Landing

[Nina53]

Trying to make my mind about the way to land. As I am already inside Canada I have two options: flag poling and appointment in office. From what I read here the flag poling sometimes is not very pleasant experience (I was thinking to do flag poling at Niagara). Ppl advice to call in advance and ask about hours when the flag poling can be done (I assume they don't operate at night times ). Can someone share website where I can find numbers to call (CBSA)? The alternative landing is in office. Again reading here I see that the landing in Toronto is time consuming (wait time is around 2 months?). If anyone can share their thoughts on what is the better (less stressful/time consuming) way to land? Thank you.

 

[Eveslm]

Trying to make my mind about the way to land. As I am already inside Canada I have two options: flag poling and appointment in office. From what I read here the flag poling sometimes is not very pleasant experience (I was thinking to do flag poling at Niagara). Ppl advice to call in advance and ask about hours when the flag poling can be done (I assume they don't operate at night times ). Can someone share website where I can find numbers to call (CBSA)? The alternative landing is in office. Again reading here I see that the landing in Toronto is time consuming (wait time is around 2 months?). If anyone can share their thoughts on what is the better (less stressful/time consuming) way to land? Thank you.

Hello Nina53. May you please share your experience?

 

[Qwertypod]

I'd love to know as well! I've never heard of flag poling and would love to find out what that entails - it just sounds funny to me.

 

[Bs65]

I'd love to know as well! I've never heard of flag poling and would love to find out what that entails - it just sounds funny to me.

Flagpoling as regards immigration refers to a process where somebody heads for the Canada/US land border to complete their immigration process.

They exit Canada and present themselves to US CBP informing them they are there to ‘flagpole’ . US CBP will then issue an administrative refusal so an individual does not actually enter the US, no visa required and no effect on future US entries.

With the admin refusal in hand they return to the Canadian border and present themselves to CBSA to process their immigration application whether that be to process a PR landing or any other application that can be completed at the border.

Some border points such as Southern Ontario have restrictions on when this process can be attempted, such as Tuesday through Thursday only due to traffic volumes over weekends.

No idea where the term flagpole came from but guess sort of implies someone heads for the US and ‘swings’ around a US flagpole before heading back but without actually entering the US. As above in reality still need to interact with US CBP so not just a simple U turn.

 

[Qwertypod]

Flagpoling as regards immigration refers to a process where somebody heads for the Canada/US land border to complete their immigration process.

They exit Canada and present themselves to US CBP informing them they are there to ‘flagpole’ . US CBP will then issue an administrative refusal so an individual does not actually enter the US, no visa required and no effect on future US entries.

With the admin refusal in hand they return to the Canadian border and present themselves to CBSA to process their immigration application whether that be to process a PR landing or any other application that can be completed at the border.

Some border points such as Southern Ontario have restrictions on when this process can be attempted, such as Tuesday through Thursday only due to traffic volumes over weekends.

No idea where the term flagpole came from but guess sort of implies someone heads for the US and ‘swings’ around a US flagpole before heading back but without actually entering the US. As above in reality still need to interact with US CBP so not just a simple U turn.

Gotcha! Thanks for the explanation. I imagined it to be a small PR ceremony around a Canadian flag for some reason haha

 

[Tocanadawego]

Gotcha! Thanks for the explanation. I imagined it to be a small PR ceremony around a Canadian flag for some reason haha

Hahaha, love this! It would be awesome if that was the case!