, you choose any time.
To get confirmatio, try calling any CBSA office phone number,
https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/do-rb/offices-bureaux/1003-eng.html
 
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ajj123

Star Member
Jan 4, 2018
81
20
For Soft landing, you can drive anytime weekday or weekend.
I drove on Saturday (Nov 3rd) reached around 7 pm at Fort Erie, landing happens all the time.
There is only condition for weekdays for people doing flagpoling ( these people are within Canada and want to update their status etc )
For anyone travelling from US to Canada, you choose any time.
To get confirmatio, try calling any CBSA office phone number,
https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/do-rb/offices-bureaux/1003-eng.html
Thanks @inder.online ! appreciate your inputs. Will plan accordingly. Are you already in Canada or based in USA?
 

ajj123

Star Member
Jan 4, 2018
81
20
Hi all

We just did our soft landing from USA to Canada via peace bridge.

Few inputs from this experience

  • At peace bridge CBSA needs passport, copr, proof of funds and good to carry and goods to follow list.The officers are friendly and very cordial.
  • Till you get the PR cards, you can travel to Canada by road (not by air) using the copr stamped letter form the officer. This is if you don’t have the pr cards.
  • For goods to follow list the officer suggested to have serial numbers/year for all items that may have one. Make sure you carry the right forms for goods to follow. If carrying jewelry make sure you have pictures with value. 2 sets of everything.
If anyone has questions I am most happy to answer in my best capacity.
Thank you everyone for your help! Appreciate it.

Good luck all!
 
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CalvinCan

Newbie
Apr 4, 2019
4
1
Friends,

I just completed landing with my family from New York to Toronto through the Peace Bridge. I want to inform everyone that the time restriction (8am-midnight on Tue, Wed, and Thur) is only for people who are flagpoling. I was not flagpoling. I live in New York and I was able to complete my landing via Peace Bridge and apply for PR card as well on a Friday evening (Friday, 29th March 2019 at 8:00pm).

The immigration officer inside the building asked me if I live in Canada. I said "No", and told him that I live in New York and I am performing my landing. Then he proceeded to process my application. I did notice that they had different file baskets labeled "Flagpole" and "Regular".

Please note that calling the CBSA would not clarify the weekend landing confusion. I called CBSA peace bridge before driving to Peace Bridge and I was told that they don't have people to process PR applications on weekends. However, I still wanted to give it a shot, so we drove to Peace Bridge and got everything done without any issues. This means that the people that answer the phone from CBSA are not fully clear on this.

Hope this helps.
 
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ajj123

Star Member
Jan 4, 2018
81
20
Friends,

I just completed landing with my family from New York to Toronto through the Peace Bridge. I want to inform everyone that the time restriction (8am-midnight on Tue, Wed, and Thur) is only for people who are flagpoling. I was not flagpoling. I live in New York and I was able to complete my landing via Peace Bridge and apply for PR card as well on a Friday evening (Friday, 29th March 2019 at 8:00pm).

The immigration officer inside the building asked me if I live in Canada. I said "No", and told him that I live in New York and I am performing my landing. Then he proceeded to process my application. I did notice that they had different file baskets labeled "Flagpole" and "Regular".

Please note that calling the CBSA would not clarify the weekend landing confusion. I called CBSA peace bridge before driving to Peace Bridge and I was told that they don't have people to process PR applications on weekends. However, I still wanted to give it a shot, so we drove to Peace Bridge and got everything done without any issues. This means that the people that answer the phone from CBSA are not fully clear on this.

Hope this helps.
We did the same last weekend. Were you able to get your SIN ?
 

CalvinCan

Newbie
Apr 4, 2019
4
1
We did the same last weekend. Were you able to get your SIN ?
Yes. SIN cannot be obtained outside of office hours. We got the SIN on Monday morning at a Service Canada office. It took less than 30 minutes for 3 people. The waiting period was only 5 minutes.
 

rrahul963

Newbie
Apr 26, 2019
5
0
Hey Guys, We (My wife and I) got our copr today and the destination on the doc is mentioned as Toronto, but we want to soft landing in Vancouver.
We are not part of PNP program, so is it OK if we soft land in Vancouver instead?

Has anyone done this successfully?
 

Allankrita

Full Member
May 31, 2018
39
5
Hi everyone,

My spouse and I did our PR landing on Friday, November 24th. We live in the United States (on H1B visas) and drove across the border. I just wanted to share a few details, hopefully some of you find this helpful.

Border of entry: Bluewater Bridge, Port Huron, MI/Sarnia, ON

We paid a cash toll (I think it was $5 or $6 USD) just after we passed the American side. Then we drove further to the actual border crossing lanes. The wait was not long at all, took us under ten minutes. When it was our turn, we pulled over to the booth, and told the very friendly agent that we were here as first time PR holders, and wanted to complete our landing formalities. He took our passports and CoPR, verified the information, returned the documents and told us to pull over ahead to the right; and that officers will guide us to parking. We did as we were told. Two officers guided us to a parking spot in front of the immigration services building. We took our passports, CoPR, Goods Accompanying and Goods to follow lists (2 copies) and entered the building. There was no waiting time as the office was practically empty but for three officers. One of them asked us to go to his counter, and took the CoPR and passports. He cancelled my PR visa, completed the CoPR with landing date etc, and had me sign the document, which he returned to me with a stern reminder of how this was the most important paper I will hold in my hand and never to lose it. Then he repeated the process with my spouse.

Another officer took the two copies of Goods lists, and entered into a database and gave us a printout which we have to carry with us every time we bring goods into Canada. She also stamped one of the original lists I had provided and returned along with the printout.

There were hardly any questions asked except for the following:
1. Address for PR card. I had to clarify that we were staying at a friend's house, and will return in a few weeks to the United States. This posed no issues, and the officer made a note to send PR card addressed to "c/o my friend's name".
2. Our car was included in the goods to follow list. I own the car but did not carry the title with me. The officer asked me if I had the title, and I said I had it at home, but I did not carry as I was not importing the car now. She said that was fine, and that at the time of import I should also complete export formalities with the US customs.

After this, the officer welcomed us to Canada but did not even smile. For those from the US, you are probably accustomed to nicer border agents. I have always been told with a big smile, "welcome home, miss" every time I entered the US no matter the mode of transportation, even though I have been on various non-immigrant visas. I was a little sad that the officer did not even smile but this was soon overtaken by the elation and joy of now being Canadian Permanent Residents!

We decided to also get our SIN at the Service Canada centre about 4 minutes away. The SIN officer was extremely helpful and very friendly. He welcomed us both warmly to Canada, and more than made up for the poker-face at the border office. Getting our SIN only took us 20 minutes after which we hit the road as newly ordained residents.

Thanks for reading. I will try to answer your questions about soft landing and help in any way I can.
Thanks for sharing ur experience, my car is on lease can I do soft landing with my car ? If yes what documents I have to carry ?
 

ajj123

Star Member
Jan 4, 2018
81
20
Hey Guys, We (My wife and I) got our copr today and the destination on the doc is mentioned as Toronto, but we want to soft landing in Vancouver.
We are not part of PNP program, so is it OK if we soft land in Vancouver instead?

Has anyone done this successfully?
Yes it is ok to soft land in Vancouver. We also landed in Niagara city while the doc said Toronto.
 

jmatharu

Member
Aug 6, 2018
18
0
Yes it is ok to soft land in Vancouver. We also landed in Niagara city while the doc said Toronto.
Hi,
We are planning to do our soft landing soon and return to the US. What shall we answer if , upon return, the US immigration officer asks us about the purpose of our visit to Canada? Is it okay to tell that we went there for PR?
 

ajj123

Star Member
Jan 4, 2018
81
20
Hi,
We are planning to do our soft landing soon and return to the US. What shall we answer if , upon return, the US immigration officer asks us about the purpose of our visit to Canada? Is it okay to tell that we went there for PR?
Hi, yes it’s best to be honest. We were asked the same question and we answered “we came to Canada to complete PR formalities”
That’s it. The officers are well informed and they do not unnecessarily trouble anyone.
 

khalid_ahmad

Newbie
Jul 1, 2019
1
0
Hi All,

We are planning for a soft landing via road for the PR formalities. We would like to enter Canada from a bridge near Niagra Fall and return to the US as soon as all the PR formalities are completed. As per our understanding, the PR formalities consist of
  • Get CoPR signed and stamped
  • Apply for PR card.
  • Apply for SIN.

Could you please answer to following question.
  1. Can PR formalities be done on Saturday/Sunday? Please specify the working days and hours.
  2. Can SIN be applied applied on Saturday/Sunday? Please specify the working days and hours.
  3. What are the tasks included in PR formalities? Please specify the documents and the resources(e.g. GTF/GTA forms) for the same.
Thanks in Advance!
 

Smartypreet24

Full Member
Jan 18, 2022
38
1
SINP NOMINEE , SOFT LANDING IN ONTARIO VIA LAND BORDER

Can we do soft landing in different province (Ontario)if We are nominee of another different province (Saskatchewan)via Land border and return back to USA from Ontario?

As Ontario Land Border is closer to our place. Actually we are not planning to go Regina this time. We are planning to return from land border (Ontario) after activating PR. Final move to Regina we will do after few months.

We Will give our Saskatchewan relative’s address . Will it work?