flagpoling at an airport

[hopefulpoet]

My husband has his COPR, and we're trying to figure out the most efficient and cheapest way for him to leave and re-enter. I know you can't flagpole at an airport like you can at a land POE. But is it possible to buy a cheap flight to somewhere in the U.S., go through U.S. customs in the airport, and then turn around and re-enter back into Canada without actually flying anywhere? (it would be at the Edmonton int'l airport) Or would he have to actually be on both the departure and return flight?

I know that sounds kind of crazy, but we live about 7 hours from the nearest land POE. So the amount of gas it would take, plus probably having to stay in a hotel, wouldn't be much more expensive than just buying a cheap flight.

 

[Rob_TO]

No you can't do that. You would have to actually fly somewhere, and return on a new international flight.

You can call your local CIC office to schedule a landing appointment at their office. Some busy cities can take a few months to get the appt though.

 

[MizAngel]

My husband has his COPR, and we're trying to figure out the most efficient and cheapest way for him to leave and re-enter. I know you can't flagpole at an airport like you can at a land POE. But is it possible to buy a cheap flight to somewhere in the U.S., go through U.S. customs in the airport, and then turn around and re-enter back into Canada without actually flying anywhere? (it would be at the Edmonton int'l airport) Or would he have to actually be on both the departure and return flight?

I know that sounds kind of crazy, but we live about 7 hours from the nearest land POE. So the amount of gas it would take, plus probably having to stay in a hotel, wouldn't be much more expensive than just buying a cheap flight.

My husband and I drove from Edmonton to Sweetgrass in one day at the end of August, it wasn't too bad. Not ideal of course, but manageable. We thought about staying for a night, but didn't bother. We left at 9:30am, were in Sweetgrass by 3:30 and home by 10:30pm. All it costs us was gas and food.

 

[hopefulpoet]

My husband and I drove from Edmonton to Sweetgrass in one day at the end of August, it wasn't too bad. Not ideal of course, but manageable. We thought about staying for a night, but didn't bother. We left at 9:30am, were in Sweetgrass by 3:30 and home by 10:30pm. All it costs us was gas and food.

Ugh. I know that's the option that makes the most sense. It's probably what we'll end up doing. It means dragging our 2-year-old on a long road trip though (which is why we'd have to stay overnight), and it'll be miserable. I know I don't have to be along with my husband, but I want to for the moral support for the long drive.

 

[kiwi123]

My husband has his COPR, and we're trying to figure out the most efficient and cheapest way for him to leave and re-enter. I know you can't flagpole at an airport like you can at a land POE. But is it possible to buy a cheap flight to somewhere in the U.S., go through U.S. customs in the airport, and then turn around and re-enter back into Canada without actually flying anywhere? (it would be at the Edmonton int'l airport) Or would he have to actually be on both the departure and return flight?

I know that sounds kind of crazy, but we live about 7 hours from the nearest land POE. So the amount of gas it would take, plus probably having to stay in a hotel, wouldn't be much more expensive than just buying a cheap flight.

You would have paid for the flights anyway, why wouldn't you just take them?

 

[hopefulpoet]

You would have paid for the flights anyway, why wouldn't you just take them?

Because anywhere cheap he could fly is not a place that we would want to go to, if that makes sense (i.e. if we went to visit his family, it would be a much more expensive flight than if we just found the cheapest special we could). And most of all, because it would save a lot of time if he could just go through U.S. customs and then turn around and go through Canada customs without flying anywhere.

 

[nxo]

I know this post is ten years old, but I still wanted to add something to the previous comments. You may practically be able to do what you just described, as your admission to the US, and therefore your legal exit from Canada from an immigration POV, happen at the airport. Customs from neither don't track if you actually board for the purpose of your legal admission status to either country. There have been previous cases of cancelled flights where all pre-cleared passengers had to go through Canadian customs.

The more important issue I see here is how you would get admitted to the United States. You can not just state that you want to flagpole, as US Customs at the airport are one-way, unlike at land POEs, therefore they could not just "send you back". However, you need to state a valid reason for why you are seeking admission and you will not be able to provide a valid one, except if you lie – which is not only a serious crime in this case, but you could also risk getting caught, for example, if they send you to secondary inspection.