Misrepresentation in Flagpoling: Entry denial disclosures

Ade was an international student in Canada who later applied for a work permit after graduation. To receive his work permit under the PGWP, he travelled to the Canada-US border at Fort Erie, Ontario. Luckily, Ade managed to acquire his work permit the same day. He later applied for permanent residency under the Express Entry system. Under this program, one of the questions asked if he had ever faced entry denial to any country. Ade answered no, but he later received a letter from IRCC accusing him of misrepresentation. What causes consequent misrepresentation for flagpoling applicants?

What is flagpoling?

The processing time for online work permit applications in Canada could take several months. When this article was posted, the processing time by IRCC was 139 days or four and a half months for this group. Of course, this could change at any time. However, if you take the following steps, you could receive your work permit in a matter of hours:

1. Travel to a significant Canada-US land crossing.
2. When entering the United States, explain to the officer that your intention is not to enter the US but instead to Flagpole. Unless you already may enter the US legally (e.g., you have a valid US visa or you are a Green Card holder, etc.), the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers deny your entry to the United States. However, this denial is administrative.
3. The US officers will send you back to Canada.
4. You explain that you have flagpoled to apply for a work permit (or sometimes other documents) at the Canadian port of entry.
5. They will send you to the immigration office. The officers may then review your application and issue you the work permit. Of course, this is not a done deal, and sometimes you could face complications.

I have posted multiple articles about flagpoling. Please consider reading them for more information.

• Flagpoling – Canada Status at a Land Crossing
• Flagpoling Work Permit Canada
• Flagpoling Study Permit Canada

What is misrepresentation?

When you interact with immigration authorities, you must remain honest with them. Producing fraudulent documents or hiding material facts from the officers is a misrepresentation. If you misrepresent, you could face inadmissibility to Canada for five years. Consequently, you may not move to Canada temporarily or permanently. However, some people may overcome this problem by receiving permanent status via H&C, temporary status via TRP, or other options.

These options do not work most of the time, and most people subject to misrepresentation remain inadmissible for five years. Moreover, the person may even face criminal prosecution in significant cases inside Canada. Take misrepresentation seriously.

How flagpoling could result in misrepresentation allegations

As I mentioned earlier, most flagpoling applicants face a denial of entry to the United States. However, they do not take it seriously because they think this is part of the flagpoling process. Therefore, they do not disclose it to IRCC in their subsequent applications. Canada and the United States share immigration information. Consequently, even if you do not reveal the denial of entry, the Canadian immigration officer will find out. They will then issue you a Procedural Fairness Letter (PFL). If you fail to convince them your omission was innocent, the officer will make you inadmissible because of misrepresentation.

The consequences are significant. For example, you could face a removal order from Canada. If you are outside Canada, you face a travel ban to the country. Of course, as I mentioned earlier, there are ways to resolve this problem, but they are expensive, time-consuming, and prone to fail. Therefore, your best option is candidly disclosing flagpoling in all your subsequent applications.

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