Ok, so for anyone who was curious: TL;DR I didn't get my OWP at the border, but it was worth the trip anyhow. Still gotta apply online like everyone else lol.
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I am reporting back on my trip (with my husband) to the US/Canada Port of Entry for the OWP. So first off, really great experiences with all agents on both sides -- I would highly recommend this port of entry to anyone; very chill/calm vibes. I went to the Stanstead/Derby Line border. It was heavily raining, which made the trip there longer than it should have been (Google had estimated about 1.5-2hrs from MTL).
We left at about 4AM and arrived at about 6:30AM. When we got there, we found out a few things:
- Although the border services at this port of entry are open 24/7, Immigration Services (particularly with relation to work permits) don't begin until 8AM -- which isn't posted anywhere online that we could find (because we had definitely looked before going!!).
- US citizens don't really "flagpole" because they have the right to enter the US naturally. So going through the border to change status or obtain a work permit doesn't require anything but telling the US border agent, showing your passport(s), and then turning around.
- OWP specifically for the Spousal Sponsorship in the Family Class can not be done at the border anymore. The policy that permitted it was revoked in May 2023.
That said, my husband and I agree that it wasn't a wasted trip. The agents were very patient with us, there was no line and no stress. We just ended up going to Vermont spontaneously for breakfast while we waited until 8AM and then we were attended to immediately when we arrived back at the Canadian border. The agents asked for all of the documents we had and wanted to know what we wanted to apply for. They took the paperwork for review, asked us to wait in the lobby, and waved us to the counter when they were ready.
It took about an hour to investigate our situation from 8:15AM to 9:20AM due to our unique circumstances (if we didn't have extra things for them to look at, the whole process would have been 15-30 min tops). We got a lot of information about the work permit processing and some advice from the border agent we were working with. The agent working with us also offered to extend my Visitor Record and provided us with a couple of print outs with additional options that we are able to pursue in the meantime for our specific situation.
So it's not a success story, but the ending was still positive!