Hi everyone, I just wanted to give you an update on our trip down to the Coutts border crossing this past weekend.
We drove to the US entry point and told the border officer we were there to flagpole. He took our passports and told us to park around the back of the building and go inside to the lobby. When we got in there, there were no other people waiting, just half a dozen or so really bored looking border officers and a drug-sniffing dog. After about 10 minutes another officer came out to see us and gave my husband an administrative refusal to the U.S. and told us we should get in our car and follow him back to the Canada side of the crossing. We did that and had to wait in line about 10 minutes to drive through the Canadian entry point. (Lots of people entering Canada but not many exiting!) Once we got up to the window, the officer at the window asked us why we had driven so far to flagpole when we could have just made an appointment at CIC in Edmonton to land. He then said we were supposed to do it that way and not drive down and that it was a real bone of contention with border services because people flagpoling were taking away from their time doing "serious business". I didn't bother telling him there was a 3-month waiting time for an appointment; after listening to him rant for about 5 minutes, he told us to go inside and wait in line because there were about 10 other people ahead of us waiting to flagpole. When we got in there, though, the majority of people were waiting to have their cars or transport trucks inspected before crossing. In fact, we were the only people there who were flagpoling. The next officer we spoke to took my husband's papers, asked a few questions, went over the documents with him, got him to read his COPR over and sign it, put a stamp in his passport, and then we were done. His PR card should arrive in the mail in 8 to 12 weeks, but he can use his COPR and the stamp in his passport to complete other processes - he needed it to get his SIN number this morning - it only took 10 minutes but there are no actual cards any more; he got a confirmation letter of his SIN number, so now he can start looking for work. After this, we just need to update his Alberta health care so that his coverage is permanent, as right now it expires with his visitor record. Also, the border officer told us that his COPR is not valid for travel. He has to have his actual PR card if he needs to leave the country, otherwise he could be refused entry at the border. Apparently you can ask for an emergency card if there's a reason you need to leave Canada before you get the card.
So all told, it was exactly 15 months from the day our application was received by CIC, to landing.
