Hi guys,
I want to share my flagpole experience in Sarnia on November 25th, 2019.
My timeline (CEC stream):
March 19 - AOR with 520 points
August 20 - Refused (Letter from employer didn't have duties)
September 3 - AOR with 520 points
September 23 - MEP
November 4 - PPR, passports sent
November 5 - passports delivered
November 21 - application approved
November 22 - passports sent
November 25 - passports delivered, landed
So on November 25th, we received our passports back (expected them in the morning, but received ~ 3:30 pm) and immediately went to Sarnia. We left Mississauga at 3:30 pm and reached Sarnia bridge at 6:30 (no traffic for cars), paid toll (C$ 4.25), drove to the US customs and was told to park near the building. Officer asked why we don't want to make an appointment but in just a curious way. We parked next to the building and went to the building. You are only allowed to take your wallet and passports. Keys and phones should be left in the car.
Inside the building, we approached the officer and told him that we want to flagpole. He took our passports and told us to take a seat. There were few other people but for different reasons. We took our seat and wait for ~ 15 min and as we understood the US officer had different things to do so he gave our "case" to another officer. She asked us a few questions (purpose of travel, address, took our fingerprints and photo). After another 20 minutes, she told us to go with her to the car as she parked our car beyond the toll so we don't need to pay an extra $4. She was friendly and wished us good luck and gave us needed papers.
We drove through the bridge to the Canadian border, gave him passports and US papers. The officer was polite, asked about the purpose of the travel and told to park near Canadian customs building.
After we parked we went inside and there were no people at the office. We approached the officer, gave him papers and told that we want to land. He took our papers and passports and asked to be seated. During wait (~20 min) he asked a few questions (mailing address, how much cash do we have with us). Then he asked to sign the CoPR, gave one copy back to us and wished us a good day. We were disappointed that we didn't hear "Congratulations!", but it's fine as everyone was friendly and polite.
We went to the gas station and McDonald's and was at Mississauga around 11:30 pm.
402 Highway is nice as it's empty and the speed limit is 110 km/h.
To sum everything up, I would recommend Sarnia as a landing port.
P.S. We wanted to go to the Thousand Islands bridge but on weekdays it means to drive via Toronto (tons of traffic) and next weekend is American Thanksgiving so we expected a lot of tourists there.
I want to share my flagpole experience in Sarnia on November 25th, 2019.
My timeline (CEC stream):
March 19 - AOR with 520 points
August 20 - Refused (Letter from employer didn't have duties)
September 3 - AOR with 520 points
September 23 - MEP
November 4 - PPR, passports sent
November 5 - passports delivered
November 21 - application approved
November 22 - passports sent
November 25 - passports delivered, landed
So on November 25th, we received our passports back (expected them in the morning, but received ~ 3:30 pm) and immediately went to Sarnia. We left Mississauga at 3:30 pm and reached Sarnia bridge at 6:30 (no traffic for cars), paid toll (C$ 4.25), drove to the US customs and was told to park near the building. Officer asked why we don't want to make an appointment but in just a curious way. We parked next to the building and went to the building. You are only allowed to take your wallet and passports. Keys and phones should be left in the car.
Inside the building, we approached the officer and told him that we want to flagpole. He took our passports and told us to take a seat. There were few other people but for different reasons. We took our seat and wait for ~ 15 min and as we understood the US officer had different things to do so he gave our "case" to another officer. She asked us a few questions (purpose of travel, address, took our fingerprints and photo). After another 20 minutes, she told us to go with her to the car as she parked our car beyond the toll so we don't need to pay an extra $4. She was friendly and wished us good luck and gave us needed papers.
We drove through the bridge to the Canadian border, gave him passports and US papers. The officer was polite, asked about the purpose of the travel and told to park near Canadian customs building.
After we parked we went inside and there were no people at the office. We approached the officer, gave him papers and told that we want to land. He took our papers and passports and asked to be seated. During wait (~20 min) he asked a few questions (mailing address, how much cash do we have with us). Then he asked to sign the CoPR, gave one copy back to us and wished us a good day. We were disappointed that we didn't hear "Congratulations!", but it's fine as everyone was friendly and polite.
We went to the gas station and McDonald's and was at Mississauga around 11:30 pm.
402 Highway is nice as it's empty and the speed limit is 110 km/h.
To sum everything up, I would recommend Sarnia as a landing port.
P.S. We wanted to go to the Thousand Islands bridge but on weekdays it means to drive via Toronto (tons of traffic) and next weekend is American Thanksgiving so we expected a lot of tourists there.
