In a bid to curb ‘flagpoling’ and devote more time to enforcement activities, the Canada government has stopped issuing post-graduation work permits to foreign nationals at the port of entry. It may be noted that ‘flagpoling’ is a process whereby the temporary residents exit and enter Canada through a land border cross or port of entry to pocket the same-day immigration services.
The temporary residents take the ‘flagpoling’ route to bypass the normal waiting period for a work or study permit when applied online.
Though ‘flagpoling’ is a legal procedure, it takes significant time of the immigration officials involved in enforcement activities and other duties, and causes delay for travellers and goods movement.
With the new move, the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Canada hopes that the flow of commercial goods between Canada and the US would be expedited and the waiting time for travellers would come down at the port of entry.
