My experience landing at the Lewiston/Queenston bridge
- Thread starter cmoncanada
- Start date
And I was making a joke with the other person that wrote "if you have been in Canada for more than 2 years(visitor, student, worker), you will be citizen in approx 2 years"that's you wrote, that's why I say you misunderstood,
No, you won't be. You don't suddenly become a citizen after spending 2 years in Quebec or in any other province. You have to go thru a different process/application. And.... that's why I said you misunderstood the conversation.
Hi and thank you sharing your experience. We are planning to enter next weekend and was wondering where you got this information - Please note that this bridge only process landings from Tuesdays to Thursdays. Thanks !Hi everyone,
I would like to share my experience on my landing on the Queenston bridge.
I left Toronto on a Wednesday morning (7am) and drove to the Niagara Region. I was crossing the bridge to US it was around 9:30 in the morning.
When I got to the US side, I just told the office that my partner and I were just flagpolling in order to do the landing in Canada. He asked me to drive to the side and wait for the administrative refusal.
The administrative refusal is just a paper stating that you left the country and “entered” a different one, which is requested for the landing.
With the paper in hand, I drove back to Canada. I stopped at the both and told the officer that I was doing my landing in that morning. She gave me a yellow paper slip and asked me to go inside the building with Canada written on it.
When I went inside, there were around 10 to 12 people already waiting. I checked in with the first officer who kept my passport and all my landing documents, and asked me to take a seat that I would be called by my name.
I waited for almost 2 hours there until someone called my name. I went to talk to the officer, he checked my passport and my picture and asked me to take a seat again.
After some time, he called my name again. Now he asked if I was alone in the car, which I replied stating that my partner was with me. He then asked to see my partner’s passport/ID. My partner came by and handed his passport to the officer, which (again) asked us to sit.
After some time, he called my name again and asked my partner to come together. He handed his passport back and asked him to sit. I waited there and he asked me to write my address and phone number on the Confirmation of Landing. He asked me to sign the document as well. Then, he asked me to sit one more time.
As you can see, there was a lot of sitting that morning.
Then he finally call my name again, and says that:
(1) I am now a permanent resident of Canada and to maintain that status I need to be physically in Canada in 2 out of 5 years.
(2) I will receive my PR card within 6-8 weeks at the address that I wrote on the Confirmation of Landing and I will have to sign a receipt that I received it. Which my partner told me that it doesn’t really happen (he is a PR).
(3) I can travel by land with that Confirmation of Landing but not by air - if I want to travel by air before I receive my PR card, I will have to apply for a travel document.
(4) Finally, he says that if I get in a relationship with someone that has a removal order, and this person is found to be inadmissible, that I will lose my status as well and will have to go back to my home country. Which is not accurate. My lawyer told me that this is valid only for a foreign national, aka someone who is on a student or work permit.
I remember when I went to do my landing, I looked for other experiences on this bridge here at this forum and could find only one. So here is the second one.
Please note that this bridge only process landings from Tuesdays to Thursdays.
I hope it helps you guys in any way.
Thanks!
I got that info from actually trying to do the landing on a weekend and them telling me that they only do it on Tuesdays to Thursdays.
Thank you thats Interesting ! I don't know what will happen to us. I guess we will have to try to see for ourselves. I will update my scenario soon
Appreciate your quick response.
Just to update. I called the Canada border services agency @ Lewiston bridge and they confirmed that they process landings only from Tuesday to Thursday 8 AM to midnight. So we are now entering 8 AM Tuesday !
Has anybody done it later on in the day? Like around 8pm or something?
Everybody i read about here has gone there first thing in the morning, i was planning to go on a weekday after work.
From what the officer told me. There is some Quota. Even they are unsure about the number. She said it would be safer to do it early morning. This is a one time event why take a chance. Just go early morning.
Hello All ! So we are back in USA after a successful landing experience at the Lewiston Bridge. As recommended by the Canada Border Service helpline, we visited on Tuesday @ 7 AM. The officer at the gate guided us to the secondary office. We got a warm smile and welcome and were asked to present our passports and COPR. Then another officer asked to show proof of funds (just got printouts of last 2 month bank statements). He made notes on his computer and signed the COPR and asked us to sign as well. General questions were asked - are you convicted of any crime, are you carrying any weapons, etc. Then on the next counter the Goods to follow and goods accompanying form (B4) was stamped. Thats it ! On our way into Canada. Simple as that. As soon as we entered Niagara we stopped at the first Service Canada center and got our SIN in 5 mins. Then found the closest TD Canada Bank and opened our first account in 45 mins or so. Next stop was RBC another 45 mins to an hour. Simple as that !
On our way back to USA (we are on H1B visa) just showed our Passports answered general questions like - Do you have anything to declare, are you carrying cash more than $10K USD, etc. and entered.
On our way back to USA (we are on H1B visa) just showed our Passports answered general questions like - Do you have anything to declare, are you carrying cash more than $10K USD, etc. and entered.
Hi,Hi everyone,
I would like to share my experience on my landing on the Queenston bridge.
I left Toronto on a Wednesday morning (7am) and drove to the Niagara Region. I was crossing the bridge to US it was around 9:30 in the morning.
When I got to the US side, I just told the office that my partner and I were just flagpolling in order to do the landing in Canada. He asked me to drive to the side and wait for the administrative refusal.
The administrative refusal is just a paper stating that you left the country and “entered” a different one, which is requested for the landing.
With the paper in hand, I drove back to Canada. I stopped at the both and told the officer that I was doing my landing in that morning. She gave me a yellow paper slip and asked me to go inside the building with Canada written on it.
When I went inside, there were around 10 to 12 people already waiting. I checked in with the first officer who kept my passport and all my landing documents, and asked me to take a seat that I would be called by my name.
I waited for almost 2 hours there until someone called my name. I went to talk to the officer, he checked my passport and my picture and asked me to take a seat again.
After some time, he called my name again. Now he asked if I was alone in the car, which I replied stating that my partner was with me. He then asked to see my partner’s passport/ID. My partner came by and handed his passport to the officer, which (again) asked us to sit.
After some time, he called my name again and asked my partner to come together. He handed his passport back and asked him to sit. I waited there and he asked me to write my address and phone number on the Confirmation of Landing. He asked me to sign the document as well. Then, he asked me to sit one more time.
As you can see, there was a lot of sitting that morning.
Then he finally call my name again, and says that:
(1) I am now a permanent resident of Canada and to maintain that status I need to be physically in Canada in 2 out of 5 years.
(2) I will receive my PR card within 6-8 weeks at the address that I wrote on the Confirmation of Landing and I will have to sign a receipt that I received it. Which my partner told me that it doesn’t really happen (he is a PR).
(3) I can travel by land with that Confirmation of Landing but not by air - if I want to travel by air before I receive my PR card, I will have to apply for a travel document.
(4) Finally, he says that if I get in a relationship with someone that has a removal order, and this person is found to be inadmissible, that I will lose my status as well and will have to go back to my home country. Which is not accurate. My lawyer told me that this is valid only for a foreign national, aka someone who is on a student or work permit.
I remember when I went to do my landing, I looked for other experiences on this bridge here at this forum and could find only one. So here is the second one.
Please note that this bridge only process landings from Tuesdays to Thursdays.
I hope it helps you guys in any way.
Thanks!
Thanks for sharing your experience. Would you please tell me if someone can go for flagpolinh anytime between Tuesday to thursday or there is any time specification also?