landing experience

Is it unusual? No picture taken for PR card at the time of landing

my mother and brother arrived as immigrants. they werent asked to take any pictures at the time of landing. they had one picture on the confirmation of permanent residence paper. i had thought they they would use the same picture.

now i heard from my friend that their pictures should have been taken as part of the landing procedure at the airport. is this correct? coz no immigration officer asked them to do so.

If it was in fact part of the procedure, then what should we do now for the pictures.

thanx
 
Hi Web_Guru2003

When you are planning to land in Canada? Also please update the forum with your experience (especially AVR). I think you are trying to use this. I want to take the same route, if you are successful. Earlier I was planning to get my Passport stamped with H1B.

Thanks
 
Please help answering these two questions.

Guyz,

I am planning to lend in November 1st week and spend day or two to apply SIN and come back to US, and I was thinking to give address of my canadian friend for PR, but one of my Canadian friend confused me informing its better for me to wait for PR card while staying in Canada itself, as sometime they (Human resource) ask people to personally come and pick the PR card, and as I wont be in Canada so I cant goto pick PR card and its make my next entry impossible in Canada.

Second question, First time all the money we are taking will be non-taxable, but I am not taking much with me, Can I indicate money in good to follow list, because I don’t want to pay tax on the money I carried in my forthcoming visit.

Please help

Thanks
 
RahulatDC,

After succeful landing, you can come back to US and can go to Canada with your car as many times as you want as long as you do not use commercial carrierers like Flights, ships, Buses etc to go to Canada. so After first successful landing, if they ask you in person to pickup the PR card you can go there and pickit up. While landing confirm the above info with the Immigration officer.

RH2002.
 
Appreciate response

I got a interview waiver and completed medicals in July. I received a letter from the Canadiam Health that they need they cannot process my sons case till more tests are done. They have sent a sealed envelope for the Physycian. Has anyone had this experience. Please share
 
Landing Experience to share with

i did land on labour day weekend via niagara bridge.

as to share my experience to you all.
i've valid h1-b but not visa only I-94.
i did enter via rental car that i rented in buffalo. enter canadian border in the morning around 11am.
show the landing paper to immigration officer and asked me to show him bank statement which i did and that's what i had as i didn't take any money order or TC or cash. He didn't tell me anything. we sign the landing paper as told my immigration officer and after we done with the paper he asked us to go to custom.
But the worst part is no greeting nor welcome me and my wife. The officer wasn't that friendly at all. but i'm fine with it :)
As i enter custom i met with some custom officers and one of them helped me out with and he is so nice and humorous person.
i told him straight as i'm landing only and preparing to leave within two weeks but i'll be back next year with all the properties i've and i took a list of my properties that i'm taking with me that i typed in MS Word and he looked and he filled out in one of the form and made a total of the properties and asked us to take it to next window where another officer made a copy and gave it us and told us to bring those paper when we bring our properties. If there's more stuffs than that listed he told us it will be taxed.
To remind you all, if you are taking your car later besure to take your vin number or registration card or insurance card its always better.

After that we are happy to be Canadian and entered towards Toronto where we stayed for three days. Look around all the places and drive around a lot.
We think to move next year and planning to stay in Missisauga area which we really love it. very nice.

As after our trip we came back we went thru' US border and asked us to submit I-94 and passport and also asked few questions. stared me very carefully and checked our trunk then told us not to travel outside North America with only valid I-94.

So, we are back and planning to leave for next year summer so be prepare for winter :)

if you need any info. pls. reply to this message.

But i'm also looking some help as to look for a job in IT as i've worked in IT field for few years now that's my next step.

Good luck to you all....

PK
 
pradeepl said:
i did land on labour day weekend via niagara bridge.

as to share my experience to you all.
i've valid h1-b but not visa only I-94.
i did enter via rental car that i rented in buffalo. enter canadian border in the morning around 11am.
show the landing paper to immigration officer and asked me to show him bank statement which i did and that's what i had as i didn't take any money order or TC or cash. He didn't tell me anything. we sign the landing paper as told my immigration officer and after we done with the paper he asked us to go to custom.
But the worst part is no greeting nor welcome me and my wife. The officer wasn't that friendly at all. but i'm fine with it :)
As i enter custom i met with some custom officers and one of them helped me out with and he is so nice and humorous person.
i told him straight as i'm landing only and preparing to leave within two weeks but i'll be back next year with all the properties i've and i took a list of my properties that i'm taking with me that i typed in MS Word and he looked and he filled out in one of the form and made a total of the properties and asked us to take it to next window where another officer made a copy and gave it us and told us to bring those paper when we bring our properties. If there's more stuffs than that listed he told us it will be taxed.
To remind you all, if you are taking your car later besure to take your vin number or registration card or insurance card its always better.

After that we are happy to be Canadian and entered towards Toronto where we stayed for three days. Look around all the places and drive around a lot.
We think to move next year and planning to stay in Missisauga area which we really love it. very nice.

As after our trip we came back we went thru' US border and asked us to submit I-94 and passport and also asked few questions. stared me very carefully and checked our trunk then told us not to travel outside North America with only valid I-94.

So, we are back and planning to leave for next year summer so be prepare for winter :)

if you need any info. pls. reply to this message.

But i'm also looking some help as to look for a job in IT as i've worked in IT field for few years now that's my next step.

Good luck to you all....

PK
Pradeep,

congrat on lending, I have sent you a pm, can you please check and reply

Thanks
 
Background:
------------

I am on H1-B with expired visa stamp and I-94 in Passport but approval (I-797) up to March-2005.

What happened at US Immigration?
---------------------------------

No instructions were posted for people who need to report US Immigrations of their exit, luckily I asked the lady at tool both about that and she pointed towards a small CONTAINER saying that “this is US immigration office. Ring the bell at the door and someone will attend you”. That container was so invisible from road that I would have never noticed that without the help of lady at tool both. Container door was locked. I rang the bell of intercom and a lady replied (after exactly 1 min and 20sec !!!! ) and asked me to wait at the door. After 4 minutes, 2 officers showed up (not from inside the container but from behind the container) and then everything went smooth. Only thing US Immigration officers said was “Make sure that you ALWAYS report your exit from US, this will save you from complications while coming back”


What happened at Canadian Immigration?
---------------------------------------

I landed from PEACE BRIDGE Buffalo on Sat, 18th Sep at around 7pm. Everything went smooth as silk. It took around 30 min for both Immigration and Customs. Immigration officers were neither courteous nor rude. Two officers worked together on my family’s papers and they only asked 2 questions

- Do you have proof of sufficient funds? : I was carrying bank statement from Bank of America

- Where in Canada do you want to receive PR cards? : I gave them the address of my sister

That was it from Immigration side. My ears were waiting to listen “welcome home”, but in vain.

What happened at Customs?
---------------------------

After Immigration we moved to customs. I was landing in my own car but did not want to import the car so I prepared 2 sets of goods lists for landing. In first set I listed down EVERY SINGLE ITEM in GOODS TO FOLLOW even my own car (that I was using for landing), video camera (that I was carrying) etc. As a contingency plan I had another set of lists that has my CAR in the goods importing while landing. I requested the officer that I don’t want to import the car at the moment as I am not FINALLY moving to Canada right now but only going on a week-long vacation. He went to his supervisor to ask if he can let me go without importing the vehicle and to my pleasant surprise his supervisor allowed him to do that without any questions.


What happened while coming back?
----------------------------------

I used Windsor-Detroit tunnel to come back to US after 1 week. Surprisingly US immigrations officers were VERY polite. Only question asked was ”Who do you work for in US?” and that was it.

On Sat, at 7pm, I was the only one in US Immigration office so everyone was in good mood (no work load). They even gave my 2 years old a pencil and paper for drawing and while one officer was working on my papers, others were chatting about where I went in Canada and how was the Niagara tour and how did I feel at the glass floor of CN tower (I wonder that was some kind of drill or what??? :) ) , oh and while returning my papers US officer said “welcome back, drive safely!”


If you have any question, feel free to ask
 
I have been noticing that more and more people are not getting the 'Welcome to your new Home' warmth from Canadian immigration officers. May be they are realizing that most (not all) of the people landing from USA are 'using' Canada as a back up and do not intned to live there permenently.If I were a Canadian , I would be the same way too :(
 
If you land by air you will ge it

I think CIC staff at airports (especially Toronto Pearson) are more welcoming and friendly than at the land border.
 
I guess that also depend on many factors including (but not limited to)

- what time of the day are you landing,
- How (busy) was the day of pirticular officer,
- How strong was the coffee he took in the morning !

May be they dont welcome us because they think "God!!! another immigrant, another job seeker, another competitor ! "

As far as they are not RUDE, i dont care!
 
Taking pictures is not mandatory. They actually use the picture on the landing paper if its good other wise they take it again. They didn't take the picture for me. They measured the photo size through a lens-light and said that is good and they use it for the PR card. Hope this helps

perplexed said:
my mother and brother arrived as immigrants. they werent asked to take any pictures at the time of landing. they had one picture on the confirmation of permanent residence paper. i had thought they they would use the same picture.

now i heard from my friend that their pictures should have been taken as part of the landing procedure at the airport. is this correct? coz no immigration officer asked them to do so.

If it was in fact part of the procedure, then what should we do now for the pictures.

thanx
 
Yep. I had US GC and landed yesterday at Toronto pearson and no questions asked. 3min all done ( excluding customs) .

texancanadian said:
I think CIC staff at airports (especially Toronto Pearson) are more welcoming and friendly than at the land border.
 
Questions on landing

Hi, I plan to land in Toronto next month and I appreciate if someone can answer some questions for me.

1. do you need to rent a car to go around Toronto? I plan to fly in but I don't know if you need a car in Toronto to go around.

2. I submitted my original employer letters for all my previous employers in my application. For now I only have the letter from my most recent employer. Is that going to be a problem?

3. Which port of entry would you suggest is the most friendly and efficient? Is Toronto Pearson airport better than the rest?

4. I applied PR in the skilled worker class, but right now I am back to school to pursue a degree unrelated to my old occupation. Is that going to be a problem? Do they at the immigration check what you are currently doing?

5. Do I need to bring passport-size photos with me?

thanks a lot
 
yuans2 said:
Hi, I plan to land in Toronto next month and I appreciate if someone can answer some questions for me.

1. do you need to rent a car to go around Toronto? I plan to fly in but I don't know if you need a car in Toronto to go around.

> I leave it to others who know better . But I know Subway and Bus transportation is good in Toronto.

2. I submitted my original employer letters for all my previous employers in my application. For now I only have the letter from my most recent employer. Is that going to be a problem?

> Nope. They really don't care. The only thing they care about if at all is how much money are you bringing with you. (It doen't mean physically carrying). Its how much money you have may in the banks etc.

3. Which port of entry would you suggest is the most friendly and efficient? Is Toronto Pearson airport better than the rest?

> I found Toronto pearson is Great.

4. I applied PR in the skilled worker class, but right now I am back to school to pursue a degree unrelated to my old occupation. Is that going to be a problem? Do they at the immigration check what you are currently doing?

> Nope.

5. Do I need to bring passport-size photos with me?

> Nope. They normally use the picture on the Landing papers.If thats not good they take the picture there.

thanks a lot
 
Quesion about AP return to USA

I have applied AP 2 times:
I applied the first AP in 4/2203 and got 3 AP papers, which valid 7/14/2004. In June, 2004, I went to home country and came back in July. At Air Port of San Jose, the immigration office just took one AP papers, stamped it and returned it to me.

I applied the second AP in 5/2004 and also got 3 AP papers, which valid 7/8/2005. I need to go to Canada(I also applied Canada immigration and need to land before Oct,22). I went to Canada on 9/25 and returned on 9/26. I entered USA at rainbow bridge( It is a big mistake for me to enter at that prot. The immigration officer is very rude.) He asked me a lot of questions. Then he took all of my 3 new AP papers, and returned me just 2 AP paper with stamp. I asked him why he just returned me 2 AP papers. He told me that he would file a file with that AP and would send me another two new AP papers. I don't know where he would file, Canada immigration office or USCIS?
( he told me that he would let Canada immigration officer know that I applied US immigration)

It is almost ten days that I still did not receive the two new AP papers which he told me he would send me. Last night, I called the Rainbow Bridge office. The officer who answered the phone was also very rude. When I spoke the first sentence, he told me he could not understand me. I repeated it again very slowly, he still told me he could not understand me. Then I asked:"What's your name?" Officer replied:" I already told you." Then I repeated my experience again. Now he changed his attitude. He asked me the name of the officer when I entered USA. But there was no immigration officer's name shown on the papers and passport. How could I know the name of the officer?

Why the first one just used one AP papers while the second used all 3 AP papers?

Could someone tell me his experience returning to USA from Canada by AP?
 
CharleyDOL

1) See the stamp. Maybe the stamp has a certain number. The number may denote the officers identity.
2) Even if Canada's immigration dept knows they can not take away Canada PR just because you have filed for USGC. You have to have USGC in hand before they can do that. Normally even then they give you 6 months to choose.
3) I have a suggestion (please dont take offense because its meant positively) - next time you call Rainbow Bridge please ask an American friend or someone who speaks english with a neutral accent to speak on your behalf. Maybe the guy really truely doesnt understand your accent.
Thanks
 
Hello there,
I plan to land probably in a couple of weeks through Windsor tunnel. Can anyone spend some time to answer my following questions.
1. I have a car under the ownership of my company(Which is in Michigan). Can I go by that car and avoid registration transfer etc?
2. My friend lives in Toronto and I'm using his address as my destination in Canada. Can I apply for my PR card and SIN card in Windsor itself rather going to Toronto?? (We may stay in a hotel for a few days and give Toronto address for PR and SIN cards)
3. I avoid going to Toronto because my wife has to see Doctor within 30 days of landing for her inactive TB treatment. I talked to Health Dept. in Canada and they answered "She has to seek an appointment within 30 days" If we take an appointment from Windsor Medical dept. then we may commute frequently as I am in Michigan.
Thanks.
 
gunarp,

can you share your experience on the inactive TB. Did they find this when they took x-rays during medicals. I may have same problem for my son so thats why i ask.

Thanks

Deepak
 
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