landing experience

Successful landing @ Peace Arch, Vancouver!

Hi folks,

Same experience as most of the other people, nothing new and notable, so won't make this a long post...

- At border post, officer asks if we are completing landing formalities, currency in posession, hands yellow card and asks us to go to immigration.

- Immigration officer asks about the same questions as others, why apply for Canada PR, when do we plan to move, etc. Formalities take about 30 mins (a trainee was entering information and the officer was guiding her, hence the delay).

- Customs officer asks for goods to follow list. They focussed on the car and ask for the VIN no for the car. I did not have it, but had the licence plate no. Said this was OK, but going for landing now onwards and reading this, better to have the VIN handy is possible. Jewellery was not separately listed, I had taked photographs of all of it together. She stamped the photos and gave them back, saying they will be required when we actually move. I had USD10K as cashiers check, said no declaration of currency required since checks were payable to myself and wife.

- One of the questions I had asked earlier was whether I could apply for SIN in Vancouver when I had specified Toronto as the port of entry on the application. Someone had replied saying that this would not be allowed. I did apply for the SIN no at the Vancouver SIN office with my cousin's address in Toronto. There was no problem with this. SIN application took @ 20 mins from the time we entered the SIN office.

All through, govt. officials were helpful and nice!

Vancouver is a beautiful place and we had perfect weather too when we were there for 4 days!

- On the way back ( I have a valid I94 and US Visa upto Aug 2005), US border officer asks a couple of simple questions "Where's home", "So you don't want to live in the US any more, huh?", etc and lets us pass without any hassles. Nice chap too!

I plan to start looking for work in Toronto soon...

(Hmm, did turn out to be a pretty long post anyway, sorry for that!)

Woohoo!
-SP
 
What is the best way to land in Canada?
Fying or driving.
Any input will be appreciated.
Thanks
 
mentioning car in the "goods to follow list"

Help pl.

Reading through the forum I understand that it is safe to land using a rental car. IF I mention the car in the "goods to follow" list,

1. Will they ask me to register the car in Canada on landing?
2. When am actually moving to Canada, will I have to pay any import tax on car, even though I declare on "goods to follow" list?
3. What is the risk of not mentioning the car in the "goods to follow" list?

Appreciate your input

Regards
Rkmathi
 
abrama

Depends on how far you live from the border... :) both are pretty much the same, I have flown in and not had any issues and I am sure many have driven through the border. Some dont want to take hassles for rental car in the goods to follow and prefer flying, your choice

The only difference is if for some reason after you finished landing you return to the US and they ask you to come and pick up the card personally then if you drive you dont need to get the landing permit as opposed to flying in which case you would need it
 
Last edited by a moderator:
PR and SIN cards

Can someone tell me how long its taking now a days to receive PR/SIN cards from the data of landing/application date..Did anyone who landed in Apr/May'05 received their cards yet...

texancanadian: Have you received your cards yet..

Thanks in advance...
 
PR Card after Landing

Hi Guys,

I landed in by rental car Canada on June 2, 2005 and came back to USA on June 5, 2005. While landing immigration officer told me that I will get letter to pickup the PR Cards. My question is if can I take my personal car to pick up the cards or it is better to take the rental car.

Also, can my friend pick the cards if I write a authoization letter for him to pick the cards. And then he mail them to me in USA.

Thanks.
 
Landed!

Hi everyone,
After months of reading this forum, I finally landed last week via the Windsor tunnel. It was a surprisingly simple and straightforward experience. I drove in an Avis rental from Detroit. They did not ask me about taking the car to Canada and neither did I mention it. The at the border asked me if the car is a rental and I said yes - no questions asked after that. The immigration officer inside asked no questions at all. He just stamped the papers, took down the address I provided for mailing the cards and told me to expect the cards in 3 weeks. He did not check our marriage cert or any other certs (though I recommend carrying them along). He then sent me to cutoms where I got the Goods to Follow List stamped. I was carrying USD 10,000 (5000x2) in banker's checks, but was not asked to show them anywhere.
This was pretty much it and I was out in 30 min. Applied for SIN in Toronto. Again, very simple. Just needed passports and landing papers.
On the way back, we just showed our passports (with valid H1/H4's stamped). We did not have to show the I-797's or any other documents. We were asked the purpose of the journey and a couple of other questions. That's it.

So my message to anyone waiting to land - dont worry. As long as your papers are in order, you will face no problems.

Thanks for all the tips. All the best.
-S
 
Hi Texancanadian

texancanadian said:
I received my PR cards in my hand today. My friends had received it earlier.
Thanks and best regards
Click to expand...

Congrates for getting th PR card. In how many weeks your friend received the PR card came after landing? I did my landing on June 2nd. When should I expect it? Did your friend send it to you by ordinary mail or used some certified mail?

Thanks in advance.
 
4-5 weeks

It takes about a month from the time you land. In my case PR card came few days before SIN card.
I was lucky to have the cards hand delivered since my friend in Canada was visiting US on a business trip. I guess you woiuld use the fastest and the best method available. Maybe FEDEX or DHL Priority ?
 
Port of Entry Canada

I got the landing papers for immigration to Canada. In my Confirmation of Permanent Residence the destination (port of entry) is stated as Toronto (Ontario). Can I land in Vancouver?

Will really appreciate your response.
Thanks in advance.

-Raman
 
landed

Hi all,
We landed to Canada from Windsor tunel on June 15 2005.
At border;
Lady officer: Citizinship
Me: Turkey, here for landing process.
Lady Offier: How long are you going to stay? How much money are you carrying ? (if travel check are they signed? )
Me: One week and I had $12000 travel check and only $1000 signed and $1000 cash.
She wrote this info. to yellow paper and sent me to Immigration officer.

Officer: Are you moving permanently now?
Me: No.
Officer : When will you move?
Me:2-3 months. I have a job until Feb 2006 but I will move here before Feb 2006 once I sell my house.
Officer: Do you have a permanent address?
Me: No. Before I complete the following sentence "I can give my friend address" She interrupted me "Not your friend address" .
Officer: Are you going to live in Windsor?
Me: "I was thinking How the hell I know depen on where I find job?" But anyway I said, I will like to live in Windsor but I may go Toronto in future.
She completed the process and gave me a piece of paper to fill out the address and fax it when I have a permanant address. She said "You do not need to rush this. You can fax this once you have a permanant address when you come here". I, my wife and my US citizien son passport were stamped. (took 20-30 minutes)

After that finished the custom process. (took 15 minutes) I gave the good follow list and I included my Mit. 2003 Outlander car.

We applied for SIN in windsor same day and gave our friends address.

Next day no problem when we came back to USA. We had I-94 and valid visa until Feb 2006.
Next day I was trying to do the address notification process online but I was not able to do that. The system was not able to find my information? Is this normal after I become permenant resident on Jun 15? Next day I faxed the address notification form with my friend address.

good luck all.
 
Landing experience - Vancouver

We had a very smooth experience while landing at the Vancouver border on 18th June.
The young officer was really friendly and smiling all the time (even after her supervisor asked her to act and behave more strictly :)
All she asked was for the address in Canada.
Customs was also relatively effortless. We gave the goods-to-follow and goods-imported list and the customs officer returned them after stamping.
All in all the process was far easier and pleasant than we had ever expected.

Post a reply if you have any specific questions.

Good luck all
eternal_pending
 
For returning back to US do i need visa stamp on my passport.
The old H1 visa stamp is expired and i don't have new employer visa stamp.
 
can i land in vancouver instead of toronto even though i had specified while applying that i will immigrate to toronto
 
GCNeb123 said:
For returning back to US do i need visa stamp on my passport.
The old H1 visa stamp is expired and i don't have new employer visa stamp.
Click to expand...

as long as you have a valid I-94 and have stayed less than 30 Days in Canada, you are good to go!
 
landing soon- need info

I am planning to land Canada soon near Nigara fall. I am just going for landing and I will go to Canada at a later time point after getting a job. I have few questions.
I have never been to buffalo, and I have heard that there is Peace Bridge at that border.

Is that the only enterance or there are other enterance to and from USA/Canada?

Do I need to bring my educational documents? I read that in the other thread but I have not heard people mentioning that if some one checked it?

List to follow, Do I need to mention the amount as well? Does it matter how expensive it gets. Lets say my total amount is worth over 100K?

Or should I take pictures of the stuff in the all rooms and include along with the list, since price is high (I have expensive furniture and other things).

I need to show landing amount like 10K canadian $, do I need to show or delcare assets which I have in investment or retirement accounts as well?

SIN card and bank account, people talked about it that by having it I will be subject to Canadian taxes. COuld some one share some experience on that?

thanks
 
Landing issue

Hi all , I got my landing documents yesterday with valid visa for 3 months , I am currently in USA with an expired H1B visa stamp on my passport and valid extension for the H1B.

My employer recommend to go to the US consulate on Toronto to obtain new stamp which is risky in case of rejection. Also the employer ( legal dept ) told me that returning back to USA with in 30 days with expired visa on your passport is no longer valid law on USA ? Would you please confirm that ? I am seeing many landed immigrated who returned back to USA with expired visa on this forum ? So how is that possible?

Please advice.
 
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