Let's share our landing experience

[OntarioBound]

I have an odd question for you! My husband will be landing tomorrow and I'll be with him. We were curious to what you said when you pulled up to the booth and showed your passport. Did you give your copr right away, or tell them you had it first?

I just said, "I would like to land" and the officer told us to park our car in front of the main building and to go in there.

How did your landing go?

 

[Morganhannah]

So we asked the guy doings my husbands copr how we would go about getting to the U.S.border to export his truck while already being in the states and he told us to park off to the side of the road before paying the toll and walk over to the immigration office. Is this an odd idea? Haha

 

[Aquakitty]

So we asked the guy doings my husbands copr how we would go about getting to the U.S.border to export his truck while already being in the states and he told us to park off to the side of the road before paying the toll and walk over to the immigration office. Is this an odd idea? Haha

When I exported a car from the US a while ago we did just that, parked then went into the US side office with the paperwork. They didn't even look at the car (this is not guaranteed though, in some cases they will check for all the right stickers and VIN and all that). On the Canadian side all I saw them do was a regular search on it while we were inside paying the fees.

 

[BeShoo]

I'd like more info too, we are going to do a flagpole in the next couple of days. Does it matter what podunk border crossing we go to?

Make sure you go when the immigration people are there. We were going by the border at 10:30 at night and decided to stop at a place where we didn't have to pay a bridge toll, but the immigration officer only stays until 10:00 at that place. Also, if he's busy with someone else at quitting time and you're next in line, you'd be out of luck, according to the primary inspection guy we talked to.

 

[Aquakitty]

Make sure you go when the immigration people are there. We were going by the border at 10:30 at night and decided to stop at a place where we didn't have to pay a bridge toll, but the immigration officer only stays until 10:00 at that place. Also, if he's busy with someone else at quitting time and you're next in line, you'd be out of luck, according to the primary inspection guy we talked to.

Yes, it's important to note immigration may have different hours than the crossing itself, all the hours can be found on the CIC website if anyone has this question in the future: http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/do-rb/services/imm-eng.html

 

[ayrazar]

Yes, it's important to note immigration has different hours than the crossing itself, all the hours can be found on the CIC website if anyone has this question in the future: http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/do-rb/services/imm-eng.html

Awesome, the one we'll be using has immigration 24h. Guh, Landing is gonna be like at least a year from now, probably more, but Im still excited just thinking about it.

 

[suntzubinfa]

My wife landed today. We did a flagpole at the Prescott landing. The US side went pretty smoothly. On the Canadian side, the whole process took about the an hour. They were in the middle of changing systems. In addition, the border official told us we should not be doing a flagpole since we are already in Canada and should've booked an appointment instead in Ottawa. Told us if we knew of anyone else doing a flagpole in Canada, they should book an appointment. However, he was nice enough to still do it for us. But I recommend to just book an appointment to do your landing if you are already in Canada and it is not urgent.

I do have a question, as he was looking through my wife's passport, he noticed there was a valid study permit attached to it and asked if we have any other documents like it (because they take away these documents once you have permanent residence status). I said my wife was issued a prior study permit that has expired. He asked if we have it with us, I said no, it might be at home but I'm not sure because we might just have shred it and thrown it away at the time she received the new study permit. He told us to go home, look for it and return it to them. If we aren't able to find it will there be any issues with my wife's PR status even though she officially is a permanent resident starting today.

 

[Aquakitty]

My wife landed today. We did a flagpole at the Prescott landing. The US side went pretty smoothly. On the Canadian side, the whole process took about the an hour. They were in the middle of changing systems. In addition, the border official told us we should not be doing a flagpole since we are already in Canada and should've booked an appointment instead in Ottawa. Told us if we knew of anyone else doing a flagpole in Canada, they should book an appointment. However, he was nice enough to still do it for us. But I recommend to just book an appointment to do your landing if you are already in Canada and it is not urgent.

I do have a question, as he was looking through my wife's passport, he noticed there was a valid study permit attached to it and asked if we have any other documents like it (because they take away these documents once you have permanent residence status). I said my wife was issued a prior study permit that has expired. He asked if we have it with us, I said no, it might be at home but I'm not sure because we might just have shred it and thrown it away at the time she received the new study permit. He told us to go home, look for it and return it to them. If we aren't able to find it will there be any issues with my wife's PR status even though she officially is a permanent resident starting today.

Another one given grief for "flagpoling"?? It literally says in the documentation that comes with the COPR that you can leave and re-enter Canada to activate the PR. I swear they do not know their own policies.

I mentioned this somewhere else, but another thing is now on the website they say if you leave and re-enter Canada to activate your PR you should have proof of status (like a work visa, visitor record etc). This seems bizarre to me, since you are leaving Canada to activate the PR that overwrites all that. If you are from a non-visa country, leaving like that resets your status anyways, and if you are from a non-visa country the PR is your new visa. I wonder if this is an error? It would make more sense to me if this was a requirement for activating it at an office inside Canada.

Unless I am misinterpreting this and they just want those documents to destroy them.

 

[suntzubinfa]

Regardless, I'm glad the landing is done and need to just wait for the PR card now.

I think they want the documents to destroy it. I'll try to find it but if I am unable to I don't think this is going to affect anything on her file right?

Another one given grief for "flagpoling"?? It literally says in the documentation that comes with the COPR that you can leave and re-enter Canada to activate the PR. I swear they do not know their own policies.

I mentioned this somewhere else, but another thing is now on the website they say if you leave and re-enter Canada to activate your PR you should have proof of status (like a work visa, visitor record etc). This seems bizarre to me, since you are leaving Canada to activate the PR that overwrites all that. If you are from a non-visa country, leaving like that resets your status anyways, and if you are from a non-visa country the PR is your new visa. I wonder if this is an error? It would make more sense to me if this was a requirement for activating it at an office inside Canada.

Unless I am misinterpreting this and they just want those documents to destroy them.

 

[Aquakitty]

Regardless, I'm glad the landing is done and need to just wait for the PR card now.

I think they want the documents to destroy it. I'll try to find it but if I am unable to I don't think this is going to affect anything on her file right?

I certainly dont' think so. If there was a problem they wouldn't have validated it in the first place. We flagpoled and were not asked for any documents. Here's where I read the weird requirements (they differ from the information given with the COPR): http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?q=748&t=22

Maybe someone can shed some light on this.

 

[suntzubinfa]

That is good to know. Now the waiting for the PR card begins.

I certainly dont' think so. If there was a problem they wouldn't have validated it in the first place. We flagpoled and were not asked for any documents. Here's where I read the weird requirements (they differ from the information given with the COPR):

Maybe someone can shed some light on this.

 

[BeShoo]

In addition, the border official told us we should not be doing a flagpole since we are already in Canada and should've booked an appointment instead in Ottawa. Told us if we knew of anyone else doing a flagpole in Canada, they should book an appointment.

I think that's kind of ridiculous. The "flag poling" thing has been around almost forever. The option of making an appointment and doing it at a local office was introduced as a convenience in September, 2008. There is nothing in current CoPR documents that says you cannot "flag pole" for an outland application. It says you can choose either one.

You might have talked to the guy in Prescott that we did. We were going from Ottawa to Toronto anyway, so it wasn't much of a detour, but we got away pretty late. We had this idea that we could just drive around the building (there's a lane for it) and we wouldn't have to pay the bridge toll. So we did, but that's not how it works. We got kind of told off for not going over the U.S. border and he told us the immigration officer doesn't work that late anyway. When I checked the hours afterwards, it says they're there till midnight, so the guy should still have been on duty. I don't know.

I do have a question, as he was looking through my wife's passport, he noticed there was a valid study permit attached to it and asked if we have any other documents like it (because they take away these documents once you have permanent residence status). ... He told us to go home, look for it and return it to them.

You're supposed to turn those in when you leave the country to prove that you didn't overstay, but I don't think it really matters once they're expired and the stay has been extended due to a further permit being issued or, for that matter, a PR. They took our most recent one, which was in the passport, but we have four or five expired visitor permits and no-one has ever asked for them. I really don't think you need to worry.