Hello all! Just three days short of 6 months and our PR journey is finally, finally over. I would like to share our landing experience with you all in case it helps someone. We were CEC-inland applicants, and chose to flagpole because apparently the wait time for our local IRCC office was up to three months for an appointment. The whole process took 20 minutes at most, excluding travel time. We went on a weekday afternoon.
So! Bright and early today we got up to meet our immigration consultant, as our COPR document had been mailed to her. Collected it, did one final check to ensure we had all our documents, headed back home to print the ones we did not have, and we were off!
We live in Vancouver, and don't own a car so we decided to land at Boundary Bay/Point Roberts because it is accessible by public transport - it is a 1 hour bus ride (#601) from the Bridgeport skytrain station in Richmond. It is the very last stop on the bus route, and about a 15 minute walk from the bus route to the border. There are signs close to the US border telling pedestrians and bikes where to head to. We stood at the pedestrian checkpoint, and a US border agent asked us what we were there for. We told him we were for flagpoling and they told us to go into the office, asked us a couple of questions, stamped our passports, and told us to go the Canadian border office.
Crossed over to the Canadian border office and the border agent asked us what we were there for, told him that we just came in from the US side and were landing/flagpoling, and he told us to come into the office. Got there and a border agent asked for our documents, a few standard questions and made us sign the COPR form. Waited for about 5 mins and she came back and gave us our passports, explained a few things to us (logging any trips out of the country, PR card estimated time) and said congratulations! and that was it! The border agents we dealt with were really professional, the bus drivers and people we dealt with were so nice today, the sun was out, it was such a good day to become a PR! i know on some posts people think border officers are hard to deal with but i think it's part of their job to remain stern because it is their duty to protect our borders!
On our way back we saw another person doing their landing, we said hi (and asked if he was doing his landing), i was tempted to ask if he was on Canadavisa too but if that was you, hello! I hope everything went well for you too
Helpful to note:
- Most people recommend you get a visa to travel in to the US. In our case, they stamped our passport with a stamp that read "flagpoling", and the US border officer told me that this meant that i was considered withdrawing my request to enter the US, but my immigration consultant had clients who went in to the US.
-If you are landing but had applied to extend your stay in Canada (e.g. work permit expired), remember to bring your extension documents (including the receipt of payment - we did not have this document at first but our immigration consultant told us to print out a copy as well). If you got a new passport, bring your old passport and any previous work permits as well.
-Check your border wait times online before you go so you know how long to expect to wait.
-This one seems a little silly but if you're attempting to land at Point Roberts by foot i would recommend packing for the weather as the walk and the bus stops are not sheltered.
So! Bright and early today we got up to meet our immigration consultant, as our COPR document had been mailed to her. Collected it, did one final check to ensure we had all our documents, headed back home to print the ones we did not have, and we were off!
We live in Vancouver, and don't own a car so we decided to land at Boundary Bay/Point Roberts because it is accessible by public transport - it is a 1 hour bus ride (#601) from the Bridgeport skytrain station in Richmond. It is the very last stop on the bus route, and about a 15 minute walk from the bus route to the border. There are signs close to the US border telling pedestrians and bikes where to head to. We stood at the pedestrian checkpoint, and a US border agent asked us what we were there for. We told him we were for flagpoling and they told us to go into the office, asked us a couple of questions, stamped our passports, and told us to go the Canadian border office.
Crossed over to the Canadian border office and the border agent asked us what we were there for, told him that we just came in from the US side and were landing/flagpoling, and he told us to come into the office. Got there and a border agent asked for our documents, a few standard questions and made us sign the COPR form. Waited for about 5 mins and she came back and gave us our passports, explained a few things to us (logging any trips out of the country, PR card estimated time) and said congratulations! and that was it! The border agents we dealt with were really professional, the bus drivers and people we dealt with were so nice today, the sun was out, it was such a good day to become a PR! i know on some posts people think border officers are hard to deal with but i think it's part of their job to remain stern because it is their duty to protect our borders!
On our way back we saw another person doing their landing, we said hi (and asked if he was doing his landing), i was tempted to ask if he was on Canadavisa too but if that was you, hello! I hope everything went well for you too
Helpful to note:
- Most people recommend you get a visa to travel in to the US. In our case, they stamped our passport with a stamp that read "flagpoling", and the US border officer told me that this meant that i was considered withdrawing my request to enter the US, but my immigration consultant had clients who went in to the US.
-If you are landing but had applied to extend your stay in Canada (e.g. work permit expired), remember to bring your extension documents (including the receipt of payment - we did not have this document at first but our immigration consultant told us to print out a copy as well). If you got a new passport, bring your old passport and any previous work permits as well.
-Check your border wait times online before you go so you know how long to expect to wait.
-This one seems a little silly but if you're attempting to land at Point Roberts by foot i would recommend packing for the weather as the walk and the bus stops are not sheltered.
