I successfully landed on 12 Oct 2017 (Thursday) at Peace bridge, Fort Erie, Ontario.
The Peace bridge is about 30 km from Rainbow bridge, Niagara falls. I reached Peace bridge at
8 am on Thursday. I entered the bridge from the Tim Hortons area (Duty free shop) located at
1 Peace Bridge, Fort Erie, ON L2A 5N1. The entrance to the bridge is in the parking lot. There are two
separate lanes for commercial vehicles and autos. I entered the lane marked cars and in a few minutes
I was on the Peace bridge. I realized I had underestimated the time to cross the bridge. It took 40 minutes
to reach the US side. The traffic was bumper to bumper basically because on the US side only two of the
"entrances" (looked like toll booths) were open. I reached the US side and mentioned flagpolling to the official
inside the booth. I realised that this is not a toll booth since the official did not ask for the toll but instead put
a phone call saying the next car is for flagpolling. He also took away my passport. He told me to go ahead
and park in front of the building on the right. This building is hardly 100 meters away. I was told to go to
office number 2. I parked and went inside the office. There were a few (about 5) people waiting for their
name to be called out. My name was called out almost immediately. The US custom across the desk simply
returned my passport with a white page and said "You are all set". The white page mentioned my name and
something like "admission refused" (do not remember exactly). I went back to my car and drove back to the
Canadian side.
The drive back took only about 5 minutes ! At the Canadian end, I stopped at the booth that
looked like a toll booth but was not a toll booth. I mentioned landing to the official sitting inside. He took my passport and the white page. He asked me if I am alone and also if all my belongings are already in Canada
or I am expecting something from the US. I said that my belongings are already in Canada. He gave back
the passport with yellow paper slip. He told me to park on the left side and enter the building located right
next to the parking.
I parked and entered the building and found that I was the only one person in there apart from the CBSA
officials. I straight away went to the officer and mentioned that I am there for my landing. The officer was
very friendly. I gave my passport, the yellow slip and CoPR (two copies). He asked me the standard questions (crime/dependents) and told me to sign the two copies. He did not ask for any more documents. It was a pleasant experience and the officer even chatted casually about the weather. I was carrying many more documents including all my offer letters, work permits, copies of latest pay slips, T4s, notice of tax
assessments etc. But none was asked for. He returned one copy of CoPR to me. The official congratulated me and said that the PR card will arrive in 6 to 8 weeks. In the meanwhile, he said, the CoPR copy is not valid for travel and if I have to travel during these weeks I would need to follow a certain procedure with the
CiC. Without further ado I exited the building and drove back to Toronto. The toll booth where the toll
(~4 dollars) is collected is located close to this building while exiting the premises.
On the way back I stopped at Service Canada, St. Catherines and got my SIN changed.
On the whole the process went through smoothly though I underestimated the time taken to cross the
Peace bridge.
The Peace bridge is about 30 km from Rainbow bridge, Niagara falls. I reached Peace bridge at
8 am on Thursday. I entered the bridge from the Tim Hortons area (Duty free shop) located at
1 Peace Bridge, Fort Erie, ON L2A 5N1. The entrance to the bridge is in the parking lot. There are two
separate lanes for commercial vehicles and autos. I entered the lane marked cars and in a few minutes
I was on the Peace bridge. I realized I had underestimated the time to cross the bridge. It took 40 minutes
to reach the US side. The traffic was bumper to bumper basically because on the US side only two of the
"entrances" (looked like toll booths) were open. I reached the US side and mentioned flagpolling to the official
inside the booth. I realised that this is not a toll booth since the official did not ask for the toll but instead put
a phone call saying the next car is for flagpolling. He also took away my passport. He told me to go ahead
and park in front of the building on the right. This building is hardly 100 meters away. I was told to go to
office number 2. I parked and went inside the office. There were a few (about 5) people waiting for their
name to be called out. My name was called out almost immediately. The US custom across the desk simply
returned my passport with a white page and said "You are all set". The white page mentioned my name and
something like "admission refused" (do not remember exactly). I went back to my car and drove back to the
Canadian side.
The drive back took only about 5 minutes ! At the Canadian end, I stopped at the booth that
looked like a toll booth but was not a toll booth. I mentioned landing to the official sitting inside. He took my passport and the white page. He asked me if I am alone and also if all my belongings are already in Canada
or I am expecting something from the US. I said that my belongings are already in Canada. He gave back
the passport with yellow paper slip. He told me to park on the left side and enter the building located right
next to the parking.
I parked and entered the building and found that I was the only one person in there apart from the CBSA
officials. I straight away went to the officer and mentioned that I am there for my landing. The officer was
very friendly. I gave my passport, the yellow slip and CoPR (two copies). He asked me the standard questions (crime/dependents) and told me to sign the two copies. He did not ask for any more documents. It was a pleasant experience and the officer even chatted casually about the weather. I was carrying many more documents including all my offer letters, work permits, copies of latest pay slips, T4s, notice of tax
assessments etc. But none was asked for. He returned one copy of CoPR to me. The official congratulated me and said that the PR card will arrive in 6 to 8 weeks. In the meanwhile, he said, the CoPR copy is not valid for travel and if I have to travel during these weeks I would need to follow a certain procedure with the
CiC. Without further ado I exited the building and drove back to Toronto. The toll booth where the toll
(~4 dollars) is collected is located close to this building while exiting the premises.
On the way back I stopped at Service Canada, St. Catherines and got my SIN changed.
On the whole the process went through smoothly though I underestimated the time taken to cross the
Peace bridge.
