Landing Experience - 17th Jan 2019 - Flagpoling - Lewiston Bridge - Took just 20 mins to become a PR

[alfred0]

Do not trust them telling you to come later in the day, they have limited quota like 10-15 for all kinds of application (study/work permit, COPR, etc.)

Here is my experience:
I went to Lewiston Bridge on 7th May at 9am, but unfortunately was told that quota has met and perhaps come back afternoon or other day. Then I spent my whole day running through all 3 bridges, all of them said they will open and accept application somehow in the day, but the truth is not, they are just messing with people.

On 8th May I arrived at Lewiston Bridge at 5am and waited in a duty-free mall that has a Starbucks.
At 7:30am, I proceeded to the US border to get the flag pole paper and waited 20minutes to get it.
Finally at 7:55am I entered the Canada border office and proceeded the COPR, overall waited 1 hour to get the COPR done and the congratulations.

Lesson of the day: arrive there early on Wednesday or Thursday, I do not suggest Tuesday because it's the first starting day of the week for them processing COPR, lots of people accumulated

Good luck everyone!

 

[sumylili]

Do not trust them telling you to come later in the day, they have limited quota like 10-15 for all kinds of application (study/work permit, COPR, etc.)

Here is my experience:
I went to Lewiston Bridge on 7th May at 9am, but unfortunately was told that quota has met and perhaps come back afternoon or other day. Then I spent my whole day running through all 3 bridges, all of them said they will open and accept application somehow in the day, but the truth is not, they are just messing with people.

On 8th May I arrived at Lewiston Bridge at 5am and waited in a duty-free mall that has a Starbucks.
At 7:30am, I proceeded to the US border to get the flag pole paper and waited 20minutes to get it.
Finally at 7:55am I entered the Canada border office and proceeded the COPR, overall waited 1 hour to get the COPR done and the congratulations.

Lesson of the day: arrive there early on Wednesday or Thursday, I do not suggest Tuesday because it's the first starting day of the week for them processing COPR, lots of people accumulated

Good luck everyone!

Congrats!! Thanks for sharing..

 

[Favnia]

What is the number for? To call them and see if they are pleased to receive flagpolers??

Exactly for that reason they don't care.

@alfred0 congrats! See you spent two days on this nonsense...

 

[PRAHADEESH]

Do not trust them telling you to come later in the day, they have limited quota like 10-15 for all kinds of application (study/work permit, COPR, etc.)

Here is my experience:
I went to Lewiston Bridge on 7th May at 9am, but unfortunately was told that quota has met and perhaps come back afternoon or other day. Then I spent my whole day running through all 3 bridges, all of them said they will open and accept application somehow in the day, but the truth is not, they are just messing with people.

On 8th May I arrived at Lewiston Bridge at 5am and waited in a duty-free mall that has a Starbucks.
At 7:30am, I proceeded to the US border to get the flag pole paper and waited 20minutes to get it.
Finally at 7:55am I entered the Canada border office and proceeded the COPR, overall waited 1 hour to get the COPR done and the congratulations.

Lesson of the day: arrive there early on Wednesday or Thursday, I do not suggest Tuesday because it's the first starting day of the week for them processing COPR, lots of people accumulated

Good luck everyone!

thank you for this message, i am also waiting for my COPR and i need to go Niagara for PR landing, question is how are you running through all 3 bridges?, meaning you entered three times US and said Flag pooling returned back to canada using 3 bridges??

 

[alfred0]

thank you for this message, i am also waiting for my COPR and i need to go Niagara for PR landing, question is how are you running through all 3 bridges?, meaning you entered three times US and said Flag pooling returned back to canada using 3 bridges??

Correct, I did the flag pole in and out 3 times, the US officers told me that the Canadian border officers should have let everyone know in advance if they are processing COPR or not, otherwise everyone just keep blindly getting to the US border, which is wasting everyone's time

 

[sjose1]

Try other borders like Windsor or Sarnia. You may receive the same cold response but the queue would be definitely short. I did it last month.

 

[myra20sharma]

Best day, as seen, to go flagpoling is Thursday for Lewiston, atleast. As it's only Tues/Wed/Thurs and people just can't wait to go on the first day (tuesday) itself.

 

[Karen P]

Hi I wanted to ask you if I can still do flag poling if I overstayed in USA for about two weeks. And this happened six years ago. Would the US officers bother with the fact that I overstayed several years ago? Please help me out here if any one of you have similar experience. Thanks!

 

[madscientist11]

Hi I wanted to ask you if I can still do flag poling if I overstayed in USA for about two weeks. And this happened six years ago. Would the US officers bother with the fact that I overstayed several years ago? Please help me out here if any one of you have similar experience. Thanks!

Yes because when flagpoling you are not actually entering the US. When arriving at the US side, will inform US border agents that you want to flagpole, then they will issue document denying your entry and inform you to turn around heading back to Canada.

 

[Karen P]

Yes because when flagpoling you are not actually entering the US. When arriving at the US side, will inform US border agents that you want to flagpole, then they will issue document denying your entry and inform you to turn around heading back to Canada.

Thanks for the reply. So, should I not try to flagpole because the US officer may make a big deal?

 

[madscientist11]

Thanks for the reply. So, should I not try to flagpole because the US officer may make a big deal?

Sorry if I didn't word it clearly. I mean yes you can still flagpole, the US agents will not look into your previous overstay since you are not asking to enter the country now.

 

[Karen P]

Sorry if I didn't word it clearly. I mean yes you can still flagpole, the US agents will not look into your previous overstay since you are not asking to enter the country now.

No problem!
Thank you so much for the answer!

 

[madscientist11]

No problem!
Thank you so much for the answer!

Just tell them upfront that you want to flagpole, then give them your passport. They will issue a rejection and tell you to turn around back to Canada. You can find more detailed posts of flagpole experience from other users in the forum. Best of luck!

 

[myra20sharma]

Just tell them upfront that you want to flagpole, then give them your passport. They will issue a rejection and tell you to turn around back to Canada. You can find more detailed posts of flagpole experience from other users in the forum. Best of luck!

Just a small correction, what US would give you is NOT rejection. It's a paper saying you withdrew your entry to US. That is NOT a rejection.

 

[madscientist11]

Just a small correction, what US would give you is NOT rejection. It's a paper saying you withdrew your entry to US. That is NOT a rejection.

Right, thanks for the correction