"Flagpoling when Landing" - Is it Mandatory?

[Tonimir]

Hello Folks,

So, I was reading on CIC website the following question in their Help Center:

How do I validate a Confirmation of Permanent Residence or a permanent resident visa if I live in Canada?

link: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?q=748&t=22 (Last update: 2015-05-11 )

I don't see anywhere the instructions to say that if you go for the Landing via land border option, you have to go to the US side and do "Flag poling".
Or that the Canadian Officer will be asking you for the "Administrative Refusal" paper from the US border.

My plans is to do my Landing either at the Rainbow bridge or at the Queenston-Lewiston bridge (which is closer to me)
The Queenston, as some of you might know, has a very convenient Left (U) turn, that gives you the option to Exit-then-Enter to Canada without the need to go to the US side.

So, after reading the answer in the link above AND after reading the following Thread: http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/wow-no-more-flagpoling-at-queenstonlewiston-bridge-t189215.0.html

I'm starting to think, that this requirement with the "Administrative Refusal" paper is something from the past and is not Mandatory to be done.
This claim is based on what I have read in the links above.

Anyone Senior, that has more details/experience on this topic?

 

[Amisnic]

To do border landing one must "enter" Canada therefore it must be seen that one has left Canada if they are doing flag poling. Thus the need for the "Administrative Refusal" from US. You could go to US for a day or 2 spend time in Niagara US side, pick up some duty free booze and come back.

Hello Folks,

So, I was reading on CIC website the following question in their Help Center:

How do I validate a Confirmation of Permanent Residence or a permanent resident visa if I live in Canada?

link: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?q=748&t=22 (Last update: 2015-05-11 )

I don't see anywhere the instructions to say that if you go for the Landing via land border option, you have to go to the US side and do "Flag poling".
Or that the Canadian Officer will be asking you for the "Administrative Refusal" paper from the US border.

My plans is to do my Landing either at the Rainbow bridge or at the Queenston-Lewiston bridge (which is closer to me)
The Queenston, as some of you might know, has a very convenient Left (U) turn, that gives you the option to Exit-then-Enter to Canada without the need to go to the US side.

So, after reading the answer in the link above AND after reading the following Thread: http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/wow-no-more-flagpoling-at-queenstonlewiston-bridge-t189215.0.html

I'm starting to think, that this requirement with the "Administrative Refusal" paper is something from the past and is not Mandatory to be done.
This claim is based on what I have read in the links above.

Anyone Senior, that has more details/experience on this topic?

 

[Tonimir]

To do border landing one must "enter" Canada therefore it must be seen that one has left Canada if they are doing flag poling. Thus the need for the "Administrative Refusal" from US. You could go to US for a day or 2 spend time in Niagara US side, pick up some duty free booze and come back.

That is one other option I was thinking about. Entering the US, have a lovely day, proper dinner and on the way back to do the Landing process.

But, the Queenston-Lewiston bridge, which is on 405, there is a very convenient U-turn , that is beyond the Canada border and in fact, there is a very lovely sign, which it says: "To Canada" , so without passing over the bridge to the US side, you reach again the border booths.

I guess the real question here is, does the Canadian Border Officer really care (anymore), about if you got an "Administrative Refusal" by the US border or not?

 

[Amisnic]

Yeah proper dinner on the US side - make sure you have one of those huge Texas T-Bone Beef - get it done very rare with baked cheesy potatoes and Dianne sauce.

That is one other option I was thinking about. Entering the US, have a lovely day, proper dinner and on the way back to do the Landing process.

But, the Queenston-Lewiston bridge, which is on 405, there is a very convenient U-turn , that is beyond the Canada border and in fact, there is a very lovely sign, which it says: "To Canada" , so without passing over the bridge to the US side, you reach again the border booths.

I guess the real question here is, does the Canadian Border Officer really care (anymore), about if you got an "Administrative Refusal" by the US border or not?

 

[ip000073]

That is one other option I was thinking about. Entering the US, have a lovely day, proper dinner and on the way back to do the Landing process.

But, the Queenston-Lewiston bridge, which is on 405, there is a very convenient U-turn , that is beyond the Canada border and in fact, there is a very lovely sign, which it says: "To Canada" , so without passing over the bridge to the US side, you reach again the border booths.

I guess the real question here is, does the Canadian Border Officer really care (anymore), about if you got an "Administrative Refusal" by the US border or not?

Sometimes they do care. We tryed to land on Rainbow bridge without going to US side but Canadian border officer didn't allow us to land, said that he needs proof that we left Canada and so we should go to US side and get the "flagpol" paper.
BTW we ended landing on Lewiston bridge but this is another story.

 

[Tonimir]

Sometimes they do care. We tryed to land on Rainbow bridge without going to US side but Canadian border officer didn't allow us to land, said that he needs proof that we left Canada and so we should go to US side and get the "flagpol" paper.
BTW we ended landing on Lewiston bridge but this is another story.

Looks like this "flagpole" paper is something that depends on the Officer and probably his mood. lol ... As I said earlier, nowhere in the CIC website is mentioned, that "flagpole" paper is required when you do your landing.

Talking about Lewiston , did you pass over the bridge to the US and got the flagpole paper and then returned back to Canada?

P.S: When did you do your landing? (Month/Year)

 

[ip000073]

Looks like this "flagpole" paper is something that depends on the Officer and probably his mood. lol ... As I said earlier, nowhere in the CIC website is mentioned, that "flagpole" paper is required when you do your landing.

Talking about Lewiston , did you pass over the bridge to the US and got the flagpole paper and then returned back to Canada?

P.S: When did you do your landing? (Month/Year)

We landed about a month ago. Initially we did a big mistake going to land on Rainbow bridge on Saturday after noon. So we went to the US side, got the "flagpole paper" and returned to the Canadian side. The office there was full of people seeking entry to Canada and we were informed that the average waiting time now is about 3 hours. Something like 30 minutes later one of the officers asked if there are ppl who is waiting for landing (PR or WP) and have valid status in Canada. So we approached the officer and he told us that if we want, we can land on Lewiston bridge without waiting. We told him that we are ready to go there and then the officer gave us Canadian administrative refusal paper, which says that we were sent back to US (sic!) and directed us how to get to the Lewiston bridge. 20 minutes later we arrived to the Lewiston bridge and did the flagpole again. The officer on the US side asked as why we are doing second flagpole same day and we explained the situation. No additional questions were asked. The officers there were actually nice and even joke a little bit about Canadian border agency efficiency. So 5 minutes later we get another "flagpole paper" and returned to the Canadian side. There was a little traffic jam on the entry to Canada (about 20 minutes of wait) but the office was completely empty. So 30 minutes later we got our PR status.

BTW, the "flagpole paper" is literally flagpole paper. I mean this piece of paper has "FLAGPOLE" written on it with gigantic letters.