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Flagpoling and landing on foot/as a pedestrian at Boundary Bay/ Point Roberts

beagleboo

Newbie
Feb 21, 2019
4
5
Hello all! Just three days short of 6 months and our PR journey is finally, finally over. I would like to share our landing experience with you all in case it helps someone. We were CEC-inland applicants, and chose to flagpole because apparently the wait time for our local IRCC office was up to three months for an appointment. The whole process took 20 minutes at most, excluding travel time. We went on a weekday afternoon.

So! Bright and early today we got up to meet our immigration consultant, as our COPR document had been mailed to her. Collected it, did one final check to ensure we had all our documents, headed back home to print the ones we did not have, and we were off!

We live in Vancouver, and don't own a car so we decided to land at Boundary Bay/Point Roberts because it is accessible by public transport - it is a 1 hour bus ride (#601) from the Bridgeport skytrain station in Richmond. It is the very last stop on the bus route, and about a 15 minute walk from the bus route to the border. There are signs close to the US border telling pedestrians and bikes where to head to. We stood at the pedestrian checkpoint, and a US border agent asked us what we were there for. We told him we were for flagpoling and they told us to go into the office, asked us a couple of questions, stamped our passports, and told us to go the Canadian border office.

Crossed over to the Canadian border office and the border agent asked us what we were there for, told him that we just came in from the US side and were landing/flagpoling, and he told us to come into the office. Got there and a border agent asked for our documents, a few standard questions and made us sign the COPR form. Waited for about 5 mins and she came back and gave us our passports, explained a few things to us (logging any trips out of the country, PR card estimated time) and said congratulations! and that was it! The border agents we dealt with were really professional, the bus drivers and people we dealt with were so nice today, the sun was out, it was such a good day to become a PR! i know on some posts people think border officers are hard to deal with but i think it's part of their job to remain stern because it is their duty to protect our borders!

On our way back we saw another person doing their landing, we said hi (and asked if he was doing his landing), i was tempted to ask if he was on Canadavisa too but if that was you, hello! I hope everything went well for you too :)

Helpful to note:
- Most people recommend you get a visa to travel in to the US. In our case, they stamped our passport with a stamp that read "flagpoling", and the US border officer told me that this meant that i was considered withdrawing my request to enter the US, but my immigration consultant had clients who went in to the US.

-If you are landing but had applied to extend your stay in Canada (e.g. work permit expired), remember to bring your extension documents (including the receipt of payment - we did not have this document at first but our immigration consultant told us to print out a copy as well). If you got a new passport, bring your old passport and any previous work permits as well.

-Check your border wait times online before you go so you know how long to expect to wait.

-This one seems a little silly but if you're attempting to land at Point Roberts by foot i would recommend packing for the weather as the walk and the bus stops are not sheltered.
 

kimlle

Newbie
Dec 13, 2018
7
2
Hello all! Just three days short of 6 months and our PR journey is finally, finally over. I would like to share our landing experience with you all in case it helps someone. We were CEC-inland applicants, and chose to flagpole because apparently the wait time for our local IRCC office was up to three months for an appointment. The whole process took 20 minutes at most, excluding travel time. We went on a weekday afternoon.

So! Bright and early today we got up to meet our immigration consultant, as our COPR document had been mailed to her. Collected it, did one final check to ensure we had all our documents, headed back home to print the ones we did not have, and we were off!

We live in Vancouver, and don't own a car so we decided to land at Boundary Bay/Point Roberts because it is accessible by public transport - it is a 1 hour bus ride (#601) from the Bridgeport skytrain station in Richmond. It is the very last stop on the bus route, and about a 15 minute walk from the bus route to the border. There are signs close to the US border telling pedestrians and bikes where to head to. We stood at the pedestrian checkpoint, and a US border agent asked us what we were there for. We told him we were for flagpoling and they told us to go into the office, asked us a couple of questions, stamped our passports, and told us to go the Canadian border office.

Crossed over to the Canadian border office and the border agent asked us what we were there for, told him that we just came in from the US side and were landing/flagpoling, and he told us to come into the office. Got there and a border agent asked for our documents, a few standard questions and made us sign the COPR form. Waited for about 5 mins and she came back and gave us our passports, explained a few things to us (logging any trips out of the country, PR card estimated time) and said congratulations! and that was it! The border agents we dealt with were really professional, the bus drivers and people we dealt with were so nice today, the sun was out, it was such a good day to become a PR! i know on some posts people think border officers are hard to deal with but i think it's part of their job to remain stern because it is their duty to protect our borders!

On our way back we saw another person doing their landing, we said hi (and asked if he was doing his landing), i was tempted to ask if he was on Canadavisa too but if that was you, hello! I hope everything went well for you too :)

Helpful to note:
- Most people recommend you get a visa to travel in to the US. In our case, they stamped our passport with a stamp that read "flagpoling", and the US border officer told me that this meant that i was considered withdrawing my request to enter the US, but my immigration consultant had clients who went in to the US.

-If you are landing but had applied to extend your stay in Canada (e.g. work permit expired), remember to bring your extension documents (including the receipt of payment - we did not have this document at first but our immigration consultant told us to print out a copy as well). If you got a new passport, bring your old passport and any previous work permits as well.

-Check your border wait times online before you go so you know how long to expect to wait.

-This one seems a little silly but if you're attempting to land at Point Roberts by foot i would recommend packing for the weather as the walk and the bus stops are not sheltered.

Thank you for the information. It helps me a lot!
 

Prince_11

Hero Member
Jan 6, 2018
343
121
British Columbia
Category........
PNP
Visa Office......
Sydney Nova Scotia
Hello all! Just three days short of 6 months and our PR journey is finally, finally over. I would like to share our landing experience with you all in case it helps someone. We were CEC-inland applicants, and chose to flagpole because apparently the wait time for our local IRCC office was up to three months for an appointment. The whole process took 20 minutes at most, excluding travel time. We went on a weekday afternoon.

So! Bright and early today we got up to meet our immigration consultant, as our COPR document had been mailed to her. Collected it, did one final check to ensure we had all our documents, headed back home to print the ones we did not have, and we were off!

We live in Vancouver, and don't own a car so we decided to land at Boundary Bay/Point Roberts because it is accessible by public transport - it is a 1 hour bus ride (#601) from the Bridgeport skytrain station in Richmond. It is the very last stop on the bus route, and about a 15 minute walk from the bus route to the border. There are signs close to the US border telling pedestrians and bikes where to head to. We stood at the pedestrian checkpoint, and a US border agent asked us what we were there for. We told him we were for flagpoling and they told us to go into the office, asked us a couple of questions, stamped our passports, and told us to go the Canadian border office.

Crossed over to the Canadian border office and the border agent asked us what we were there for, told him that we just came in from the US side and were landing/flagpoling, and he told us to come into the office. Got there and a border agent asked for our documents, a few standard questions and made us sign the COPR form. Waited for about 5 mins and she came back and gave us our passports, explained a few things to us (logging any trips out of the country, PR card estimated time) and said congratulations! and that was it! The border agents we dealt with were really professional, the bus drivers and people we dealt with were so nice today, the sun was out, it was such a good day to become a PR! i know on some posts people think border officers are hard to deal with but i think it's part of their job to remain stern because it is their duty to protect our borders!

On our way back we saw another person doing their landing, we said hi (and asked if he was doing his landing), i was tempted to ask if he was on Canadavisa too but if that was you, hello! I hope everything went well for you too :)

Helpful to note:
- Most people recommend you get a visa to travel in to the US. In our case, they stamped our passport with a stamp that read "flagpoling", and the US border officer told me that this meant that i was considered withdrawing my request to enter the US, but my immigration consultant had clients who went in to the US.

-If you are landing but had applied to extend your stay in Canada (e.g. work permit expired), remember to bring your extension documents (including the receipt of payment - we did not have this document at first but our immigration consultant told us to print out a copy as well). If you got a new passport, bring your old passport and any previous work permits as well.

-Check your border wait times online before you go so you know how long to expect to wait.

-This one seems a little silly but if you're attempting to land at Point Roberts by foot i would recommend packing for the weather as the walk and the bus stops are not sheltered.

thank you for sharing, i wanna ask the question. when you go at point Roberts border then should we go straight to the US side or go first to Canada side office.? i am going next week there.
 

Prince_11

Hero Member
Jan 6, 2018
343
121
British Columbia
Category........
PNP
Visa Office......
Sydney Nova Scotia
Congratulations! I am planning to land at Point Roberts, did you have a US visa? also I cant find any Immigration services at PoitRoberts at CBSA website: http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/do-rb/offices-bureaux/401-eng.html
is it something new?

Best

No, I do not have US visa. You doesn’t require USA Visa for flag pole. Search Boundary bay on CBSS website, it is same one renamed.

This is in Tsawwassen Delta. All Canadian land border provides immigration services nowadays
 
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E19

Full Member
May 16, 2019
22
2
No, I do not have US visa. You doesn’t require USA Visa for flag pole. Search Boundary bay on CBSS website, it is same one renamed.

This is in Tsawwassen Delta. All Canadian land border provides immigration services nowadays
Great! Thanks for the reply!
 

E19

Full Member
May 16, 2019
22
2
Can u share you landing experience at Boundary Bay?
Hi, Haven't done it yet, and still not sure if I want to do it although I know lot of people have done it but not sure about the future consequences when I want to travel to the US as I am Iranian national!
 

honhon

Star Member
Oct 12, 2018
72
29
Hi, Haven't done it yet, and still not sure if I want to do it although I know lot of people have done it but not sure about the future consequences when I want to travel to the US as I am Iranian national!
Well u are right, flagpole means rejection from US and then turn back to Canada. They hv rejection record forever, that I would like avoid. As I hv US visa, so I dont mind go into it for some time and then back to do landing.
 
Last edited:

Prince_11

Hero Member
Jan 6, 2018
343
121
British Columbia
Category........
PNP
Visa Office......
Sydney Nova Scotia
Is that no landing service to be provided at weekends?
Immigration services are provided 24*7days in a week at all land borders. Only one border in Canada not is Niagara Ontario. Boundary Bay Border is the one of the easiest border in BC. it took me 5-10 mins for landing only.
 
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honhon

Star Member
Oct 12, 2018
72
29
Immigration services are provided 24*7days in a week at all land borders. Only one border in Canada not is Niagara Ontario. Boundary Bay Border is the one of the easiest border in BC. it took me 5-10 mins for landing only.
Thank you so much, so I may go to land on Sunday.
 

honhon

Star Member
Oct 12, 2018
72
29
Immigration services are provided 24*7days in a week at all land borders. Only one border in Canada not is Niagara Ontario. Boundary Bay Border is the one of the easiest border in BC. it took me 5-10 mins for landing only.
I just looked up from the website:
Border Information Service (BIS), provides computerized information 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Agents are only available regular business hours, Monday to Friday (08:00 - 16:00 local time/except holidays.
So what is the meaning of agents available? No agent on Sunday means can or cannot do landing? Pls advise.