My soft landing experience
hello guys - today I’ll be sharing with you my soft landing experience (AOR March 2019, PPR email 02 October)
As I am still working in India and have a well settled job here, I was not sure about quitting my job so soon and moving to Canada. Hence I decided to do soft landing and subsequently move to Canada around April-May 2020 (obviously in better weather conditions).
I booked an Air Canada ticket which was a direct flight from Mum-Toronto and return.At the Mumbai airport’ immigration, I was asked the purpose of my visit to Canada to which I said that I’ve received a PR and am going for my formalities. The officer then asked me to produce my PR card but I told him that as I am going there for the first time I do not have a PR card and instead showed him the COPR documents. He verified the docs post which he stamped my passport and I was good to go.
I landed in Toronto at 7 in the morning after a tiring journey of 16 hours! In the flight itself I was given an immigration form in which I had to fill my details like name, passport no. , purpose of visit etc.
After getting off the flight I headed towards the immigration along with other travellers. However when I told an officer there that I am landing for my PR, I was sent to another queue.
Here a lady officer checked my immigration form (which I had already filled in the flight) and the COPR document and asked if I was carrying any cash and milk products. I told the officer the amount of cash I had on me and that I’m carrying butter and milk powder as well. The officer made some notes on the immigration form regarding the cash and milk products I’m carrying.
From here I was sent to another immigration officer (sweet young man). This officer asked for my immigration form, passport and COPR (two copies). Here I was asked the following three questions:
1. If you’ve been convicted of any crime in any country?
2. Ever refused admission to enter or leave Canada?
3. Do you have any dependents which are not listed in your application?
I answered NO to all the above questions. The officer then retained one copy of my COPR and on the other COPR copy he asked me to sign at two places. Then he stamped the COPR copy saying that I became a permanent resident of Canada on XYZ date.
After this the officer asked me how much money in cash I have with me to which I told him I have XX amount of cash. He then asked me where I was staying and if there is any particular address where I would like the PR card to be delivered. I told the officer that I’ll be staying at my friends place and would like the PR card to be mailed there. He didn’t ask me any further questions and handed over the immigration form, passport and COPR copy to me and told me that the COPR copy “is a very important document” and I should keep it safe with me even after I become a citizen.
I was then directed towards a counter where SIN for new comers were generated. At this counter the officer asked me to fill a form meanwhile he checked my immigration form, COPR copy, passport and boarding pass. I handed over the filled form to him and within 2 mins he generated my SIN and handed over the SIN document to me.
I was then asked to proceed towards the customs section. Here the officer again asked for my immigration form, passport and COPR. He read the remark made on the immigration form that I was carrying mill products. He then asked me to open my bags and checked the food items I was carrying. He took butter and milk powder from my bag and threw it in the dustbin. . Then I was asked if there were any goods I am carrying to which I told the officer that my goods will come at a later date. The officer asked me to fill a “Goods to Follow” form where I was asked to detail any and everything that I intend to bring into Canada at a later date. I listed products worth approximately $2,500. The customer officer then directed me to a “cashier counter” where I was given document (which looked more like a receipt implying that I can bring in goods with $2,500 and no custom duty would’ve levied on it). After this I again headed to the customer officer and he handed me my passport, COPR copy and a copy of the Goods to Follow list.
This was the last step at the airport and I was told I can exit the airport and need to visit Service Ontario to apply for my health card.
Hope you found this write up informative and I’ll be happy to answer your questions.
