Hello all! Just wanted to share our landing experience with everyone here
We had been trying to catch a flight to Toronto from Dubai for a couple months now. After several cancellations, Emirates finally started regular flights to Toronto from May 22nd. We took that very first flight. We only had 8 days to sell a car, sell our furniture, pack our belongings to send by freight and the rest to go with us. With an extra bonus challenge of bringing our pet cat along with us...
Of course, UAE announced revised timings for the sanitation drive a couple days before our flight so we had to scramble and find a way to get our cat to the aiport. The British Vet Clinic in Jumeirah offers such service and is classified as essential service so they picked up our cat the evening before our flight and met us at the airport the next morning.
Our flight was at 9am but we got to the airport 4 hours before as recommended by Emirates. All CoPR passengers were asked to stand aside initially and a gentleman proceeded to ask us some details which he checked directly with the Canadian embassy. Rule of thumb is that if you're planning to do a soft landing, you won't be allowed to board the plane. At least 3 families were not allowed to check in.
This process took almost 1/2h so make sure to come early! During check in, they AGAIN checked whether we were eligible to fly.
Finally, we checked all of our 9 suitcases and I took the cat to an area next to the oversize luggage check in to show her export permit and vaccination book.
Rest of the process was straightforward, nothing different from the usual . Boarding took A LONG time as they were cleaning the plane.
Flight was uneventful aside from one dude having a panic attack a couple hours before arrival, acting all irrational but thankfully the cabin crews were well trained and dealt with him professionally and calmed him down...
Upon arrival to Toronto, we were initially told that were going to disembark in small groups, but they just ejected us all at once so not sure what happened here.
I will describe the steps we went through in the airport to make it clearer to those curious about it :
Step 1 : Passport control.
We had a dude who was quite rude and nervous. You will need to show him your CoPRs and Custom form (one they give you on the plane). The dude was not patient at all and very pushy, but kept my calm to avoid any conflicts... Last thing I want after such a crazy month
Step 2 : CoPR check
Very friendly guy, took again our CoPR and custom form stamped by the guy above. He asked us some questions about plan for 14 days of self quarantine etc etc. Asked us to wait for 10-15 minutes then congratulated us on becoming Permanent Residents, asked for the address to send the PR card and we were done with that. By the way we weren't asked at all about proof of funds.
Step 3 : Collect our luggage and cat
Step 4 : Customs
Surprisingly easy and fast. You show them the forms for goods you're bringing in and goods to follow, they stamp them and you're done.
Same thing for the cat, they checked the vaccination certificate, the rabies certificate etc...
I was expecting them to scan our luggage, but nothing.
You won't be able to do anything else in the airport... SIN office is closed, shops that sell SIM cards closed.
We reached the airbnb in about 1/2h . We had made an online order for the cat stuff (you're not allowed to bring in pet food EXCEPT if it's made in US or Canada) that was waiting for us.
We are using mainly Grocery Gateway and Amazon for groceries. Gateway mainly as it has fast delivery times. Both accept international credit cards so very useful until we're able to open a bank account after the quarantine ends...
We're happy to finally be here! Let me know if you have any questions!
