I did my in-land landing at Rainbow Bridge this past saturday May 28 2016. I didn't choose to book an appointment at a local office because I wanted to get it done ASAP. Also this past weekend was American Long-weekend (Memorial Day), however that is irrelevant as I will explain further.
I arrived and parked my car with my wife and son in the city and walked to the bridged. Did the pedestrian exit and re-entered. This is the only real benefit of Rainbow Bridge as it allows you to skip going through US customs and re-entering. First officer handed me a yellow slip and asked me to enter the office building across the road. Second officer took my COPR,passport and yellow slip and said it will be a 2 hour wait. I was a little upset, but I sucked it up and went to the waiting area where there were at-least 15-20 people waiting to do landing for PR or get work/study permits. 3 hours later I was still waiting. The officers over there take their sweet time. There were atleast 8-9 officers behind the desk. But only 1 was working on landings. Then they would go on several breaks and not work at all while 20 people are just sitting and waiting. I asked one officer to find out how much longer I'd have to wait. He said that Rainbow Bridge does more Landings in one year than ALL the border crossing combined. He also told me that LEWISTON BORDER CROSSING which is a 15 minute drive from Niagara Falls is always faster and wait times there are around 10 mins even on a Saturday morning.
I also observed another fellow landing applicant give up. He was given his passport back and he said he'll try again later. Had I known that I would never have agreed to wait and wouldve driven to Lewiston right away.
3.5 hours later I was finally called up to sign my COPR and I was out. It was all a bit anti-climatic.
My advice is, if you are in the Toronto-Niagara Region and will be landing. Go to the Lewiston Bridge or book an appointment at your local CIC office by calling 18882422100 Option 7 and then press 0. The only drawback of booking an appointment is you may have to wait 7-10 days more which I did not want to do.
AVOID RAINBOW BRIDGE!!!
I arrived and parked my car with my wife and son in the city and walked to the bridged. Did the pedestrian exit and re-entered. This is the only real benefit of Rainbow Bridge as it allows you to skip going through US customs and re-entering. First officer handed me a yellow slip and asked me to enter the office building across the road. Second officer took my COPR,passport and yellow slip and said it will be a 2 hour wait. I was a little upset, but I sucked it up and went to the waiting area where there were at-least 15-20 people waiting to do landing for PR or get work/study permits. 3 hours later I was still waiting. The officers over there take their sweet time. There were atleast 8-9 officers behind the desk. But only 1 was working on landings. Then they would go on several breaks and not work at all while 20 people are just sitting and waiting. I asked one officer to find out how much longer I'd have to wait. He said that Rainbow Bridge does more Landings in one year than ALL the border crossing combined. He also told me that LEWISTON BORDER CROSSING which is a 15 minute drive from Niagara Falls is always faster and wait times there are around 10 mins even on a Saturday morning.
I also observed another fellow landing applicant give up. He was given his passport back and he said he'll try again later. Had I known that I would never have agreed to wait and wouldve driven to Lewiston right away.
3.5 hours later I was finally called up to sign my COPR and I was out. It was all a bit anti-climatic.
My advice is, if you are in the Toronto-Niagara Region and will be landing. Go to the Lewiston Bridge or book an appointment at your local CIC office by calling 18882422100 Option 7 and then press 0. The only drawback of booking an appointment is you may have to wait 7-10 days more which I did not want to do.
AVOID RAINBOW BRIDGE!!!
