Arriving in Canada before PR, what to tell Immigration?

[GuerricH]

So my girlfriend and I are flying to Canada next week, to stay with my parents while we wait for her PR to be granted. She is from a visa-exempt country (Germany); our application has been sitting in Vienna for several weeks, and they told us we'd hear from them by October.

We're not carrying everything and the kitchen sink, just two suitcases and a guitar, in addition to regular carry-on luggage. I've heard they don't like it when you show up looking like you're already moving, if you haven't received PR yet. We also have our return tickets for November, in case something should go wrong.

I was wondering whether we need to make any special mention of our immigration application when we arrive at the airport in Canada. Do we have to go into detail explaining what we're doing, or do we just say we're visiting my family and be done with it? And if we do have to explain things (which I rather suspect), should we have her immigration file number or other information on hand?

 

[Creampop]

I would provide the UCI # (maybe a copy of your sponsorship approval letter or AOR from Vienna) tell them you are just here to visit family (like an extended holiday) and show your return tickets as long as you get an IO in a good mood that should be it. nice and simple... when you start trying to explain to much it makes them ask more questions. GL!

 

[GuerricH]

Okay - so we should say something like "We're here to visit my family for an extended period of time; she is also a Permanent Residency applicant, and if she obtains PR while we're here then we'll be staying?"

 

[Creampop]

If she obtains her PR while here she will still officially have to "land" either by hoping the border or going into an immigration office for the landing interview...

 

[GuerricH]

Of course, yes - I assume there's an office in every major city, and we're just across the river from Ottawa, so that should be no trouble. I could mention that as well.

 

[Elizabeth Joe]

You won't have any problems, especially if you have return flights. We did the same thing and I was a bit nervous what to tell them, but just answer their questions and you'll be fine. Have all the information at hand.They will know about her PR application because you got already sponsorship approval. You can mention, that you want to wait the rest of the time in Canada. It's perfectly legal what you're doing, so no worries. Good luck!