Aryan4253 said:
Congrats...what kind of questions they ask when you land back in canada at border?
I've been meaning to post my full landing/flagpole story... so here goes...
I headed to the Douglass Peace Arch border on Wednesday evening, and arrived near the border around 6pm. I had a friend drive me down, and she parked her car in the parking lot on the right hand side before you reach the US checkpoints. It's important to turn onto Beach Rd and then follow the sign to the Peace Arch Provincial Park - don't go into the duty free parking lot or drive further forward to the border or you'll be forced to take your car across.
From there I proceeded to walk the path towards the US office. It was a sunny evening and the sun was setting; perfect day for a nice walk. There's a washroom on the left just as you pass the actual boundry line - it's worth quickly stopping in and making sure you're comfortable just incase the next step take longer than expected. From there I kept walking and followed the signs that said "Pedestrians and Cyclists report to the office" (or similar wording), and I went inside the waiting room and lined up in the pedestrian line.
The US officer asked what my purpose of being there was, and I told him that I was "flagpolling to update my immigration status in Canada". He asked what I currently was and what I was changing to, and asked to see my passport and my CoPR. After a quick look at the biometrics page (he didn't actually look at my US Visa) he asked "are you seeking entry into the United States today?". I told him "no, just turning around and walking straight back to Canada". At this point he just nodded, went and got a white piece of paper, filled out some details an wrote the word "flagpoll" in big letters at the bottom. After a little bit of small talk about why I was choosing Canada and things like that, he asked me to return out of the office the way I came, and then he met me where the car checkpoints are to return my passport and white paper. He then watched and made sure I did indeed turn around and go back to Canada (fair enough).
This is part 1 done - the return walk is uphill but that's nothing compared to the "hill" climbed to get to this point in the process! I followed the path and entered the door on the left of the Canadian car checkpoints. The officer assigned to the leftmost booth is also responsible for the pedestrian traffic, so he opened the other window and checked my passport and the white paper given to me by the Americans. He asked if I was "landing" and I said yes. He then went through the usual questions they always ask when you arrive at a border - do I have any guns, do I have more than $10,000 in cash, ever been arrested, etc. Then he gave me a yellow slip of paper and sent me inside to line up.
Once I reached the counter, I handed over my CoPR, drivers licence, and passport, and the officer took them into the back room and asked me to take a seat. About 10 minutes later I was called back up, and was asked similar questions about whether I had any guns, cash, etc. I was also asked if my family composition or marital status had changed, whether I had ever been bankrupt, whether I'd had any speeding fines in Canada, or had been arrested or were currently under investigation for any crimes. When he was satisfied with my answers he stamped my passport (no exit date was written! yay!) and stapled the CoPR into a spare page. He then got me to sign at the bottom on the copy in my passport, and also the one they keep on file. He explained that my PR Card would be mailed to the address on my drivers licence, and that I need to get a travel document if I'm leaving the country via an airline before I have it.
Then he gave me a little paper Canadian flag, congratulated me, and wished me good evening! Total time including walking was a little over an hour - it was really quiet at both borders. I'd expect that time could easily double or triple if you were unlucky and went at a peak period.
So that's my story! I'd imagine that it's a very similar process at any other border with the exception of the directions and signposts that I mentioned. If anyone else wanted to also share their detailed landing story I'm sure it will be appreciated by those about to go through it!
