Hi,
I am writing to share my Landing experience which happened on 17th August at Vancouver airport.
We (Family) took flight from New Delhi airport via Air China. We landed at Vancouver airport on 17th August at 11:00 Am. It didn't not seem to be very much busy airport which were expecting (Good for us). The time we came out from plane we had no clue where to go and the good thing which we did was to follow our Co-passengers. Soon we saw a lady instructing everyone to be in line and fill some information in a Machine which had touch screen LED display. As our turn came, this Machine asked to scan passport. As soon as we scanned the first page of passport(which contains passport no.; name, date of birth..etc) system auto pulled all our details; ie: flight details, our names and other details. After this, machine asked to click photo which was done by system itself via machine’s camera. As a last step machine asked to fill up information which was as per to custom declaration card hence didn't fill customer declaration card. Finally machine printed a kind of acknowledgement receipt which were having our name; photos and other details.
Then we asked to meet Canada border service agency's agent. There were two queues. One was for Canadian citizen and second was for all others. So we moved to all others. Our turn came. Agent greeted and asked how much money we are carrying. We were carrying more than 10k CAD so he asked us to verify the same the from some Cash/finance counter (sorry can't remember the name of counter) after Immigration.
Now we moved towards to Immigration area. Again there were two lines. One for who landed as PR and second for Students/visitors. Then we met an agent from CANN (Canada Airport Newcomers Network) desk and he greeted us by saying "Welcome to Canada" and asked for our passports, COPR and acknowledgement receipt. He asked for a local address so we handover a pre-printed address to officer. He was happy to see this as printed details is always easy to understand. He did something on his Laptop and pasted a serial # on my passport. He provided a Booklet and pamphlets about jobs and instructions to settle for new comers. After this he informed us on receiving PR card which he said that it will take 6-8 weeks and guided us on Child benefits part as my family include a child too. He greeted us once again and asked to wait until immigration officer calls your serial# which was pasted on my passport.
Since the queue was long so it took 1 hour for our turn, Immigration officer greeted asked for the purpose of visit and asked if this was our first time landing in Canada. We provided answers as appropriate. Officer asked for Local address so we provided that printed copy of address and asked my relation with this person Then he questioned if we liked Canada. He took our passports, COPR and acknowledgement receipt asked to wait. Exact after 20 mins he called us and said “Can i ask you some questions”. I knew it gonna come, i said yes please. Here we go
1. Have you ever been into any crime or you have any criminal history.
2. Have you ever been denied with entry to Canada or any other country.
3. Any incident of Visa refusal for Canada.
4. Have ever been married more than 1 time.
5. And same question is for your wife.
6. Are you landing with all family members and is there any dependant left which are not mentioned on landing papers.
After this, officer asked how much money we are carrying and i replied with amount which was more than 10k CAD. He said we need to fill up one form but just because this forum we were aware of this Form (Cross border currency or Monetary instrument report) and we pre-printed with appropriate details. Officer was delighted to see this filled and appreciated us multiple times. Now officer told us that PR will be delivered between 6-8 weeks and we had to apply for visa in case if we are moving out of the country by Air until PR card comes. Soon after this he asked to sign on COPR. COPR with photographs they retained with them and provided us the one which was available without photograph and handover the same acknowledgement receipt. Lastly he asked, any question for us and we replied “No” and left from immigration area.
As a Last step we moved to cash counter for verification of money wherein cashier asked to fill same Form - Cross border currency or Monetary instrument report. We had second copy of pre-printed form and cashier was delighted too see that. He did not count anything, verified our papers and Stamped on same acknowledgement receipt and gave back.
That’s all and now we were on our way to exit gate wherein we asked to surrender the acknowledgement receipt to agent who were standing at exit. In nutshell you need to be very well prepared with your documents and basic questions which immigration officer will ask as this will enable to perform smooth landing procedures.
On next day, 18th August we took SIN# from Service Canada office which hardly took half an hour to generate.
This forum helped me a lot to understand in depth of everything related to Canada, be it is express entry , country’s culture, visa information and much more. Special thanks to all the members whose valuable feedback comments guided us thru all the procedure ie: from filing to Immigration. Thanks a Lot once again.
Cheers and i wish successful and speedy entry of yours.
Regards,
Bhupesh
