Hello, I would like to post my experience carrying out soft landing from US by land. My husband and I did the soft landing process for PR card on 17th July 2020 from the Buffalo, NY - Peace bridge location (2 Peace Bridge Plaza, Fort Erie, ON L2A 0A7, Canada). We had many concerns regarding the process due to the current situation, so wanted to post the entire experience here so that it might help others in the same situation.
We had our COPR valid till July 18, 2020. We have been contacting IRCC since May 2020, requesting an extension of COPR but didn't get back a response from them. Finally, we decided to do soft landing and were prepared to quarantine in Canada for 14 days, if asked to do so. We had booked an extended stay hotel in Hamilton, ON and had carried food, clothes, etc. for 14 days. We were traveling by car and at the border, there were about 3 cars in front of us since all non-essential travel has been suspended. We informed the immigration officer at the border that we would like to do soft landing and hope to return the same day, since we don't plan to settle in Canada immediately. She wasn't aware of the term "soft landing" and directed us to the CBSA office for paperwork. She handed us back the passports, COPR papers and Yellow slip(On the slip's comments section "Soft Landing" word was mentioned, and in box for days of intended stay was written 1 Day.) I believe this information on yellow slip was result of us mentioning that we wanted to return on the same day.
At the CBSA office, initially, the officer took our papers and Passport and asked us to wait till he verified the information. We waited for almost 20-25 mins and were finally called. The immigration officer understood the situation that we wanted to make a U turn and return back to the US on the same day and agreed to it. He asked for an address to mail the PR card in Canada and asked us again to wait till the final paperwork was done. After another 20 mins, he called us to sign the papers, asked for the GTF (Goods to Follow) list and officially declared that the PR process was done and we would receive the card in 6 to 8 weeks. He was kind enough even to show us where we could take a U-turn from, to return back to US.
At the US immigration, we were asked a few general questions like what visa you are on, how long were you in Canada and why, etc.
All in all, it really depends on the officer if they agree to let you return back without quarantine. We were lucky to have come across an understanding office.
Hope this experience helps others. Good luck!
We had our COPR valid till July 18, 2020. We have been contacting IRCC since May 2020, requesting an extension of COPR but didn't get back a response from them. Finally, we decided to do soft landing and were prepared to quarantine in Canada for 14 days, if asked to do so. We had booked an extended stay hotel in Hamilton, ON and had carried food, clothes, etc. for 14 days. We were traveling by car and at the border, there were about 3 cars in front of us since all non-essential travel has been suspended. We informed the immigration officer at the border that we would like to do soft landing and hope to return the same day, since we don't plan to settle in Canada immediately. She wasn't aware of the term "soft landing" and directed us to the CBSA office for paperwork. She handed us back the passports, COPR papers and Yellow slip(On the slip's comments section "Soft Landing" word was mentioned, and in box for days of intended stay was written 1 Day.) I believe this information on yellow slip was result of us mentioning that we wanted to return on the same day.
At the CBSA office, initially, the officer took our papers and Passport and asked us to wait till he verified the information. We waited for almost 20-25 mins and were finally called. The immigration officer understood the situation that we wanted to make a U turn and return back to the US on the same day and agreed to it. He asked for an address to mail the PR card in Canada and asked us again to wait till the final paperwork was done. After another 20 mins, he called us to sign the papers, asked for the GTF (Goods to Follow) list and officially declared that the PR process was done and we would receive the card in 6 to 8 weeks. He was kind enough even to show us where we could take a U-turn from, to return back to US.
At the US immigration, we were asked a few general questions like what visa you are on, how long were you in Canada and why, etc.
All in all, it really depends on the officer if they agree to let you return back without quarantine. We were lucky to have come across an understanding office.
Hope this experience helps others. Good luck!
