Soft landing experience during COVID by land from Buffalo, NY - 17 July 2020

[ishangodbole]

Hi All,

I have recently completed my landing from USA to canada and I am quarantining for 14 days in Toronto. I am planning to return to USA as soon as I complete my 14 days quarantine using AVR as I have an expired F1 visa with an approved I797 document. I am planning to take a flight from Toronto to Vancouver and then drive to Portland where I live.Can I use the Land Border to enter USA right now as I have heard some place that we cant use land border to enter USA and only we can enter USA via flight from Canada?

Any suggestions will help.

Thanks in advance.

Yes. Heard from who? There is nothing on CBP or DHS website that states this. I have used AVR twice when entering by land.

 

[Kaurrrrr]

Hi Rahmath8121,

I hope you are doing good. I also need to enter Canada to pick my PR. My situation is same as yours. I have expired F1 visa with approved I797 document. Technically my H1b is not stamped. I am aware of the AVR rule.

But in our situation, are we exempt from the Executive rule that U.S passed to not allow H1b holders to re-enter U.S until 31 December. Have you confirmed from somewhere that you will be able to return to the U.S once your quarantine is over?
Also let me know once you return to U.S. it will give me the confidence that I too can.
Thanks.

 

[Kaurrrrr]

Can you plz respond?

 

[viveksharmaz]

Hi All,

I have recently completed my landing from USA to canada and I am quarantining for 14 days in Toronto. I am planning to return to USA as soon as I complete my 14 days quarantine using AVR as I have an expired F1 visa with an approved I797 document. I am planning to take a flight from Toronto to Vancouver and then drive to Portland where I live.Can I use the Land Border to enter USA right now as I have heard some place that we cant use land border to enter USA and only we can enter USA via flight from Canada?

Any suggestions will help.

Thanks in advance.

 

[viveksharmaz]

hey were you able to come back to USA after quarantine. Did they stopped u anywhere . can you share your details.
i am in similar situation and need to travel soon. my USA visa is expired and I have my H1b till June 2022 . So wanted to check if you can share some experience which u had at the Airport or at the border if you drived.
1. What all documents you carried other than your I979.
2. Did they knew already about ACR process you carried documents which you can show at the border.
3. If you came bacl vua flight did they allowed you to board the flight .

Please do Answer

 

[rahmath8121]

hey were you able to come back to USA after quarantine. Did they stopped u anywhere . can you share your details.
i am in similar situation and need to travel soon. my USA visa is expired and I have my H1b till June 2022 . So wanted to check if you can share some experience which u had at the Airport or at the border if you drived.
1. What all documents you carried other than your I979.
2. Did they knew already about ACR process you carried documents which you can show at the border.
3. If you came bacl vua flight did they allowed you to board the flight .

Please do Answer

Hi viveksharmaz,

I was able to return via peace arch border after quarantine of 14 days and using AVR with no issues.

1. What all documents you carried other than your I979. -- I carried all the docs that were required for H1B(paystubs, tax docs etc...) and I797 copy as well
2. Did they knew already about ACR process you carried documents which you can show at the border. -- Yes they were aware of it and gave me a paper I94 form
3. If you came bacl vua flight did they allowed you to board the flight .-- I came via land border Peace Arch Border

 

[viveksharmaz]

Hi viveksharmaz,

I was able to return via peace arch border after quarantine of 14 days and using AVR with no issues.

1. What all documents you carried other than your I979. -- I carried all the docs that were required for H1B(paystubs, tax docs etc...) and I797 copy as well
2. Did they knew already about ACR process you carried documents which you can show at the border. -- Yes they were aware of it and gave me a paper I94 form
3. If you came bacl vua flight did they allowed you to board the flight .-- I came via land border Peace Arch Border

 

[viveksharmaz]

Thanks Rahmath so much for he reply.

Did they check your Pay slips and Tax documents as well on border . also when you entered did you told them you wil be coming back to Usa after Quarntine.
as now the are saying dont do Soft Landing .

 

[dound2018]

Hello, I would like to post my experience carrying out soft landing from US by land. My husband and I did the soft landing process for PR card on 17th July 2020 from the Buffalo, NY - Peace bridge location (2 Peace Bridge Plaza, Fort Erie, ON L2A 0A7, Canada). We had many concerns regarding the process due to the current situation, so wanted to post the entire experience here so that it might help others in the same situation.

We had our COPR valid till July 18, 2020. We have been contacting IRCC since May 2020, requesting an extension of COPR but didn't get back a response from them. Finally, we decided to do soft landing and were prepared to quarantine in Canada for 14 days, if asked to do so. We had booked an extended stay hotel in Hamilton, ON and had carried food, clothes, etc. for 14 days. We were traveling by car and at the border, there were about 3 cars in front of us since all non-essential travel has been suspended. We informed the immigration officer at the border that we would like to do soft landing and hope to return the same day, since we don't plan to settle in Canada immediately. She wasn't aware of the term "soft landing" and directed us to the CBSA office for paperwork. She handed us back the passports, COPR papers and Yellow slip(On the slip's comments section "Soft Landing" word was mentioned, and in box for days of intended stay was written 1 Day.) I believe this information on yellow slip was result of us mentioning that we wanted to return on the same day.
At the CBSA office, initially, the officer took our papers and Passport and asked us to wait till he verified the information. We waited for almost 20-25 mins and were finally called. The immigration officer understood the situation that we wanted to make a U turn and return back to the US on the same day and agreed to it. He asked for an address to mail the PR card in Canada and asked us again to wait till the final paperwork was done. After another 20 mins, he called us to sign the papers, asked for the GTF (Goods to Follow) list and officially declared that the PR process was done and we would receive the card in 6 to 8 weeks. He was kind enough even to show us where we could take a U-turn from, to return back to US.
At the US immigration, we were asked a few general questions like what visa you are on, how long were you in Canada and why, etc.

All in all, it really depends on the officer if they agree to let you return back without quarantine. We were lucky to have come across an understanding office.
Hope this experience helps others. Good luck!

thank you for sharing your experience, i have a question here... is their any transportation other than own car or rental? bus company or train?? public transport??

 

[Anks86]

Hello,

If I go to Toronto airport, complete soft landing process and return to USA same day. I will not go outside the Toronto airport, will I be required to quarantine in Canada? Are flights operating between USA and Canada now? You have any idea about taking flight instead of going by land?
I have a question about returning back to USA. My H-1b stamping is valid till next year but I changed employment and stamping is of previous employer. Will this be a problem while entering back USA by air or land?

I am in the exact same situation and planning to do soft landing. Could you mail me at anks86@gmail.com, let’s connect and figure it out?