brummi

Hi all. Does anyone know if it's possible to park up the car and walk through the Carway border to flagpole? I have heard of vehicle line ups and since they only do Immigration until 6.15pm, time may be of the essence!

danniimazz

Hi, I'm not sure of the answer but I was wondering if you could explain what 'flagpole' means! I have applied for permanent residence from inside Canada - do I still have to 'land'?? I'm confused

Thanks,

Dannii

brummi

Yes you have to 'Land', meaning leave Canada and re-enter. Flagpoling is when you go to the US border and tell them you are activating your Canadian PR, US officers give you some sort of 'rejection' letter, then you go to the Canadian office and officially 'land'. AFAIK this doesn't affect future entry to US.

danniimazz

Ah, I see now. Thank you for clearing that up! So we could just go to the Niagara border and do that?

Good luck with your question and with 'landing'...I have a while ahead of me before I can do that

brummi

Sorry I forgot to add that you can also wait about 6 weeks for an appointment at a local CIC office, and 'Land' there without leaving the country.

Good luck with everything

sjmartin

not sure about by foot, we have just flagpoled at Niagara last weekend see thread today "flagpoling experience". I guess if you can go by car then you can walk too? Although I didnt see any walkers I have to admit!!!! Its an easy way to land PM me if I can help clarify any of the process.

bewillow

I have entered the US three times by foot. When there is a huge backlog of cars, it is a bit weird to walk past them all. But I had no problems with any of the entries.

Lots of people also bicycle.

brummi

Thanks Bewillow. Was that at Carway? It will be my first time there. I assume there is somewhere to park up but i'd like to feel confident that it will be relatively stress free

bewillow

I have done it at Blane Washington, in Maine, and New York state.

I have not crossed at Carway. But I am sure Carway is easy. Rural. Not too much traffic. What a pretty place to land!

You may find there is no traffic and it is not worth parking and walking. But if there is a line, I would definitely walk past all the idling cars.

p.s. Have you checked that the Canadian side can deal with landing immigrants?

brummi

Yes they do immigration there, but only from 7am to 6.15pm

burton bunch

WHy Caraway ? Why not Coutts ???

brummi

Because google directions says it's an extra hour drive

TheCanes

That's exactly why I'm going down to Carway on Monday.

zippadydoda

We went to Carway yesterday to flagpole. There was no line up at all but I would not reccommend seeing the immigration bod we saw. He was rude and gave us a really hard time stating that under no circumstances could we get a change of circumstances work permits there and we had to apply through vegraville.

He eventually backed down and was nice as pie once he decided to issue them! However he gave us some advise about landing when we get our PR and he said that we can only go to Couttes for that. That Carway DOES NOT DO IT!

My sister lives in Edmonton and you can get your PR in land at Canada Place there. He told our friend (who was with us from Lethbridge) that he would have to flagpole at Couttes. He also said that they are much stricter going through all your paper work at the border than inland.

So Good luck whatever you decide to do and CONGRATULATIONS on getting your PR.

brummi

I landed at Carway today! Had no problem at all. From arriving at the US border the whole process took just 20 minutes. I have to say the US border officials were so nice but the Canadians were very sharp and cold.

Happy that's all over and done with and I can relax