Hi All,
I am happy to inform you all that I completed the landing process on May 30,2005(Memorial day).
We (my wife, daughter and I) landed at the Rainbow Bridge. We drove a rental car from Buffalo.
At the US border:
It was a really a marvellous experience - there were tons of cars that were there as it was Memorial day. We drove onto the lane marked " To Canada".
4-5 officers were checking cars. On our turn, a lady officer asked me where we were headed. I replied that we were landing. She and another male officer asked me to park the car along the side of the bridge.
They asked me to turn off the engine and put the keys on the passenger seat. They asked if it was my own car. I said its rental. She asked if I was carrying any money. I said that we had a cashier's check for USD15,000 + 500 in cash. She asked me to fill up a form reg. the cash and other money we had and asked for the cashier's check. The check was not signed. She looked at it and took it to another officer. They discussed among themselves for a minute and said that as its not signed, I need not declare it in customs form. She asked me to hand over my wallet to her and she returned it after checking it.
They also asked my wife and daughter to get down and talked to them as to what they had on them.
While we all were out of the car, three officers checked things in the car.
Then, they said you can go.
We checked for all of our belongings and drove to the Canadian Border.
At Canadian Border:
A lady officer asked for purpose of visit today. Replied landing. She asked if we had all documents. She looked at our PPs and gave me a yellow slip and asked to park at the office on the left side. Parked there and went inside.
At Immigrations counter ---
The place was empty - only officers were there.
A lady officer asked for our PPs, forms and asked when we would be moving finally. She then asked for funds. She then asked us to inital at two places and sign on the COPR.They had a warning for all of us - that the signature cannot be outside the white box. She asked for a Canadian address.We gave our relatives address in Mississauga. She then asked us to wait.
They called us again and gave us the forms. She stapled a form on the PP, struck the immigrant visa and said that I can use this to come to Canada by personal vehicle any number of times but cannot come by air, boat, bus or rental car. This was suprising.She then congratulated us and asked us to go to customs. SHE DID NOT DO ANYTHING TO MY I94.
There we handed over our goods in hand and goods to follow list. My car was
listed in goods to follow list. She specifically asked for it and checked the car with an officer(he referred to a manual to check if its allowed for importation)
We handed over photos of jewels. They made copies of all of them and handed over them back to us with another form.
We then came to our car. There an officer pointed out that the hood had been left open. The US officer who opened it did not close it properly and I did not notice that either. The canadian officer took care of that and said "good luck".
Finally, we were in Canada!!!!!!!
We drove to Toronto that day and went to CN tower and visited my relatives at Mississauga.
On return journey to US:
Lady officer asked citizenship and PPs. She looked at them - we had unexpired visas and I-94s. She said you can go - Less than a minute.
Never asked if we carried any money, food etc. She saw my daughter in the car seat sleeping.
A day later, we went to Canada again - this time by foot. A lady officer looked at our PPs. she asked for how long we would be there.We said we wanted to see the falls from Canada and said may be for a couple of hrs. She gave us our PPs and said good luck.
On the way back to US, officer looked at our PPs and checked visa and I-94. In less than a minute, he let us go.
I have read many posts with many nervous persons posting many questions. My advice would be:
Don't read any pessimisstic posts.
Don't read posts that do not pertain to your situation/status
Be prepared and you will definitely enjoy the landing process. 99.99% of the officers are helpful.
I am happy to inform you all that I completed the landing process on May 30,2005(Memorial day).
We (my wife, daughter and I) landed at the Rainbow Bridge. We drove a rental car from Buffalo.
At the US border:
It was a really a marvellous experience - there were tons of cars that were there as it was Memorial day. We drove onto the lane marked " To Canada".
4-5 officers were checking cars. On our turn, a lady officer asked me where we were headed. I replied that we were landing. She and another male officer asked me to park the car along the side of the bridge.
They asked me to turn off the engine and put the keys on the passenger seat. They asked if it was my own car. I said its rental. She asked if I was carrying any money. I said that we had a cashier's check for USD15,000 + 500 in cash. She asked me to fill up a form reg. the cash and other money we had and asked for the cashier's check. The check was not signed. She looked at it and took it to another officer. They discussed among themselves for a minute and said that as its not signed, I need not declare it in customs form. She asked me to hand over my wallet to her and she returned it after checking it.
They also asked my wife and daughter to get down and talked to them as to what they had on them.
While we all were out of the car, three officers checked things in the car.
Then, they said you can go.
We checked for all of our belongings and drove to the Canadian Border.
At Canadian Border:
A lady officer asked for purpose of visit today. Replied landing. She asked if we had all documents. She looked at our PPs and gave me a yellow slip and asked to park at the office on the left side. Parked there and went inside.
At Immigrations counter ---
The place was empty - only officers were there.
A lady officer asked for our PPs, forms and asked when we would be moving finally. She then asked for funds. She then asked us to inital at two places and sign on the COPR.They had a warning for all of us - that the signature cannot be outside the white box. She asked for a Canadian address.We gave our relatives address in Mississauga. She then asked us to wait.
They called us again and gave us the forms. She stapled a form on the PP, struck the immigrant visa and said that I can use this to come to Canada by personal vehicle any number of times but cannot come by air, boat, bus or rental car. This was suprising.She then congratulated us and asked us to go to customs. SHE DID NOT DO ANYTHING TO MY I94.
There we handed over our goods in hand and goods to follow list. My car was
listed in goods to follow list. She specifically asked for it and checked the car with an officer(he referred to a manual to check if its allowed for importation)
We handed over photos of jewels. They made copies of all of them and handed over them back to us with another form.
We then came to our car. There an officer pointed out that the hood had been left open. The US officer who opened it did not close it properly and I did not notice that either. The canadian officer took care of that and said "good luck".
Finally, we were in Canada!!!!!!!
We drove to Toronto that day and went to CN tower and visited my relatives at Mississauga.
On return journey to US:
Lady officer asked citizenship and PPs. She looked at them - we had unexpired visas and I-94s. She said you can go - Less than a minute.
Never asked if we carried any money, food etc. She saw my daughter in the car seat sleeping.
A day later, we went to Canada again - this time by foot. A lady officer looked at our PPs. she asked for how long we would be there.We said we wanted to see the falls from Canada and said may be for a couple of hrs. She gave us our PPs and said good luck.
On the way back to US, officer looked at our PPs and checked visa and I-94. In less than a minute, he let us go.
I have read many posts with many nervous persons posting many questions. My advice would be:
Don't read any pessimisstic posts.
Don't read posts that do not pertain to your situation/status
Be prepared and you will definitely enjoy the landing process. 99.99% of the officers are helpful.