Hello everyone! Just wanted to share my landing/flagpoling experience.
After 5 hours and 2 bridges later...i successfully did my landing. Let me explain what happened in detail.
1. I went yesterday to the rainbow bridge at Niagara Falls at around 10.30pm. I thought this would be a quick stop.
2. I paid 50 cents to exit the bridge and walk 2 minutes to the USA border.
3. Entered the US side, told them I wanted to flagpole and they immediately handed me a refusal letter. It was pretty quick and so far so good.
4. I walked back to the Canada side and told the Canadian agents I was here to do my landing. They gave me a yellow slip and told me to go to the building next door. I handed my passport and my yellow slip to another agent and he told me it was going to take 1-2 hours. There were only 20 people but because they came in pairs/family there were only about 10 people ahead of me.
5. 3 hours later, I was still waiting... at this point there were 40 of us. Throughout the time I could hear agents complaining that they are not an immigration officer and it seemed that doing landing paperwork was a tedious task for them. I didn't feel welcomed and felt treated like a second class citizen.
6. Then came an officer and he seemed pretty angry. He said that 12 people just crossed the border and are claiming refugee status. And then told us to leave because it might take up to 48 hours before he can take any flagpoling case. He said things like "what do you expect?", "you are not a priority" ,"this is what happens when you come without an appointment", "i don't come to your place of work at midnight expecting service". He left and didn't give us any alternatives or help us work a solution. We all thought that because this is 24 hours place they will accept people. The whole room was silent and nobody moved because we were in shock, especially those who have been here over 5 hours. And there was so many questions like.."what status are we in now?" "are we even allowed to leave since we just flagpoled and haven't finalized our status in Canada". It was pretty upsetting (not at those claiming refugee status but by the way we were being treated).
7. Then came another agent and she was more sympathetic to our situation and explained to us that we will have to leave and come back another time and do it again (exiting to the US, getting refusal, and coming back). She told us there were other places we could cross.
8. So we then asked for our passports back, drove 20 minutes to the next crossing (queenston lewiston). We again, exit to the US, got the refusal, came back to Canada. We had to drive since there is no pedestrian crossing. It was empty, we were the only ones in queue and waited half an hour for the whole process to be completed. We met some nice people here and chatted. Now it was 3am and we finally became PR!
Some thoughts:
-I feel the border crossings are understaffed and see us as added extra work for them. And although I sympathize with them, we still deserve respect.
-With the amount of ITAs increasing, this is going to be a bigger issue.
-Come with patience and do not let anyone damp your experience. I have waited 9 years for this moment and I thought I was going to be crying of happiness. Instead I was tired, stressed and angry. And this is a moment I can never get back and I regret feeling so much anger in the moment . So please when you do the landing try to stay positive and enjoy the experience
-Lastly, there were some nice agents along the way (US and Canada) who were helpful and nice. I just wish whatever issues the other ones are facing (understaffed, getting a bad work schedule, overloaded with work), do not take your frustration on us. We just want to get our paperwork done and start a new life as a permanent residence.
After 5 hours and 2 bridges later...i successfully did my landing. Let me explain what happened in detail.
1. I went yesterday to the rainbow bridge at Niagara Falls at around 10.30pm. I thought this would be a quick stop.
2. I paid 50 cents to exit the bridge and walk 2 minutes to the USA border.
3. Entered the US side, told them I wanted to flagpole and they immediately handed me a refusal letter. It was pretty quick and so far so good.
4. I walked back to the Canada side and told the Canadian agents I was here to do my landing. They gave me a yellow slip and told me to go to the building next door. I handed my passport and my yellow slip to another agent and he told me it was going to take 1-2 hours. There were only 20 people but because they came in pairs/family there were only about 10 people ahead of me.
5. 3 hours later, I was still waiting... at this point there were 40 of us. Throughout the time I could hear agents complaining that they are not an immigration officer and it seemed that doing landing paperwork was a tedious task for them. I didn't feel welcomed and felt treated like a second class citizen.
6. Then came an officer and he seemed pretty angry. He said that 12 people just crossed the border and are claiming refugee status. And then told us to leave because it might take up to 48 hours before he can take any flagpoling case. He said things like "what do you expect?", "you are not a priority" ,"this is what happens when you come without an appointment", "i don't come to your place of work at midnight expecting service". He left and didn't give us any alternatives or help us work a solution. We all thought that because this is 24 hours place they will accept people. The whole room was silent and nobody moved because we were in shock, especially those who have been here over 5 hours. And there was so many questions like.."what status are we in now?" "are we even allowed to leave since we just flagpoled and haven't finalized our status in Canada". It was pretty upsetting (not at those claiming refugee status but by the way we were being treated).
7. Then came another agent and she was more sympathetic to our situation and explained to us that we will have to leave and come back another time and do it again (exiting to the US, getting refusal, and coming back). She told us there were other places we could cross.
8. So we then asked for our passports back, drove 20 minutes to the next crossing (queenston lewiston). We again, exit to the US, got the refusal, came back to Canada. We had to drive since there is no pedestrian crossing. It was empty, we were the only ones in queue and waited half an hour for the whole process to be completed. We met some nice people here and chatted. Now it was 3am and we finally became PR!
Some thoughts:
-I feel the border crossings are understaffed and see us as added extra work for them. And although I sympathize with them, we still deserve respect.
-With the amount of ITAs increasing, this is going to be a bigger issue.
-Come with patience and do not let anyone damp your experience. I have waited 9 years for this moment and I thought I was going to be crying of happiness. Instead I was tired, stressed and angry. And this is a moment I can never get back and I regret feeling so much anger in the moment . So please when you do the landing try to stay positive and enjoy the experience
-Lastly, there were some nice agents along the way (US and Canada) who were helpful and nice. I just wish whatever issues the other ones are facing (understaffed, getting a bad work schedule, overloaded with work), do not take your frustration on us. We just want to get our paperwork done and start a new life as a permanent residence.
