landing experience

This is strange to have experiences like your's. I really don't think officer does any thing to immigration for either country. I had GC stamped and landed in Canada. Both Canada & US officers have both but no questions asked. In reality they really don't care. The only thing they care about is whether you are really maintaining the residency.


charleydol said:
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?
Click to expand...
 
Exit reporting

web_guru2003 said:
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
Click to expand...

Hi web_guru2003,

How exactly do you report your exit? In your case, did you give them your I94 or any other document? What did they need from you? Did they give you any receipt or something to verify later? Thanks
 
Landing in Canada and returning to USA for 3 years

Hi,

I am currently on H1-B visa working in the US. I have recently got my Canadian Immigration and planning to land in Canada before deadline.

After landing in Canada and applying for my PR card, SIN, Health, and Bank Account, what do I need to do to ensure my return back to USA and stay in USA for three years that I can stay outside Canada without jeopardizing my Canadian Immigration Status?

Any advice on this would be greatly helpful!

Kind Regards,

Stingray
 
Deepak007
They found some spot in the X-Ray while carrying out Medical for the first time. Then they asked to carryout sputum test for three consecutive days and have some X-rays too. Finally, they concluded that there is an inactive TB. However, my wife never had TB and she had pneumonia few years ago and that was the spot in lung. But anyway, everything is cleared now. Can anyone tell if I apply for PR card and SIN card in Windsor by giving my friend's address in Toronto.
 
Hello

This is a general question to people who have completed landing or going to land any time soon within few days or weeks. When you make the goods to follow list how do you decide how much the value is for each item in canadian dollars. I mean most of the items will be used and some new. So how do you calculate the approx canadian value for it.

Thanks.
 
how much money to carry?

thanks for all your help. How much money do you think is good for landing? Is 5000 enough? Is personal check ok? or we need to have cashier's check? thanks again,
 
waiting for Passport

Hi,

I sent by passport for visa on 10/4 to buffalo (they received it on 10/5) and still waiting for returning... Does anyone has the same experience? How long does it take? Does anyone have additional issues in this process? Thanks.
 
tx2ca,

The CIC letter for passport request says "Your passport will usually be returned to you within 15 business days from the day we receive them. This does not include any time it may take for the Post Office to deliver them" (page 2). Hope this helps.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
My current landing Experience

Hi everyone,
I just want to share my landing experience with all of you as I’m so benefited and informed by reviewing all your posts.
I landed on 25th of September at Pearson Airport in Toronto.
Leaving the U.S.
The whole thing was going through smoothly expect leaving the U.S. I have an expired F1 visa and I-797 approval for H1B. I planned to use 30-day rule. I went by air. At the boarding time, a lady by the little counter let me drop the I-94, I told her I needed it when I came back. She said I would get a new one when I came back. I was trying to explain to her. She didn’t want to listen to me. She was so firm to tell me that I couldn’t leave if I didn’t drop the I-94. I asked to talk to someone else. She let me go to the immigration office in person, that was far away from the boarding gate where my airplane was. It seemed that I had to take another flight in the later time. I didn’t argue with her since I know that wouldn’t help me anyway, and was ready to go the immigration office. But at the moment, another guy who had the same situation as me was irritated by her attitude. Called her “not qualified for the job”. She got really upset about it. But suddenly realized I was a very patient person comparing that guy, and turned to help me. She called immigration office in the airport and thank God, there was someone on duty on that Saturday. After the immigration officer talked to her, she had to let us go, but made us copy our old I-94 to blank ones as her records to keep.

Landing
It took me about 25 minutes for immigration process. I didn’t hear “welcome to Canada”, but almost everyone was friendly and polite. The half of the time was waiting in the area between the two rows of immigration windows. I waited about 10-15 minutes, then was called by an Asian officer. He was friendly, just asked me three questions while he was checking my paperwork. “Where did you live in the U.S.?” “Do you have a Canadian address?” “ How much money you bring to the Canada” The most of the time he was chatting with me about the weather in the place where I live in the U.S. I told him I had $9000 U.S. dollars. He didn’t ask me anything to approve. (I had a bank statement in my folder, never used it.) I did ask him about picture, he looked at my landing paper and smiled: “that one is OK, you want to take another one? You like to take pictures?” I said no thanks.
After I finished the immigration process, I went to the custom. A gentleman was handing out the booklets to new immigrants while I walking out the immigration office and entering the custom. There were a lot of people ahead of me. I waited about 20 minutes. Then I turned in my two sets lists I prepared in advance: Imported Goods, Goods to follow. An officer put stamps on them and returned one set to me. I had my car listed in Goods to follow. No questions asked, I filled out a form and wrote my Canadian address again for their records. I took about 30 minutes to go through the customer. By the way, I landed in Toronto, and left my Ottawa address. Also I applied the SIN, opened a bank account, and applied health card, all in Toronto with my Ottawa’s address. Didn’t have any problem.

Returning U.S. was very smooth.
A lot of people were waiting for checking in for the U.S. flights. I waited about 30 - 40 minutes. At the counter, I showed my passport with the expired F1 visa and I-797. The guy was friendly and professional. He asked me if I had a H1 visa. I said No. He then understood I adjusted my statues from F1 to H1. Then he asked me how many days I spent in Canada. Finally he asked me to do the fingerprinting. He detached the I-94 from my I-797 and let me fill out a new I-94, stapled both with my passport with all of them stamped. I have a question here, will them do this every time? I heard some people just enter or leave the U.S. or Canada without any record. I might travel very often between the U.S. and Canada, I don’t know if that is all right. Thank you very much for your response. Also, I’m happy to answer any questions you might have.

Thanks
JYW
 
JYW2004,

I have a question here appeciate if you could answer it.
Basically, I plan to do this sometime in march next year.

By that time, My wife would be on Expired H4 stamp but have adjusted status to I797(H1) paper. No H1 stamp in passport.
I'm on expired H1 stamp but on a valid H1(797).

We also plan to get US stamping done in Canada when we land. Do you see an issue with that? Also why didn't you get your US visa stamped when you landed.

Thanks
 
Which Airport you left from US? Thanks.

Congratulations! JYW.
Would you please tell us which airport you left from US? Thanks,
Jimmy

JYW2004 said:
Hi everyone,
I just want to share my landing experience with all of you as I’m so benefited and informed by reviewing all your posts.
I landed on 25th of September at Pearson Airport in Toronto.
Leaving the U.S.
The whole thing was going through smoothly expect leaving the U.S. I have an expired F1 visa and I-797 approval for H1B. I planned to use 30-day rule. I went by air. At the boarding time, a lady by the little counter let me drop the I-94, I told her I needed it when I came back. She said I would get a new one when I came back. I was trying to explain to her. She didn’t want to listen to me. She was so firm to tell me that I couldn’t leave if I didn’t drop the I-94. I asked to talk to someone else. She let me go to the immigration office in person, that was far away from the boarding gate where my airplane was. It seemed that I had to take another flight in the later time. I didn’t argue with her since I know that wouldn’t help me anyway, and was ready to go the immigration office. But at the moment, another guy who had the same situation as me was irritated by her attitude. Called her “not qualified for the job”. She got really upset about it. But suddenly realized I was a very patient person comparing that guy, and turned to help me. She called immigration office in the airport and thank God, there was someone on duty on that Saturday. After the immigration officer talked to her, she had to let us go, but made us copy our old I-94 to blank ones as her records to keep.

Landing
It took me about 25 minutes for immigration process. I didn’t hear “welcome to Canada”, but almost everyone was friendly and polite. The half of the time was waiting in the area between the two rows of immigration windows. I waited about 10-15 minutes, then was called by an Asian officer. He was friendly, just asked me three questions while he was checking my paperwork. “Where did you live in the U.S.?” “Do you have a Canadian address?” “ How much money you bring to the Canada” The most of the time he was chatting with me about the weather in the place where I live in the U.S. I told him I had $9000 U.S. dollars. He didn’t ask me anything to approve. (I had a bank statement in my folder, never used it.) I did ask him about picture, he looked at my landing paper and smiled: “that one is OK, you want to take another one? You like to take pictures?” I said no thanks.
After I finished the immigration process, I went to the custom. A gentleman was handing out the booklets to new immigrants while I walking out the immigration office and entering the custom. There were a lot of people ahead of me. I waited about 20 minutes. Then I turned in my two sets lists I prepared in advance: Imported Goods, Goods to follow. An officer put stamps on them and returned one set to me. I had my car listed in Goods to follow. No questions asked, I filled out a form and wrote my Canadian address again for their records. I took about 30 minutes to go through the customer. By the way, I landed in Toronto, and left my Ottawa address. Also I applied the SIN, opened a bank account, and applied health card, all in Toronto with my Ottawa’s address. Didn’t have any problem.

Returning U.S. was very smooth.
A lot of people were waiting for checking in for the U.S. flights. I waited about 30 - 40 minutes. At the counter, I showed my passport with the expired F1 visa and I-797. The guy was friendly and professional. He asked me if I had a H1 visa. I said No. He then understood I adjusted my statues from F1 to H1. Then he asked me how many days I spent in Canada. Finally he asked me to do the fingerprinting. He detached the I-94 from my I-797 and let me fill out a new I-94, stapled both with my passport with all of them stamped. I have a question here, will them do this every time? I heard some people just enter or leave the U.S. or Canada without any record. I might travel very often between the U.S. and Canada, I don’t know if that is all right. Thank you very much for your response. Also, I’m happy to answer any questions you might have.

Thanks
JYW
Click to expand...
 
tx2ca said:
Hi,

I sent by passport for visa on 10/4 to buffalo (they received it on 10/5) and still waiting for returning... Does anyone has the same experience? How long does it take? Does anyone have additional issues in this process? Thanks.
Click to expand...
 
tx2ca said:
Hi,

I sent by passport for visa on 10/4 to buffalo (they received it on 10/5) and still waiting for returning... Does anyone has the same experience? How long does it take? Does anyone have additional issues in this process? Thanks.
Click to expand...
Did you got your passport back yet?
 
Loton said:
Did you got your passport back yet?
Click to expand...
Not yet.. I am checking my mail daily. What a long waiting... I should have gone there in person...

BTW, my med expired when I sent my passport. Do you think they will extent it a little bit for my landing.... Anyone had experience... HELP..
 
ohiostud said:
JYW2004,

I have a question here appeciate if you could answer it.
Basically, I plan to do this sometime in march next year.

By that time, My wife would be on Expired H4 stamp but have adjusted status to I797(H1) paper. No H1 stamp in passport.
I'm on expired H1 stamp but on a valid H1(797).

As my knowledge, there is no problem at all. As long as you have the valid paperwork to show the immigration that you have the valid I-94, whatever it adjusted from F1, H4.....

We also plan to get US stamping done in Canada when we land. Do you see an issue with that? Also why didn't you get your US visa stamped when you landed.

I don't see any problem to get a new visa stamp from Canada after you landed. But I would like to suggest you not to take the risk unless you really need it to go back to your country.
I don't really understand your last question, did you mean if I got my US visa stamped when I landed in Canada? If yes, then the answer is that there is no immigration process for US side when you land in Canada since you are entering Canada. But when you going out the U.S., you need to drop the I-94 basically. But in my case, I used 30-day rule, and I needed to show the old I-94 when I came back the U.S. So I didn't drop it.
Hope this helps.
Thanks
JYWThanks
Click to expand...
 
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jimmy121 said:
Congratulations! JYW.
Would you please tell us which airport you left from US? Thanks,
Jimmy
Click to expand...

I had a connection. I was very unlucky, my flight was cancelled due to the bad weather, so my connection was changed from Boston to Dallas. therefore, I left the U.S. from there. Honestly, I'm thinking never leave from there again. :(
 
Coming Back USA with the Advance Parole

I am planning land by Air on Dec24th and came back USA after two days using my advance parole. I do not have any previous I-94. On my advance parole, it is clearly written 3/10 year bar does not appy to me. I recevie my advance parole through Life Act (CSS/Lulac). My I-485 is pending.
Will I have any problem comming back?
Thanks.
-Loton
 
tx2ca said:
Not yet.. I am checking my mail daily. What a long waiting... I should have gone there in person...

BTW, my med expired when I sent my passport. Do you think they will extent it a little bit for my landing.... Anyone had experience... HELP..
Click to expand...

my medical expired (1 yr from initial medical) in April and I received passport request in Oct.- didn't ask for new medical. So, I guess, you should be fine. I am also waiting for my passport to be back.
 
Help: questions on Visa revalid

Hi,

I got my passport and visa back ! Now I am going to land. I have the following questions:

1) I have an expired F-1 visa and currently working in the US as H1B without a VISA stamp on the passport. I do have the valid I94 and I797 approval. Are there any problems when returning to US? Does anyone has the similiar situation?

2) I have a family of 4 and have to show funding > 10K. Can my wife and I each took less than 10K to avoid declare at the custom? Do me have to bring all the money in cashiers check or just partially in cashier check and the rest my a US bank statement?

3) My original landing location in Toronto but I plan to land in Vancouver. Any issues?

Thanks.
 
Any issues when PR card is pending?

I am planning to land in Ontario next month. I have the following questions:

1.Can I land in Canada thru any borders to reach Ontario province or have to enter thru the Rainbrow bridge in niagara falls?
does anyone landed in Canada thru different border entrance?

2.After reaching Canada,I am planning to apply for SIN,medical insurance,PR card and open bank account and come back to US.
I will go back to canada in summer of next year.

I read somewhere that we cant leave Canada until we get the PR card in our hand. Wil that be a problem if we leave Canada when our PR card application is pending? if so, then do we have to apply for re-entry permit before leave Canada? how does this process work?

appreciate anyone's reply on this
thanks.
 
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