PR Flagpoling at Niagara - My Experience

[grahamangus]

Hey guys,

Today was the day! I received my COPR a couple of weeks back and finally made it down to Niagara today to flagpole and activate my permanent residency!

For anyone looking for information regarding the whole process, here was my experience.

Total time to complete flagpole - less than 1 hour
Location - Rainbow Bridge, Niagara Falls
Items needed - COPR, Passport, proof of address, rejection letter from US border office

This was my second time flagpoling at Niagara so i knew the drill. Walked across Rainbow Bridge to US border, 10 min wait to be seen and just told them i was doing a Canadian PR Landing. The US border guard was friendly and helpful, and displayed none of the usual 'toughness' they normally do. He took 5 mins to check my passport and fill out the rejection form and i was on my way back to the Canadian side.

Upon reaching the Canadian side, my passport was checked by a friendly Canadian border guard, she filled out a piece of paper stating i was activating PR and that it might be up to a 2 hour wait in the border office!! I walked in and it was empty! I was served straight away and handed over my passport, COPR and proof of address (i took a hydro bill with me) and had to sign my COPR. I was told to sit down and 10 minutes later it was done! She removed my old visas and BOWP from my passport and stapled my completed COPR into my passport, updated my address as i have recently moved and told me my PR card would be with me in 6 weeks.

Couldn't be easier!

I went on a Sunday morning, and would strongly recommend going on that day if you can as they were saying that Saturday's are usually a 4 hour wait to be served!

Good luck to everyone who is waiting on their COPR or about to activate them. Hope my experience will help!

 

[dai001]

Where did you park your car?

 

[fenwick100]

are you from visa exempt country?

 

[2016express.entry]

Hi everyone!

So I finished my landing smoothly at Rainbow bridge yesterday.

I had a US visa while my spouse did not.

We reached on Wednesday at around 11:00 pm and there was only one more car and even they had come for flag poling.

The officer at the US border was nice and courteous. He asked for our passports, we told him we want to go back to Canada for landing. He already knew about Flag poling and sent us to another gate with the orange coloured administrative refusal slip. The officer there took the orange slip and gave us a white paper addressed to Canadian Immigration. We then paid the toll (CAD 4.50 ) and came to the Canadian border and gave the white paper.

The Canadian officer asked us to park the Car and enter the immigration office near the gate. At the office we gave the officer in charge : our passports with our work/student permits, proof of funds (bank letter stating our name, address and balance ; RBC gave us the letter immediately , charged CAD10 ) and CoPR. We were asked to wait for 5 minutes after which we she gave us our documents back. Of the lot we gave her she only kept the permits.

So the entire procedure took about 30-40 minutes at the most. We were back on QEW by 11:45 pm.

 

[ajanarth]

Hi everyone!

So I finished my landing smoothly at Rainbow bridge yesterday.

I had a US visa while my spouse did not.

We reached on Wednesday at around 11:00 pm and there was only one more car and even they had come for flag poling.

The officer at the US border was nice and courteous. He asked for our passports, we told him we want to go back to Canada for landing. He already knew about Flag poling and sent us to another gate with the orange coloured administrative refusal slip. The officer there took the orange slip and gave us a white paper addressed to Canadian Immigration. We then paid the toll (CAD 4.50 ) and came to the Canadian border and gave the white paper.

The Canadian officer asked us to park the Car and enter the immigration office near the gate. At the office we gave the officer in charge : our passports with our work/student permits, proof of funds (bank letter stating our name, address and balance ; RBC gave us the letter immediately , charged CAD10 ) and CoPR. We were asked to wait for 5 minutes after which we she gave us our documents back. Of the lot we gave her she only kept the permits.

So the entire procedure took about 30-40 minutes at the most. We were back on QEW by 11:45 pm.

Hi there,

Congrats, may I ask why you had to show proof of fund under CEC ? you just had prepared as precautionary measure or just asked to bring some proof ?

Thanks,

 

[kidbroker]

Hi there,

Congrats, may I ask why you had to show proof of fund under CEC ? you just had prepared as precautionary measure or just asked to bring some proof ?

Thanks,

It's not required, just passport, work permit, copr and proof of address.

 

[Kothem]

Hi there,

Congrats, may I ask why you had to show proof of fund under CEC ? you just had prepared as precautionary measure or just asked to bring some proof ?

Thanks,

I landed at Peace bridge at Forte Erie, Niagara. They just asked for my Passport and CoPR. I even forgot to take my exiting work permits(I found this one later after coming home).

Safer side, take bank statement if you have enough funds or employment letter having you annual salary and address proof along with passport, CoPR and existing work permits.