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| Subject: Intial Landing if you r already in Canada: How to? |
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I am in Canada on Work Permit. I got my Immigration Visa recently. I believe I need to exit and reenter to obtain a Landing Certificate and Landed Status. My home country is too far and too expesive to go to for this purpose. I do NOT have a USA visa. Do I need a USA visa to take a U-turn into Canada at the Niagara Falls/Buffalo port of entry?
Many thanks for any useful information.
[14-12-2004,14:27]
Anonymous |
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Landing (in reply to: Intial Landing if you r already in Canada: How to?)
Getting a visit visa to US, might not be easy for some people. You could try to get it, and do the entry via Buffalo/Niagara. This is known as the "Buffalo Shuffle".
On the other hand, if you find it difficult to get a visit visa, you might try to walk up to the Customs/Immigration office at the border, from the Canadian side, and do an official landing. I remember seeing a separate office near the border, that handles immigration. Since you´re here in Canada legally, I don´t see why they would have any objections.
[14-12-2004,14:46]
Will |
(in reply to: Intial Landing if you r already in Canada: How to?)
Yes, sounds logical. But would appreciate any definitive experiences in taking a U-turn at the Canadian point itself (at Niagara) for Landing purposes. Thank you.
[14-12-2004,14:59]
Anonymous |
(in reply to: Intial Landing if you r already in Canada: How to?)
YES U CAN!
I took a friend of my to take the U-Turn. I waited on the canadian side. He did the documentation and we drove back.
[14-12-2004,17:44]
Anonymous |
(in reply to: Intial Landing if you r already in Canada: How to?)
That´s great!! Saves the hassle of applying for American visa and wait for 2 months. Could you pl let us know how recently you have done this? Did your friend just walk across to the immigration office near the Canadian border control booths? If you drove him, then did the officer in the booth give him any papers?
Sincere thanks for your response.
[14-12-2004,23:48]
Anonymous |
(in reply to: Intial Landing if you r already in Canada: How to?)
Two options:
1) What you want to do is ´go round the flagpole´. Usually, there is a turnabout lane just before the US Customs building or just after the Canadian building. You want to take this so that you come up to the Canadian building from the ´outside´ as if you were returning from the USA.
2) Sometimes the Canadain immigration officer may ask you to go to the US side first, get a formal entry refusal paper from the US immigration officer, and then come back to land.
[15-12-2004,13:51]
Anonymous |
(in reply to: Intial Landing if you r already in Canada: How to?)
I landed last month in BC (Peace Arch) and posted this on a different discussion forum for anybody else who is living in Canada and landing as a skilled worker by turning around at a US/Canada border.
At Peace Arch they do not allow you to U-turn back to Canadian Immigration BEFORE speaking with US immigration. In other words, you have to drive up to US immigration and have them turn you around. Could be different between border crossings, I´m not sure.
This is my experience:
I drove down to the border at about 8:30am on a Wednesday. At the US border the immigration officer asked for my passport, asked me where I live and where I´m going. I told him I´m turning around to land in Canada. He gave me an orange slip of paper and told me to park and go inside to immigration. On the slip he had written "flagpole".
Inside immigration the officer was quite nice and asked me why I´m turning around. I told him I´m landing in Canada as a permanent resident. He gave me a notice of refusal. I was not expecting this since I don´t need a visitor´s visa to the US and I asked him about this. He said this is just standard procedures and has nothing to do with if you have visitor´s visa to the US or not. I asked him specifically if this will affect future admissibility to the US. He said that it won´t.
So back out to the car and turning back towards the Canadian border. The Canadian officer asked where I came from and where I´m going and he asked me for passport and COPR. He asked if I have any goods with me or any goods that will be shipped at a later point. I said ´no´. I was given a slip of paper and I was told to park and go inside Canadian Immigration.
The lady the processed my case was very nice. She asked me for the refusal notice from the US, my passport and COPR. She asked if I had verified the information on CORP. I was asked if I have cash with me and I said I don´t but that I had proof of funds in a Canadian bank. However, she never asked to see anything. It suprised me to see that she left the portion about financial funds on COPR blank.
She asked what address I want my PR card sent to and then made me sign CORP.
After immigration I went to Customs and gave the Customs guy the slip I had gotten from the officer at the border. He just confirmed that I don´t have goods coming at a later point and that was it. Customs took about 15 seconds...
I went back to my car and drove into Canada as a Permanent Resident!
My PR card arrived within three weeks and my SIN card took just about two weeks.
[15-12-2004,15:54]
Me |
(in reply to: Intial Landing if you r already in Canada: How to?)
I completed this procedure at Peace Bridge, Fort Erie. Near the Canada border there is a lane marked "Return to Canada". I guess that´s the DMZ or "no man´s" land between Canada and USA. Took a U-Turn there and informed the officer in the booth that I´ve landed - by car! He wrote "Landing" on a form and asked me to go to the Immigration/Customs office on the Canadian side.
The officer inside took not more than 5 minutes to process each passport. Very efficient, very polite. Noted my address and inquired about funds. Informed me that the PR Card will arrive within 4 weeks. At the end he welcomed us to Canada. The entire process took less than 30 mins.
Many thanks to the forum and Administrators of the forum.
[17-12-2004,00:42]
Anonymous |
Need 'refusal of entry'? (in reply to: Intial Landing if you r already in Canada: How to?)
Hello all,
Any other experiences with "u-turn" landings? It seems like at some crossings, you are required to first obtain the "refusal of entry" from US immigration, while at others you are not?
[03-04-2005,14:04]
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Anonymous |
