Hi folks,
After 10 days of waiting, I got my passport with visa today (18-01-2016) afternoon via Expresspost, and within few hours I did flagpol landing at the nearest US border (Douglas/Peace Arch POE, http://cbsa.gc.ca/do-rb/offices-bureaux/405-eng.html) from Vancouver around 7PM. I called the CIC call centre beforehand to check if we could do an in-Canada landing only to learn after 40min waiting that it will take three weeks before CIC will contact me to discuss an appointment. I couldn't wait that long. So, here is my landing experience, if you're further interested:
I took my (and my wife's) CoPR, Passport, and Work permit & Study permit, (plus $20 cash and our marriage certificate, just in case) and literally nothing else. Because I called the CBSA (1-800-461-9999) upfront, an officer confirmed that in my case (since I've been living in Canada for six years in temporary visa) I need no other documents than those I mentioned above.
My daughter (who is already a Canadian citizen by birth), my wife and I walked from Peace Arch Duty Free Shopping area parking in Canada to the US Customs and Border office through a short but tricky walkway (I followed this link, which was extremely useful: http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/landing-experience-at-douglas-poe-peace-arch-park-t117956.0.html). Entering the US customs building I told the officer that we want to do flagpoling. The officer asked the following questions:
- Did you arrive by walking? (Yes) (I guess there's a fee involved if you enter the border by driving)
- Did you buy anything at the Duty Free? (No)
He didn't ask for any documents other than my passport (with visa and work+study permit). We waited only 10min as there was no line-up of any sort. The officer gave us a paper that included our names and served as a refusal letter to enter US and to confirm that we indeed left Canada. He advised us to walk back to Canada in the same way we came. We did so.
At the Canadian border the a very friendly gate-officer asked couple of questions:
- How did you come here? (flagpoling, by walk, parked car in Duty Free Area by mistake)
- What do you do in Canada and where? (PhD student, teaching, etc)
- How much cash are you carrying with you? ($20 cad)
- Did you buy anything from duty free shop? (No)
- Are you carrying any goods from outside Canada or intend to bring soon? (No)
- Are you carrying any guns or explosives? (Noooo way)
Then we went inside the building. There was no line-up whatsoever. A desk-officer asked us the following questions:
- Is this address on CoPR correct and your current address (Yes)
- Were you ever refused to enter Canada or any other country (No)
- Were you ever convicted or arrested for any criminal charges (No)
- Do you have any other dependent who is over 18 y? (No)
As I assumed, the officer didn't ask for any document. We wanted show the marriage certificate, she said its not necessary. After 10-15min waiting she asked us to sign at the CoPR doc and congratulated us as a Canadian PR with giving us Canadian flags. Thats all! The whole process of landing took only
30-35min (10min at the US Customs, 10-15min at Canadian border, 10 min walk and back between two borders), I guess we were lucky to go there on a Monday evening. Although we were worried at the beginning, we found the overall landing process was pretty smooth for us. Perhaps it was a compensation for us for
14 months waiting precisely for the overall application process
Those who are still waiting for visa, hope you will receive your passport soon. Wish you a smooth landing!!
p.s. The car/parking issue... Initially wanted to park my car at the Peace Arch Park parking lot, which is only a 5min walk from the US Customs and Border office/entrance. I took the Beach Road exit and turned right at the Vancouver-Blaine Hwy, right prior to the border-crossing. However, I turned left at the Beach Road a few yards sooner and entered the Duty Free Shopping area parking by mistake, then immediately realized that I can't go back without puncturing my car tires -- it's an one-way entrance towards the US. If you're using this method landing, note that the the entrance to the Peace Arch Park parking lot and the entrance to the Duty Free Shopping area are only few meters apart and you should not enter the Duty Free Shopping area. Although this is a common mistake. Anyway, I decided to do the landing first and then deal with car issue. After I completed the landing process I explained the officer what happened, following the officer's advice, I drove the car towards US border, and fortunately, there was a U-turn right before the US border gates (you can call it "no man's land") that allowed us to re-enter Canada in our car without having to entering the US. At the Canadian border, the gate-officer recognized us. It took 1 min to cross the border.
