Ahead of the busy summer travel season, the Canada Border Services Agency is curtailing flagpoling, which allows temporary residents to bypass bureaucratic wait times and receive same-day immigration services at Canada-U.S. border crossings.
As of May 30, the CBSA has reduced the number of days and hours each week when flagpoling services will be available at 12 ports of entry in Quebec, southern Ontario and the Pacific region.
Rebecca Purdy, a senior spokesperson for the CBSA, said that while immigration services will remain available at all ports of entry, the agency was limiting hours at these 12 border crossings due to “high volumes of flagpolers.”
“This change was made to enable frontline officers to efficiently process large volume of travellers in peak periods and to focus on other key priorities, including high-risk travellers, trade facilitation, as well as asylum seekers and other critical immigration services,” Purdy told Global News in an email on Monday.
Even though flagpoling is legal, the immigration workaround has come under criticism down south, with U.S. senate majority leader Chuck Schumer recently calling on Ottawa to crack down on its use.
Here is what to know about flagpoling, why it’s become a popular option for many in Canada, and what potential risks are associated with it.
Flagpoling is when temporary residents of Canada leave the country and immediately re-enter within 24 hours to receive same-day immigration services at the border, according to the CBSA.
This service is not unique to Canada, but one that travellers can use in other countries, where it is available.
“The flagpoling term comes from literally swinging around the flagpole,” said Ravi Jain, founder of Jain Immigration Law and past co-president of the Canadian Immigration Lawyers Association.
Essentially, when flagpoling, a person exits Canada and reports to U.S. border officials, indicating that they intend to return to Canada and not to remain in the United States, Jain explained.
Upon reaching the Canadian point of entry, CBSA can then consider the person’s application for the immigration service they are looking to receive.
A vehicle crosses the International Rainbow Bridge between Niagara Falls, Ont., and Niagara Falls, N.Y.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Aaron Lynett
Who is eligible to flagpole?
Anyone with a valid visa or status in Canada can flagpole.
A U.S. visa is not necessarily required, Jain said, but there could be “major implications down the road” if the American border officials refuse them entry into the U.S. for the purpose of flagpoling.
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“If you have a valid visa to go to the United States and you actually spend some time there, it’s not considered to be a flagpole,” he added.
The flagpoling workaround is used by temporary residents to avoid long wait times for things like work permits, which can take up to 100 days, Jain said.
“We do use it in certain situations,” he said, such as if someone is getting a new job and they need to start right away, and the employer is insisting on seeing an actual work permit.
Typically, people are looking for a post-graduate work permit, the International Mobility Program permit, an open work permit, or work permits based on treaties, Jain said.
“It’s frustrating when people can’t get the basic service that they need,” he said.
“They have to wait 100 days to be processed inland inside Canada, online and so they’re frustrated.”
As of May 28, the processing time for a temporary resident to obtain a work permit from inside Canada was 93 days, according to Immigration Refugees Citizenship Canada’s website.
Is flagpoling on the rise?
Each year, thousands of people flagpole at the Canadian entry points and since 2021, there has been a year-over-year increase, according to CBSA statistics shared with Global News.
This year alone, a total of 32,410 people have flagpoled, as of June 2.
Last year, 61,561 used this service, which represented a 90 per cent jump from 2022 when 32,394 people flagpoled at the U.S.-Canada borders.
In 2021, flagpoling dipped by 34 per cent as non-essential travel across the U.S.-Canada border was restricted amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
What are the concerns with flagpoling?
There are some potential risks to flagpoling, including refusal of re-entry into Canada.
“If you decide to come to a port of entry for immigration services, you may find long line-ups and your turn may not come before the end of service hours,” the CBSA warns on its website.
Instead, the agency highly recommends people to use IRCC’s online services.
CBSA’s Purdy said that “temporary residents do not need to flagpole to obtain immigration services.”
“Temporary residents who need to renew their work or study permit should complete an online application on the IRCC website before their permit expires,” she said.
Jain said he generally does not recommend the flagpoling option to his clients because of the difficulties they may run into at the border, including the Duty of Candour obligation required by Canadian law.
“It opens your client up to all kinds of vulnerabilities,” he said.
For recent graduates, in particular, looking for a work permit, Jain said there’s “really no reason to be putting yourself at risk” by flagpoling.
However, in some rare cases involving U.S. visa-exempt individuals, he may counsel them to flagpole.
In the U.S., some officials have raised concerns about flagpoling impeding traffic flow, hindering trade and causing unnecessary delays at the border.
Schumer, in a letter addressed to Canada’s immigration minister Marc Miller on May 28, said: “Flagpoling disrupts normal travel and increases the unpredictability of wait times at our busiest border crossings.”
“I urge Canada to work with the U.S. to end flagpoling to keep travel across our shared border flowing smoothly,” he wrote.
Global News reached out to the IRCC and Miller’s office about this letter, but did not receive a response by publication time.