landing experience

landed in april

thanks to all forum members for posting their landing experience...it helped a lot when we did our landing.

here is our experience...
crossed the US border in buffalo in rented car from queenston bridge. went to immigration. since we were coming back to US after 5 days (which we had to tell the officer since he asked specifically) he told us he cannot accept our relative's address. he did not even look at it. he said you can land today but when you move for good you fax in Address Notification form with your permanent address. he gave us that form. he said to call the number mentioned on the form...
customs was very easy.

anyway with that somewhat disappointing experience we went in..next day called the number on that form to check what we are supposed to do next time we come in. we explained the situation saying that we are going back after 5 days. the lady told us to fax in that form with my cousin's address ASAP and not to wait till you come for good. even asked us if somebody will be there at that address. so we did that. we have the fax confirmation..

i also went to e- cas and there is address notification link for first time PR card applicants and gave my cousin's address. how long does it take for ecas to update it? its been more than 7 days and my status still shows my US address.

next day went to SIN card office and got temp. numbers the lady said the cards will come in mail in 7-10 days.

did some sightseeing and came back to US same way. nothing at the border since we had valid visas and I 94s

dhm2002
 
Hi All,

I am planning to go to Canada for landing and H1 stamping (after F1 and with 13 months on H1 b with no H1 stamping till now ). I plan to cross the border at New York where route 81 (US) changes to 137 (Canada) . I plan to go by road from Philadelphia to Ottawa. Please let me know if I can cross the border here to get the landing done. Can I cross the border just anywhere for my landing to be taken care of, OR are there any specifc ports by road, where landing is handled.
And also are there any specific timings that we must cross the border. Do they work in the weekend.

Please let me know if rental car is OK and if I will face any issues for the car.

Also I dont have a H1 visa right now,. If for some reason, I dont get my stamping done in Ottawa, can I come back to US according to some 30 day rule or should I go back to INdia for stamping,

Thanks a lot in advance.
 
sunnyz54321 said:
Hi All,

I am planning to go to Canada for landing and H1 stamping (after F1 and with 13 months on H1 b with no H1 stamping till now ). I plan to cross the border at New York where route 81 (US) changes to 137 (Canada) . I plan to go by road from Philadelphia to Ottawa. Please let me know if I can cross the border here to get the landing done. Can I cross the border just anywhere for my landing to be taken care of, OR are there any specifc ports by road, where landing is handled.
Click to expand...

-- You can cross at any crossing.

And also are there any specific timings that we must cross the border. Do they work in the weekend.
Click to expand...

-- There are some borders that close at certain times - not all of them are open 24/7. It is better to call them in advance if you are not sure.

Also I dont have a H1 visa right now,. If for some reason, I dont get my stamping done in Ottawa, can I come back to US according to some 30 day rule or should I go back to INdia for stamping,
Click to expand...

-- If your H1 is denied at the consulate, you cannot come back to US using the AVR (30 day rule that you talked about)
 
Bigboy,

Thanks a lot. I will call them and find out,
Did you mean that if I didnt go for stamping, but just to visit Canada and then come back in 5 days,. I can come back using AVR rule,pls let me know.

Regs,
Sunny.
 
sunnyz54321 said:
Bigboy,

Thanks a lot. I will call them and find out,
Did you mean that if I didnt go for stamping, but just to visit Canada and then come back in 5 days,. I can come back using AVR rule,pls let me know.

Regs,
Sunny.
Click to expand...

Yes: IF you are an Indian citizen, have a expired visa sticker in your passport and have a VALID I-94 form. For more information google "Automatic visa revalidation".
 
Address for PR?

Guys,

If we r landing by road and as we dont have address and we give our friends address, right?

So do we have to give address as

My Name
C/o; Friend's name
Friend's address

Or we just give

Friend's Name
Friend's address


Please anyone can throw some light on the issue.

Thanks in advance.
 
your name
c/o your friend's name
your friend's address.


Good luck with your landing. Did you talk/think about giving your I-94? Take a copy before you do so.
 
SIN address

thnx for the info...

After landing my friend lives in Sudbury, Ontario and as I will be landing by car at Detroit Windsor, SO can I apply my SIN in Windsor or do I need to go to Sudbury for that?

I hope SIN can be applied at any office in Canada for any address of Canada.

Please let me know if u guys know anything abt it.

Thnx in advance.
 
Using Automatic Visa Revalidation

I am planning to land Canada(Vancouver) on 23rd of August for PR procedure.
I have return ticket on 25th August Evening.

I am planning to use AVR ( as I have valid I797 with Valid I94 which will expires in Dec-2009)
But this I797 approval is from different employer as I changed my employer.
My Passport already have two h1b stamp with Company "A".
My Green card application I485 is pending.

Can I still use AVR?
Should I go to Canada?
 
ham4242 said:
I am planning to land Canada(Vancouver) on 23rd of August for PR procedure.
I have return ticket on 25th August Evening.

I am planning to use AVR ( as I have valid I797 with Valid I94 which will expires in Dec-2009)
But this I797 approval is from different employer as I changed my employer.
My Passport already have two h1b stamp with Company "A".
My Green card application I485 is pending.

Can I still use AVR?
Should I go to Canada?
Click to expand...

hey buddy

i m in the same boat... i m plaaning to drive thru Port Huron - Sarnia Border and return thru Peace Bridge Niagara Falls using AVR.
i guess it shud not b any problem as lots of ppl do it on F1 - H1,
then we have H1 (i.e same visa class)

All the best to both of us :)
 
Niagara landing experience

This is my way of thanking members for useful information I got from this forum.

Here’s my experience of landing through Rainbow Bridge at Niagara Falls recently. I flew to Buffalo. Rented a car at airport. I am from Pakistan so I had to register departure with immigration. Just before the bridge there is a duty free on right hand side. Parked my car in front of it as there was no other parking available. Basically my car was blocking one lane of traffic to the bridge. Walked between the cars to other side of the road to immigration office. The officer said that’s the only place where I could park. Registration took 1 hr. I had to return to US on AVR so I took out I-94 from my passport and put it in my pocket.
On Canadian side the agent asked for proof of funds. I showed cashiers checks. Officer wouldn’t accept friend’s address:( I had to provide new address through Address Notification link on website later. Gave ‘Goods to follow’ list to customs. Whole process took 30 mins.
Spent few hours at the falls and downtown and returned to US same day. This time special registration took 2 hrs as it was very crowded in the evening. No new I-94 was issued.
 
Hi Gurus

Desperately need some help & advice here...!! Initially was planning to land in Canada & return using AVR. Since my H1-B & wife's H4 was pending - I kept delaying the landing. Now my H1 ext came through however upon research I found out that my company's attorney did not applied for my wife's H4 stating that she does not need one as she can travel on AP & has EAD. Here's my dilemma

1. either land and return with family using AP - How much risky - not sure (i certainly cant ask an IO to process me on AVR but my wife on AP)
2. either just land myself (and not family) & return on H1. This way my other family member's visa would expire - not sure what would be required for them incase we move permanently in future to Canada.
3. Go to Canda for landing - then fly to home country (as I already planning to do that later) and then return to US using AP. Not sure whether travel agent would be even able to get me a ticket or not..
4. Or forget Canada landing all together :((

Any help or advice would be tremendously appreciated..
Fsheikh
 
The immigration officer did not accept my address either. I also provided my new address through Address Notification, it's been 15 days and no sign of changed address yet. I wonder, did you get your PR card in a timely fashion after you did the "address notification" ?
By the way, it seems like not accepting the address is a common theme in Niagara. Be warned.


[On Canadian side the agent asked for proof of funds. I showed cashiers checks. Officer wouldn’t accept friend’s address:( I had to provide new address through Address Notification link on website later.
 
Hello Everyone
Thanks for usuful discussions,

I've been reading other people's landing experiences for a while now, and I see that there are plenty of people with an "unpleasant" landing experience. This is because, the immigration officer does not think that you intend to move to Canada. However, I don't understand how they think that you can leave everything behind in a few months move to a completely new country.
I think they have to fix their concept of this. They either have to give you a longer time visa to move to Canada for good or they have to be ok with people "landing" just for the formality at first and then move in to Canada when you are actually ready to do that. I really don't get it how they miss this essential point...
Also, the timing of the PR application process is unpredictable, you can't predict when you are getting your landing visa. I was expecting it to take 2.5 years at least looking at the processing times, but it took 1.5 years.
 
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Entering CA with PR card

Hi Everyone,
Does anyone know if the canada immigration swip your PR card every time when entering Canada by land?
Also, I would like to know if the Canada know when you leave Canada by US airplain?
I would really appreciate your help
JYW
 
As this forum and people here are helping each other. I would also like to extend my helping hand. Just in case you need any post landing services in Canada you can check stu-links.com i think they are providing the cheapest and best post landing, airport pickups etc. services
 
we have been thinking a lot about what to do with both US-GC (received 2010) and C-PR(received 2006). Finally decided to follow the proper process to Relimquish the C-PR, here are our experience.

We (wife, me, son and daughter) are from Minneapolis, went to Grand Portage POE to surrender our CPR

We reached on 3/19/2011 night and stayed at Grand Marais. 3/20/2011 morning we had nice breakfast and left the hotel at 9 am and reached the POE at 10.30 am.

• 10.30 we crossed the Pigeon Bridge.
• At the Gate, we gave our kids US passports and our green cards. the officer asked the following questions;
o Purpose of the trip? we are here to surrender our CPR
o How many people in the car? Four including me
o Is this your own car? Yes
o When was your last trip to Canada? 2006.
• She asked us to go to immigration section in the same building.

We parked our car and went inside,;
• Told the IO “we are here to relinquish our CPR”
• He was not sure; he said “show me what you got”. Gave him the CPR, kids US Passports.
• He asked us to wait and went inside. Came back after an hour and asked the following Qs
o When was your last trip to Canada? 2006
o How long you are living in USA? 12 years
o Did you live in Canada before that? No we have never lived in Canada.
o Since you have never lived in Canada, only landed, you didn’t meet the residence requirement, there is nothing to relinquish because you don’t have a status, I can take back the cards. Once I do it you have to start over again if you need to be PR.
 I said” yes I am aware that process”, since both my kids are USC and we have GC, we would like to surrender C-PR by following the proper process.
o He said it is not illegal to have both, since you will meet only one country residence requirement anyway you can keep both. Only diplomat or other people which is required to do it, only those will be usually doing it.
o Then he took 30-40 mins to complete the form 5538B. We three signed it (because we appllied before my daughter was born) and got the copy drove back to US side.

USA
We gave the kids US Passports and GC, then he started asking the following questions;
• When did you get your GC? Last year
• Which category? Employment.
• Where do you live? Minneapolis.
• Then I gave our passports which had expired I-94.
o He said park the car and collect everything inside.
• Went inside, IO asked
o Where do you live? Minneapolis
o Give me the address, wrote it in a paper.
o She said we need to take finger prints, pic, for both of us, will take few mins
o Took I-94, said, you don’t need it anymore.
o Gave back all the passports/GC.

Drove back home



jkvaisnavi said:
Hello friends, it is my turn to post my landing experience. Thanks to this forum and all who are helping everyone.

We (wife, me and son) are from Minneapolis and initially thought of going to Detroit but last minute I changed my mind to go to Port Huron/ Sarnia border after reading about Detroit landing postings.

We reached on 5/26/2006 night and stayed at Port Huron. 5/27/2006 morning we had nice breakfast and left the hotel at 9 am

Canada
• 9.15 we crossed the blue water bridge after paying the 1.50$ toll
• At the Gate, we gave our passports and the officer asked the following questions;
o Purpose of the trip? we are here for landing
o How many people in the car? Three including me
o Is this your own car? No, it is rental
o What is your status in USA? H1
o When was your last trip to Canada? This is our first trip
• She noted all the info on the yellow slip and asked us to go to immigration building
We parked our car and went inside, We gave our passports and landing papers. We didn’t give the I-94. Then she started asking the following questions;
• Where is the white slip? I-94? I gave her, that was expired one,
• So, you completed in USA? I said we completed 6 yrs and my company extended my H1. She was not happy.
• What! Extended? I said yes, but I am going to go back and come back in few months and move permanently.
• Where is the H1 Extn? I gave her my H1 extn. That is valid till 2008 Dec.
• So you are going back? Not moving till 2008? How many days you are going to stay here? For a week? I said we are going to stay here for few days and go back and move permanently in few months.
• Funds? I had 2 cashiers check (5K) one on my name other one on my wife's name
• She was not happy and said there is an issue for you. Do you know the Canada permanent residence rule? The days you are out of Canada that won’t be counted towards permanent residency when you apply for a citizenship? I said yes, I know, my wife is on H4 she can’t work, I will wind up everything in few months and will move permanently.
She didn’t say anything, just nodding her head and started typing on the computer. After few minutes, she asked the address where I am going to stay, I memorized the address and told her without seeing anywhere, and then she asked me C/O. I told my friends name. She filled out the form, she checked the box PERMANENT RESIDENT and wrote moving as of today.

Then she asked us to go and see the customs. There they didn’t ask much, she was I think trainee. Asked the following;
• Yellow slip?
• List of items you are taking in today? We don’t have any but we were carrying Camcorder, portable DVD player, Digital camera, she noted everything.
• Are you driving your own car? I said no, we will be get it later. She asked the model, VIN #. I told her the model only, didn’t give her the VIN #
• Goods to follow list? I gave her the one which I prepared. She was looking for the car and value.
• Then she stamped and gave me a copy.

That’s it we gave the yellow slip to the officer waiting at the parking area, then we proceeded to Canada.

USA
After paying toll 2.50$ we were at the US side, we gave the passport with I-94, then he started asking the following questions;
• How long you were in Canada? I said we went in the morning to complete the landing process, we are going back now.
• Where are you going? Going to MN
• I-94 was expired and I gave the H1 extn

He looked at the I-94 & H1, gave us the yellow slip then asked us to go to immigration building. Went inside and she gave us the new i-94 after taking pic and index finger print.

Good Luck to every one.. Please let me know if you have any specific questions.
Click to expand...
 
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