Hello all. We (wife and I) landed at YYZ late on August 24, 2019 (a Saturday). See my signature for PPR time/dates/etc. This is the tale of our soft landing + SIN + etc.
Our flight was delayed several times and nearly canceled due to multiple maintenance issues with multiple planes. Thankfully, we got in super late to YYZ and were shuffled along to the check-in machines where we selected our purpose for the visit (immigration), it took a picture, and we did the standard customs declarations (I selected unaccompanied goods on the device for both of us). It printed out the receipt with our pictures and the UG marker for unaccompanied goods.
We stood in line to reach an immigration person who basically waved through Canadians and US citizens who were holding up passports and the receipts. I clarified to her that I was immigrating and she told me to walk through (no immigration interview at this point). She marked my receipt with a large pink Z with a highlighter.
I then reached the next immigration person who I again told I was immigrating (but he could see the big pink Z on the receipts anyway). He directed me into a glass-enclosed room with a long queue. It got even longer and it was apparently mostly student visa applicants. We waited in this room for about an hour, I'd say.
When we reached the immigration officer, he asked for the CoPR, passport, address for PR card (I had this printed out for clarity - a friend's address). He asked us to sit and wait to be called. We went to the sitting area with a bunch of students (they seemed to be processing student visas in bulk, stamping multiple passports in a cubicle, signing, etc in an assembly line fashion; also they were getting super serious with another guy in another cubicle, having him empty his pockets, unlock his phone, patting him down, etc. Not sure what he did or didn't do.)
They called our names, we went back up to his booth, and he congratulated us and told us we were permanent residents. He gave us the customs receipt back in addition to the signed CoPR. He told us, "Hang onto these. You'll need them in 3 years when you apply for citizenship."
He asked if we had any other questions, and I asked if I could get a stamp in my passport, since they don't normally stamp US passports when entering Canada. He said he had already stamped and he was surprised I asked since most US people don't want stamps (due to page limits and we can no longer get more pages). I looked for the stamps and asked what the "I" meant on it. I asked if it meant "indefinite" since we were not on a 6 month limit anymore. He said it meant "immigrant" which made us smile.
I asked if I could take a selfie with him and he politely declined.
We continued to the customs area where we informed them we had goods to follow. We were directed to secondary and a short line (we were the only ones waiting while multiple officers helped others). We were called over within a minute and I presented the lists. He flipped through for a minute and then just asked "is there a grand total somewhere?" and I told him it's on the last page. They stamped all my pages and put my grand total into the computer and printed some kind of customs receipt and gave it to me.
He said to present the stamped list if we U-Haul our own stuff or give it to the shipping company if we ship it.
This was August 25 by this point, since we arrived late. That is the date that my PR card application shows submitted. I was able to link the application in my EE portal by using instructions on this forum. The officer didn't put mine in correctly, and it was hard for me to link. My CoPR birthplace was like StateName, U.S. and my wife's was StateName, U.S.A. He apparently entered both as U.S.A. I only realized this after giving up on my own and linking my wife's. When I saw hers was different, I tried "U.S.A." on mine and it worked. Huzzah!
On the following Monday (1 or 2 days later, depending on how you look at it), we went to Service Canada in Toronto City Hall (the one in the airport was closed when we landed). We went to the window and were given a sheet to fill out that consisted of name, parents' birth names, other names we've held (maiden name), etc.
We waited about an hour to be seen, we were called individually and they took the paper and our passport, and these people were really nice too. They put everything into the computer and asked me to confirm my birth date while she typed everything. I was given a SIN on the spot with a printout. I took a picture of it in case.
We visited all the normal stuff: CN Tower, Rogers Stadium (Blue Jays game), Aquarium, Niagara Falls, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto Zoo, Harbour Boat Tour, etc.
Here's my
PR Card tracker. The current timeline shows 12 days on IRCC's site.
Ask me anything.
