POE Vancouver (YVR) for NZ K-1 with subsequent land border crossing

[SalishSea 16,747]

Hi VJ,

 

I have been trying to search the boards for recent historical posts about this topic, with little luck.  My fiancé should receive his passport with his K-1 visa on Monday, and will then book a ticket to come over from Auckland.   One of Air NZ's four North American destinations is Vancouver, BC, Canada (YVR). It is cheaper to fly directly there, and for me to pick him up and drive back to Seattle than to go via LAX or SFO.  We started many of our visits  over the past three years this way, as we both love BC.  This time I would just be picking him up and driving directly down to Seattle.

 

Reading POE reviews and old threads, I am trying to figure out whether his K-1 would be activated at YVR, and if so, would that present any problem at the Blaine land border crossing into Washington State?  It seems some of the US CBP screening is done at YVR, but perhaps that is only for those with connecting flights to smaller US airports?  We also wondered if having a one-way ticket into Canada (even with the K-1 and all other documentation) would be problematic.

 

Besides the price, another advantage to doing it this way is that he will be bringing more luggage than usual, and it would be nice for him to avoid a connecting flight for that reason.

 

Any thoughts or experiences are welcomed!

 

~Erika (Jorgedig)

[ITMFA 241]

The K-1 would be activated at the land border crossing. They only do the US pre-clearance in the airport for passengers who are flying on to the USA. So he would have to clear Canadian customs with all his stuff and convince the Canadian authorities that he's not planning to stay in Canada illegally before heading to the border. If I would you two I would find it less stressful to have him fly directly to the US if possible. Then he won't have to deal with entering both countries! Just my two cents - good luck! 

[geowrian 22,335]

Agreed - he would be dealing with Canadian immigration there and not see US immigration.

I'm unfamiliar with Canada's visitor policies regarding if an onward ticket is required or not, or how likely they are to admit somebody without an onward travel ticket.

[mc962 55]

17 hours ago, geowrian said:

Agreed - he would be dealing with Canadian immigration there and not see US immigration.

I'm unfamiliar with Canada's visitor policies regarding if an onward ticket is required or not, or how likely they are to admit somebody without an onward travel ticket.

While I haven't dealt with Canada specifically, I've found that with other countries with tourist visa exemptions, the decision to check for your onward ticket tends to depend on your passport. I've seen some people get their documents read thoroughly, while in my case only my passport was checked. Although I would recommend doing more research with Canada and your country specifically.

I think it would probably be fine, even if you had to explain what your plan was, but it might be useful for peace of mind to buy a cheap bus ticket or something to show some sort of onward ticket.

That being said, I do agree that flying into the US would probably be better, for similar reasons stated above.

[Diane and Chris 651]

Why not fly into Seattle as his POE?  You’ve waited long enough. Just make it simple!  Congratulations on your upcoming marriage!  

[SalishSea 16,747]

8 minutes ago, Diane and Chris said:

Why not fly into Seattle as his POE?  You’ve waited long enough. Just make it simple!  Congratulations on your upcoming marriage!  

Thank you!   Air New Zealand only flies to Vancouver, SFO and LAX on the West Coast.  We were trying to avoid a connecting flight, since I live so close to Vancouver.

[SalishSea 16,747]

Just wanted to follow up on this post for future VJ searches.....we kept our original plan of having a land POE at Blaine/Peace Arch at the Washington/BC border.  Alec arrived from Auckland at YVR/Vancouver, and stated that he was staying in Canada for <1 day, and explained about the K-1.  No harassment or problems, but I was waiting in the terminal in case they wanted to confirm the plan to leave Canada by car straight away.  I had actually called the Canadian border folks a few days earlier, and they confirmed that there is no legislative directive regarding arriving from overseas on a one-way ticket.  My biggest fear was that Canadian immigration would question whether we were leaving by car in the absence of a ticket.

 

POE at Blaine was a piece of cake, also!  We were there for about 45 minutes total, which was amazing, given that our CBP officer was new and ours was his first K-1 to process!  We are so thankful that everything has been smooth sailing thus far. 

[CJD 6]

On 10/19/2018 at 8:21 AM, Jorgedig said:

Just wanted to follow up on this post for future VJ searches.....we kept our original plan of having a land POE at Blaine/Peace Arch at the Washington/BC border.  Alec arrived from Auckland at YVR/Vancouver, and stated that he was staying in Canada for <1 day, and explained about the K-1.  No harassment or problems, but I was waiting in the terminal in case they wanted to confirm the plan to leave Canada by car straight away.  I had actually called the Canadian border folks a few days earlier, and they confirmed that there is no legislative directive regarding arriving from overseas on a one-way ticket.  My biggest fear was that Canadian immigration would question whether we were leaving by car in the absence of a ticket.

 

POE at Blaine was a piece of cake, also!  We were there for about 45 minutes total, which was amazing, given that our CBP officer was new and ours was his first K-1 to process!  We are so thankful that everything has been smooth sailing thus far. 

Thanks for updating! I am planning to do the same thing when I arrive. My fiance has family in Canada I want to visit first because I won't be able to leave USA until I have my AP approved. So, entry into Vancouver, then fly or drive down to USA the following week. Hopefully all goes smoothly.

[SalishSea 16,747]

24 minutes ago, CJD said:

Thanks for updating! I am planning to do the same thing when I arrive. My fiance has family in Canada I want to visit first because I won't be able to leave USA until I have my AP approved. So, entry into Vancouver, then fly or drive down to USA the following week. Hopefully all goes smoothly.

Best wishes!  Our situation was a bit different, as we drove directly from YVR to the land border.   I think as long as you have your documentation in order and concrete plans for leaving Canada (a plane ticket would be ideal), you won’t have problems.

[MeghanK 625]

On 10/18/2018 at 12:21 PM, Jorgedig said:

Just wanted to follow up on this post for future VJ searches.....we kept our original plan of having a land POE at Blaine/Peace Arch at the Washington/BC border.  Alec arrived from Auckland at YVR/Vancouver, and stated that he was staying in Canada for <1 day, and explained about the K-1.  No harassment or problems, but I was waiting in the terminal in case they wanted to confirm the plan to leave Canada by car straight away.  I had actually called the Canadian border folks a few days earlier, and they confirmed that there is no legislative directive regarding arriving from overseas on a one-way ticket.  My biggest fear was that Canadian immigration would question whether we were leaving by car in the absence of a ticket.

 

POE at Blaine was a piece of cake, also!  We were there for about 45 minutes total, which was amazing, given that our CBP officer was new and ours was his first K-1 to process!  We are so thankful that everything has been smooth sailing thus far. 

Glad everything worked out and congrats on finally being together! And thanks for this updated. We will be using the Blaine or Pacific Highway for our POE so good to get a recent review of Blaine. YVR and the Vancouver-adjacent POEs have always been great throughout our K1 process.

 

Did Alec have a ton of stuff with him? 

[Zeebubs 22]

Thanks for this info! I did AKL>SFO>SeaTac last time and missed my connection at SFO (thankfully United sorted it quickly and I got on a flight an hour later, phew).  I had wondered about flying in via Vancouver though and driving down also, so good to know I can do that this easy!  Fingers crossed should be there before the end of the year!

[MeghanK 625]

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[SalishSea 16,747]

4 hours ago, MeghanK said:

Glad everything worked out and congrats on finally being together! And thanks for this updated. We will be using the Blaine or Pacific Highway for our POE so good to get a recent review of Blaine. YVR and the Vancouver-adjacent POEs have always been great throughout our K1 process.

 

Did Alec have a ton of stuff with him? 

He had four large and very heavy suitcases, but far less than he would have liked to have brought.  He still has loads back in Auckland in his dad's garage.  

 

There are definitely advantages to immigrating from Canada, LOL.

[SalishSea 16,747]

3 hours ago, Zeebubs said:

Thanks for this info! I did AKL>SFO>SeaTac last time and missed my connection at SFO (thankfully United sorted it quickly and I got on a flight an hour later, phew).  I had wondered about flying in via Vancouver though and driving down also, so good to know I can do that this easy!  Fingers crossed should be there before the end of the year!

Hi there!  Are you moving to Seattle from NZ?  The Air NZ AKL-YVR flight has been our fave.  Alec has gone through LAX and SFO to Sea-Tac also, but as you know, there are drawbacks.  His daughter is coming through SFO later this month, and we are a bit nervous about her making the connection with the TSA labor issues at the moment.  Hopefully it will be sorted by then.

[Zeebubs 22]

4 hours ago, Jorgedig said:

Hi there!  Are you moving to Seattle from NZ?  The Air NZ AKL-YVR flight has been our fave.  Alec has gone through LAX and SFO to Sea-Tac also, but as you know, there are drawbacks.  His daughter is coming through SFO later this month, and we are a bit nervous about her making the connection with the TSA labor issues at the moment.  Hopefully it will be sorted by then.

Yes, moving from Wellington, fiance is from Seattle. 

 

The main issue I had with SFO was the immigration line was four hours long as two or three flights had arrived at the same time, and they only had two staff doing the processing.  Getting a new flight was not difficult though, the United desk was very easy to deal with.

 

Air NZ doesn't seem to like to give you too much time to make connections with its all in one bookings, which does not help, usually they average 1.5 hours.  If it wasn't for arranging for wheelchairs on my return journey back from Seattle I would have missed a connection in Auckland too (I ended up coming down with necrotising fasciitis and stayed six weeks longer than intended!).