I am writing this post as many PR holders seek guidelines for their first travel to Canada especially if that is their first International travel. I traveled to YVR (Vancouver) from DEL (New Delhi) India last week and giving my landing experience so that all who are planning to land at YVR can plan accordingly.
Airlines - Air Canada. DEL (06:05 AM) - YVR (07:05 AM)
Total travel time - 13-14 hrs.
Time difference - 12:30 hrs
1. Boarding & Travel: The usual baggage check and security check will be there as always. I traveled via Air Canada as it is the only direct flight from Delhi to Vancouver. During the baggage check I was told that boarding gate would be gate 1 but later on the gate was changed to 7. This took some time as gate 1 and 7 are quite far apart.
Suggestion: You never know about the crowd during the baggage/security check & last minute changes in the boarding plan so make sure you reach the airport 3-4 hours prior to the actual flight. This allows you to have sufficient time to make all the checks and board the plane without any hassle.
2. In Flight Travel: Air Canada Economic seats are moderately comfortable. You will be provided with a tiny one person blanket, a pillow and a complimentary headphone which you can take along after the travel. Meal is served thrice during the travel.
First half hour after the take off kinda like breakfast.
Second 6-7 hours after that, kinda like lunch.
And third morning snacks and biscuits 1.5 hours prior to the landing.
The entertainment unit is full of good movies, TV shows and music. You can also order Duty Free stuff while sitting there which will be delivered to you. USB charger is provided to charge your tablet or phone.
Suggestion: The travel will be non stop 14 hours so you tend to get little tired if don't get to sleep on the plane. Take along the neck pillow as it will help you relax during the long travel.
3. Declaration Form: Usually immigrants are asked to fill in the declaration form before landing to the YVR airport. In my case, only folks who had adjoining flights to US were told to fill the form. Turns out all other immigrants will be filling in the form at the airport itself.
Suggestion: You can either request the declaration form or see if from the fellow traveler to check what kind of questions are asked to the immigrants.
4. Landing & Declaration Form: After landing the immigrants are directed towards a large entrance hall where there are dozens of digital panel machines waiting for you. Kinda like ATMs. You pick a machine of your choice and start the step by step form there. You will be asked 4-5 questions there, prompted to scan our passport on the scanning panel and then a nice little photo of yours automatically taken by the machine. The whole thing will take not more than 2 minutes and after that you will be provided with the printed landing slip by the machine. Take out the slip and move ahead. You can pick a declaration form lying on the table and fill it up. Its the usual declaration form - Name, Country, Any weapon or foreign material and cash above 10k CAD. Form filling again will not take more than 2 minutes.
After that you will be directed towards a CBSA official who will ask the reason of your landing, check your passport and your CoPR. Once satisfied, you will be directed towards the Immigration section.
Suggestion: If you are not familiar operating digital machines then do seek guidance from the airport officials standing there. Do make sure you have your CoPR ready. Take it out before you go and meet the CBSA official.
5. Immigration: Before you enter the immigration department, you will be asked to collect your baggage first. Go and collect the baggage from the belt and then keep the baggage out of the immigration department. The airport official will stay out to take care of your and all other baggage of folks already inside. Once you go inside the immigration office, depending on the crowd, you will be either told to wait or start with your process. There was nobody inside so I was called by the welcoming official directly. The lady asked for my CoPR and passport, confirmed that I am travelling for the first time and filled up a form. She then gave me the "Welcome to the Canada" govt book and explained all the things I need to do after I land there. Things like getting SIN and Open bank account, Finding housing and jobs etc is listed in the book.
After this, she directed me towards the main CBSA official for my immigration check. Here I was told to present my passport, my CoPR and wait. After 2-3 minutes, I was again called by the official where I was asked the routine questions like ever denied Visa in Canada, ever committed a crime, ever married - the usual stuff. I was told to sign both CoPR. One was kept by the official and the other was given back to me. It didn't take more than 5 minutes for the official to verify the details and then I was told to leave the office. That's it. I went out, picked up the baggage and went straight to the meet and greet section of the airport.
Suggestion: Sometimes, some idiot might take out your baggage and then realize that it is wrong bag and then don't put it back on the belt. Happened with me. I kept on waiting for almost 20 minutes for a bag of mine which was taken down by some dickhead while checking his baggage. Do roam around the belt in case your bags have not arrived for quite some time.
Do carry a fresh set of photographs (50x70) if you are travelling 6 months or later of getting CoPR. I carried a set of photos with myself and asked the officials if the new photos are needed. I was told that there is no need even though I was landing 10 months after getting CoPR. Still, there are some officials who ask for fresh photo in such cases so it is always better to be prepared than repent later on.
Hope you find the post informative. Good luck to all the YVR landers!
Airlines - Air Canada. DEL (06:05 AM) - YVR (07:05 AM)
Total travel time - 13-14 hrs.
Time difference - 12:30 hrs
1. Boarding & Travel: The usual baggage check and security check will be there as always. I traveled via Air Canada as it is the only direct flight from Delhi to Vancouver. During the baggage check I was told that boarding gate would be gate 1 but later on the gate was changed to 7. This took some time as gate 1 and 7 are quite far apart.
Suggestion: You never know about the crowd during the baggage/security check & last minute changes in the boarding plan so make sure you reach the airport 3-4 hours prior to the actual flight. This allows you to have sufficient time to make all the checks and board the plane without any hassle.
2. In Flight Travel: Air Canada Economic seats are moderately comfortable. You will be provided with a tiny one person blanket, a pillow and a complimentary headphone which you can take along after the travel. Meal is served thrice during the travel.
First half hour after the take off kinda like breakfast.
Second 6-7 hours after that, kinda like lunch.
And third morning snacks and biscuits 1.5 hours prior to the landing.
The entertainment unit is full of good movies, TV shows and music. You can also order Duty Free stuff while sitting there which will be delivered to you. USB charger is provided to charge your tablet or phone.
Suggestion: The travel will be non stop 14 hours so you tend to get little tired if don't get to sleep on the plane. Take along the neck pillow as it will help you relax during the long travel.
3. Declaration Form: Usually immigrants are asked to fill in the declaration form before landing to the YVR airport. In my case, only folks who had adjoining flights to US were told to fill the form. Turns out all other immigrants will be filling in the form at the airport itself.
Suggestion: You can either request the declaration form or see if from the fellow traveler to check what kind of questions are asked to the immigrants.
4. Landing & Declaration Form: After landing the immigrants are directed towards a large entrance hall where there are dozens of digital panel machines waiting for you. Kinda like ATMs. You pick a machine of your choice and start the step by step form there. You will be asked 4-5 questions there, prompted to scan our passport on the scanning panel and then a nice little photo of yours automatically taken by the machine. The whole thing will take not more than 2 minutes and after that you will be provided with the printed landing slip by the machine. Take out the slip and move ahead. You can pick a declaration form lying on the table and fill it up. Its the usual declaration form - Name, Country, Any weapon or foreign material and cash above 10k CAD. Form filling again will not take more than 2 minutes.
After that you will be directed towards a CBSA official who will ask the reason of your landing, check your passport and your CoPR. Once satisfied, you will be directed towards the Immigration section.
Suggestion: If you are not familiar operating digital machines then do seek guidance from the airport officials standing there. Do make sure you have your CoPR ready. Take it out before you go and meet the CBSA official.
5. Immigration: Before you enter the immigration department, you will be asked to collect your baggage first. Go and collect the baggage from the belt and then keep the baggage out of the immigration department. The airport official will stay out to take care of your and all other baggage of folks already inside. Once you go inside the immigration office, depending on the crowd, you will be either told to wait or start with your process. There was nobody inside so I was called by the welcoming official directly. The lady asked for my CoPR and passport, confirmed that I am travelling for the first time and filled up a form. She then gave me the "Welcome to the Canada" govt book and explained all the things I need to do after I land there. Things like getting SIN and Open bank account, Finding housing and jobs etc is listed in the book.
After this, she directed me towards the main CBSA official for my immigration check. Here I was told to present my passport, my CoPR and wait. After 2-3 minutes, I was again called by the official where I was asked the routine questions like ever denied Visa in Canada, ever committed a crime, ever married - the usual stuff. I was told to sign both CoPR. One was kept by the official and the other was given back to me. It didn't take more than 5 minutes for the official to verify the details and then I was told to leave the office. That's it. I went out, picked up the baggage and went straight to the meet and greet section of the airport.
Suggestion: Sometimes, some idiot might take out your baggage and then realize that it is wrong bag and then don't put it back on the belt. Happened with me. I kept on waiting for almost 20 minutes for a bag of mine which was taken down by some dickhead while checking his baggage. Do roam around the belt in case your bags have not arrived for quite some time.
Do carry a fresh set of photographs (50x70) if you are travelling 6 months or later of getting CoPR. I carried a set of photos with myself and asked the officials if the new photos are needed. I was told that there is no need even though I was landing 10 months after getting CoPR. Still, there are some officials who ask for fresh photo in such cases so it is always better to be prepared than repent later on.
Hope you find the post informative. Good luck to all the YVR landers!
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