Hi,
I wanted to post my experience doing soft landing/ U turn from USA.
Me and my wife are both on H1B visas in US and are essential workers here and have current US visa stamps on our passports. So, we were confident of being allowed back into the US. To make sure, I did call the CBP (Customs and Border Protection) at the border we planned on crossing to make sure we will be allowed back in which they confirmed.
I called CBSA 3 times over a period of 2 weeks and was told all 3 times that if we entered Canada, we would have to quarantine for 2 weeks. Having already used up our vacations earlier this year and also due to the nature of our jobs, were unable to get time off at this time. So, did not want to do a 14 day quarantine. On the last call the agent told me that it really depends on the border agent if they will allow you to do a U turn.
My plan was to tell the agent that we weren't prepared for quarantine and if that was an absolute must, just send us back from the border without entering Canada. My main fear was if they told us that since we were now at the border, we would be breaking the law by not quarantining.
So, on a Saturday afternoon we decided to take our chances and drove up to the Port Huron/ Sarnia border. There, we found out why Canadians are considered the nicest people in the world!
We were fully prepared with any and every document with us, didn't want to give them a reason to say no.
The border agent asked us the purpose of our visit which we explained was to activate our PR and were hoping to go back today. He then asked why we wanted to go back the same day and we explained that our COPR was about to expire and we were essential workers in US. Without another word, he gave us a form and pointed towards a building asking us to take the form inside.
Inside, an agent greeted us and pretty much asked us the same question of why doing a soft landing during the pandemic. We gave him the same explanation to which he replied "Fair enough" and requested us to wait. 20 minutes to half hour later, came back and asked us to sign the documents and asked what address we wanted our PR cards sent to. I started to give the Canadian address of a friend but he said I will just have it mailed to your US address. Will be convenient for you guys. Didn't even ask for our goods to follow form and said that can be taken care of when you move.
And that's it, we were done. In and out of Canada in about 45 minutes!