COPR issued but haven’t landed and medical expiring soon

[lutesgardeb]

Hi all-I’m a Canadian citizen living in US and I sponsored my American husband. Husbands COPR was approved November 2020 but we haven’t landed because of Covid. Hard to buy a house without seeing it in person... etc.

Two questions:
1- his medical will expire in approximately 2 weeks. Do we wait for CIC to contact us to get medical updated? Or should we initiate it. Or does it matter and are they issuing extensions.

2- has anyone done a “soft landing” by land via US who has a travel exemption? Since he is my spouse, as I understand it, he is exempt from the non-discretionary travel exemptions other than of course we would need to quarantine for 14 days and get covid tests. However, if he is landing to initiate his COPR he is supposed to be landing to settle permanently according to CIC. Therefore, will they deny him the ability to land because he isn’t coming with a u-haul of stuff? In my experience with border gaurds they are not immigration experts and it is important to be well informed and have paperwork at the ready to back it up. Therefore wondering if his travel exemption would allow him to land, quarantine for 14 days, and then return to US after we have some time to look at some houses.

I have not seen family in Canada for 18 months so I’m personally getting very desperate to see elderly parents after we quarantine but don’t want to go without him and don’t want to jeopardize his status.
Thanks for guidance!

 

[canuck78]

Hi all-I’m a Canadian citizen living in US and I sponsored my American husband. Husbands COPR was approved November 2020 but we haven’t landed because of Covid. Hard to buy a house without seeing it in person... etc.

Two questions:
1- his medical will expire in approximately 2 weeks. Do we wait for CIC to contact us to get medical updated? Or should we initiate it. Or does it matter and are they issuing extensions.

2- has anyone done a “soft landing” by land via US who has a travel exemption? Since he is my spouse, as I understand it, he is exempt from the non-discretionary travel exemptions other than of course we would need to quarantine for 14 days and get covid tests. However, if he is landing to initiate his COPR he is supposed to be landing to settle permanently according to CIC. Therefore, will they deny him the ability to land because he isn’t coming with a u-haul of stuff? In my experience with border gaurds they are not immigration experts and it is important to be well informed and have paperwork at the ready to back it up. Therefore wondering if his travel exemption would allow him to land, quarantine for 14 days, and then return to US after we have some time to look at some houses.

I have not seen family in Canada for 18 months so I’m personally getting very desperate to see elderly parents after we quarantine but don’t want to go without him and don’t want to jeopardize his status.
Thanks for guidance!

Do you live within a relatively short distance of a land border?

 

[lutesgardeb]

Do you live within a relatively short distance of a land border?

Yes, 2.5 hours drive

 

[armoured]

Hi all-I’m a Canadian citizen living in US and I sponsored my American husband. Husbands COPR was approved November 2020 but we haven’t landed because of Covid. Hard to buy a house without seeing it in person... etc.

Two questions:
1- his medical will expire in approximately 2 weeks. Do we wait for CIC to contact us to get medical updated? Or should we initiate it. Or does it matter and are they issuing extensions.

2- has anyone done a “soft landing” by land via US who has a travel exemption? Since he is my spouse, as I understand it, he is exempt from the non-discretionary travel exemptions other than of course we would need to quarantine for 14 days and get covid tests. However, if he is landing to initiate his COPR he is supposed to be landing to settle permanently according to CIC. Therefore, will they deny him the ability to land because he isn’t coming with a u-haul of stuff? In my experience with border gaurds they are not immigration experts and it is important to be well informed and have paperwork at the ready to back it up. Therefore wondering if his travel exemption would allow him to land, quarantine for 14 days, and then return to US after we have some time to look at some houses.

I have not seen family in Canada for 18 months so I’m personally getting very desperate to see elderly parents after we quarantine but don’t want to go without him and don’t want to jeopardize his status.
Thanks for guidance!

He has a copr, what is the expiry date on that?

 

[canuck78]

Yes, 2.5 hours drive

Although you are not supposed to many have been able to do a soft landing and turn around immediately and reenter the US. If his COPR is still valid I would attempt to do a soft landing. He should bring you and/or proof that you are married and are a citizen. If you look at the forum you can see others have had success doing this although some have not. Most seem to have been lucky and worth a shot since you are relatively close if the COPR is still valid.

 

[armoured]

He has a copr, what is the expiry date on that?

To be clear, my point is that there is no separate medical expiry. They usually (but not always) issue copr with date coincident with one year anniversary of medical, but it is the expiry date on your copr that matters.

 

[lutesgardeb]

To be clear, my point is that there is no separate medical expiry. They usually (but not always) issue copr with date coincident with one year anniversary of medical, but it is the expiry date on your copr that matters.

Gotcha, that’s helpful. COPR will expire in about 3 weeks then.

 

[lutesgardeb]

Although you are not supposed to many have been able to do a soft landing and turn around immediately and reenter the US. If his COPR is still valid I would attempt to do a soft landing. He should bring you and/or proof that you are married and are a citizen. If you look at the forum you can see others have had success doing this although some have not. Most seem to have been lucky and worth a shot since you are relatively close if the COPR is still valid.

Thanks for the intel. Yes COPR valid for a few more weeks. Your comment prompted me to search soft landings and did find some success stories from last summer. Curious if you know of any more recent successes? Definitely worth a shot.

 

[slinkyhead]

Hi all-I’m a Canadian citizen living in US and I sponsored my American husband. Husbands COPR was approved November 2020 but we haven’t landed because of Covid. Hard to buy a house without seeing it in person... etc.

Two questions:
1- his medical will expire in approximately 2 weeks. Do we wait for CIC to contact us to get medical updated? Or should we initiate it. Or does it matter and are they issuing extensions.

2- has anyone done a “soft landing” by land via US who has a travel exemption? Since he is my spouse, as I understand it, he is exempt from the non-discretionary travel exemptions other than of course we would need to quarantine for 14 days and get covid tests. However, if he is landing to initiate his COPR he is supposed to be landing to settle permanently according to CIC. Therefore, will they deny him the ability to land because he isn’t coming with a u-haul of stuff? In my experience with border gaurds they are not immigration experts and it is important to be well informed and have paperwork at the ready to back it up. Therefore wondering if his travel exemption would allow him to land, quarantine for 14 days, and then return to US after we have some time to look at some houses.

I have not seen family in Canada for 18 months so I’m personally getting very desperate to see elderly parents after we quarantine but don’t want to go without him and don’t want to jeopardize his status.
Thanks for guidance!

I called CBSA directly recently (I'm in a similar situation) and they said you need to be moving permanently and bringing all of your goods with you, to be allowed to land in the country. Having had bad experiences at the border in the past, I think I'm going to take them at face value.

Maybe he could get in, though, if you entered the country first and he was entering to visit you?

 

[lutesgardeb]

Just an update on our soft landing. We completed my husband's soft landing at Peace Arch crossing Feb 28, 2021.

What we did:

- got a PCR covid test 1 day before going to the border.
- filled out our goods to follow list.
- brought Passport and COPR letter
- brought print out of financials (not requested) and copy of marriage certificate to Canadian spouse (not requested)
- had

Arrived at border:
- said here to land as a permanent resident. asked if he had a travel plan. He said no, he wants to u-turn and immediately return to USA. They said OK.
- Asked if bringing anything in the car like guns, alcohol etc. Said no.
- Went inside where the goods to follow list was processed. We didn't want to risk them turning us back if that wasn't filled out, so we went ahead and processed everything.
- Provided my parents address in Canada even though we aren't planning to move there. Initially immigration officer didn't want to write that address down, but ended up doing that. Said the card would be sent in 6-8 weeks. Added temporary PR to passport for travel purposes in the meantime.
- No problem turning around at border as US citizen.

That was it! We didn't know how they were viewing soft landings given all the recent changes but decided since we were within driving distance to go for it. They seemed happy we had the negative covid test so it seemed like worthwhile effort to do to show good faith effort towards meeting covid requirements.