Landing Interview, Schedual or cross the boarder?

[IceEye]

Hello! I'm a US citizen living in Canada, my wife is sponsoring me.

We sent off my passport photocopies and stuff a few weeks ago and we just got a notification that I was approved and CIC is sending the final papers back.

So my wife and I are wondering what best for our next step. We only live about 3 hours away from the boarder and we REALLY like the idea of listening to Alberta Bound while crossing at Sweetgrass Montana, haha. But I'm not sure if there are any advantages to scheduling an interview vs. crossing the boarder. I assume scheduling an appointment means you have to wait longer, but I'm not sure if there is a larger chance of something going wrong at the boarder or what.

Would love some advice, thanks!

 

[preity]

Hello! I'm a US citizen living in Canada, my wife is sponsoring me.

We sent off my passport photocopies and stuff a few weeks ago and we just got a notification that I was approved and CIC is sending the final papers back.

So my wife and I are wondering what best for our next step. We only live about 3 hours away from the boarder and we REALLY like the idea of listening to Alberta Bound while crossing at Sweetgrass Montana, haha. But I'm not sure if there are any advantages to scheduling an interview vs. crossing the boarder. I assume scheduling an appointment means you have to wait longer, but I'm not sure if there is a larger chance of something going wrong at the boarder or what.

Would love some advice, thanks!

I read a post where crossing the border without an appointment led to issues with the landing paperwork. Apparently the CBSA officers can refuse to do the procedures if they are too busy and even otherwise, don't like doing the paperwork.
I would say take an appointment and be free of worries.

 

[elenama]

I agree with the poster above, CBSA officers don’t like processing landing for flagpolers, however…

What you can do is just lie that you’ve stayed in US for a couple of days visiting your friends / family. Since you are American and your wife is Canadian, your passports won’t be stamped when you enter USA. So you can just chill in a coffeeshop on the American side for half an hour and head back to Canada. This is not flagpoling anymore, you officially left Canada and entered another country before heading back.

Clearly tell the Canadian officers that you didn’t just drive to US border and turn around, tell them that you’ve actually entered USA and they will accept you. CBSA officers are obligated to process your landing on the first point of entry, which in this case would be a land border.

That’s exactly what me and my husband did about a month ago. Here in Ontario land borders don’t process flagpolers Friday to Tuesday so we had to get a bit creative to get processed on Saturday.

Good luck and congrats!

 

[kcward7]

I agree with the poster above, CBSA officers don’t like processing landing for flagpolers, however…

What you can do is just lie that you’ve stayed in US for a couple of days visiting your friends / family. Since you are American and your wife is Canadian, your passports won’t be stamped when you enter USA. So you can just chill in a coffeeshop on the American side for half an hour and head back to Canada. This is not flagpoling anymore, you officially left Canada and entered another country before heading back.

Clearly tell the Canadian officers that you didn’t just drive to US border and turn around, tell them that you’ve actually entered USA and they will accept you. CBSA officers are obligated to process your landing on the first point of entry, which in this case would be a land border.

That’s exactly what me and my husband did about a month ago. Here in Ontario land borders don’t process flagpolers Friday to Tuesday so we had to get a bit creative to get processed on Saturday.

Good luck and congrats!

Good god. DO NOT LIE. What kind of advice is that?

 

[kcward7]

IceEye...don't lie to CBSA officers. You could find yourself in a world of trouble. We did not make an appointment, and they treated us like shit.

Seriously, they're already strict enough as it is...it's not worth risking anything by being dishonest

 

[IceEye]

Good god. DO NOT LIE. What kind of advice is that?

We where planning on staying in Sweetgrass for a couple days for new years. It wouldn't be lying if so correct? and It wouldn't be considered Flag-polling I'm pretty sure.

How long does it take to get an appointment if I where too?

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Hello! I'm a US citizen living in Canada, my wife is sponsoring me.

We sent off my passport photocopies and stuff a few weeks ago and we just got a notification that I was approved and CIC is sending the final papers back.

So my wife and I are wondering what best for our next step. We only live about 3 hours away from the boarder and we REALLY like the idea of listening to Alberta Bound while crossing at Sweetgrass Montana, haha. But I'm not sure if there are any advantages to scheduling an interview vs. crossing the boarder. I assume scheduling an appointment means you have to wait longer, but I'm not sure if there is a larger chance of something going wrong at the boarder or what.

Would love some advice, thanks!

Hi

While many have had bad flagpoling experiences (majority of those seem to be in Ontario), many have great flagpoling experiences. You may want to call ahead to that border office, maybe ask if there is any better time to flagpole and get a feel for how they treat flagpoling.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

I agree with the poster above, CBSA officers don’t like processing landing for flagpolers, however…

What you can do is just lie that you’ve stayed in US for a couple of days visiting your friends / family. Since you are American and your wife is Canadian, your passports won’t be stamped when you enter USA. So you can just chill in a coffeeshop on the American side for half an hour and head back to Canada. This is not flagpoling anymore, you officially left Canada and entered another country before heading back.

Clearly tell the Canadian officers that you didn’t just drive to US border and turn around, tell them that you’ve actually entered USA and they will accept you. CBSA officers are obligated to process your landing on the first point of entry, which in this case would be a land border.

That’s exactly what me and my husband did about a month ago. Here in Ontario land borders don’t process flagpolers Friday to Tuesday so we had to get a bit creative to get processed on Saturday.

Good luck and congrats!

Such bad advice. Don't ever lie.

 

[IceEye]

Hi

While many have had bad flagpoling experiences (majority of those seem to be in Ontario), many have great flagpoling experiences. You may want to call ahead to that border office, maybe ask if there is any better time to flagpole and get a feel for how they treat flagpoling.

Okay thank you for the response, I tried calling that specific boarder agency but the number provided was generic :/ is there any way to look up the specific number?

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Okay thank you for the response, I tried calling that specific boarder agency but the number provided was generic :/ is there any way to look up the specific number?

I think that the main contact number should be able to transfer you to that crossing.

 

[CaroM8]

I called CBSA when my husband got his COPR about a month ago. While the guy on the phone was very polite, he strongly advised against flag poling. He told me officers can turn you away if they are too busy. Some will make you book an appointment and not even process you. He said something along the lines of « that’s not how you’re supposed to do your landing ». Anyway, he just gave me a vibe that CBSA in general is annoyed by the flag poling procedure.. but I know lots of people do it successfully!

We opted to go to an office instead of driving to the border and risk being turned away.

 

[IceEye]

I called CBSA when my husband got his COPR about a month ago. While the guy on the phone was very polite, he strongly advised against flag poling. He told me officers can turn you away if they are too busy. Some will make you book an appointment and not even process you. He said something along the lines of « that’s not how you’re supposed to do your landing ». Anyway, he just gave me a vibe that CBSA in general is annoyed by the flag poling procedure.. but I know lots of people do it successfully!

We opted to go to an office instead of driving to the border and risk being turned away.

We went ahead and crossed the boarder on January 6th and stayed the night in Montana. Had absolutly no problems and the agents where all very kind and polite.

 

[CaroM8]

We went ahead and crossed the boarder on January 6th and stayed the night in Montana. Had absolutly no problems and the agents where all very kind and polite.

That’s great! Congrats!

Although that’s technical not flag poling cause you stayed the night

 

[canuck_in_uk]

That’s great! Congrats!

Although that’s technical not flag poling cause you stayed the night

It's still considered flagpoling, as the reason for leaving Canada was to change their status when returning.

 

[CaroM8]

It's still considered flagpoling, as the reason for leaving Canada was to change their status when returning.

I guess it’s up to interpretation. I was once corrected by another member who says that if it’s not a direct in/our trip it wasn’t a flag pole. Anyway.. doesn’t matter