Calgary point of entry for new spouse sponsorship?

[djein]

Since we are waiting for our spousal sponsorship to be approved (6 months done so far yay!) I am curious about point of entry tactics for helping to get my wife into the country via flights. A little logistics background is my wife lives in Manila and has never been to Canada. I live in Alberta (near Calgary). When we get our approval I will fly to Manila to help her organize her departure and accompany her back to Canada around 10 days later. My main question is can we fly to Calgary and start the immigration process there? Or are we forced to do this in Vancouver? We will always have a layover in Vancouver on the way to Calgary but usually the layover is only 2 hours. I am worried we will not have enough time for the immigration process in Vancouver thus forcing us to split up our travel and stay overnight in Vancouver. If however we can fly from Manila to Vancouver then to Calgary and start immigration proceedings in Calgary that would save us time/money/frustrations. Calgary would be the most optimal place for us to do this as we have family close and will only need to drive 3 hours from the Calgary airport to arrive at our final destination...home.

I want to fly from Calgary to Manila, pick wife up, then fly back from Manila to Calgary so it will be a round trip for me, but only one way for my wife. As a result how can we book our flights so that we can stay together? Should we go to a travel agency? I have never used a travel agency before. Usually I book budget flights through kayak or similar sites since it doesn't matter where I sit on the plane when I visit her. But with my round trip and her one way plus seating arrangements I am confused as to how to organize this. Even more confusion will ensue if we are forced to stop in Vancouver for the main part of immigration. Saving money is a priority for us right now as all the travel to survive the long spousal sponsorship processing times has taxed our savings and we want to have some sort of nest egg left for our new beginnings in Canada.

 

[scylla]

You will have to complete landing formalities at the first Canadian port of entry you reach. So if flights connect through Vancouver - your wife will land there (not Calgary). It's quite likely a two hour layover will be enough to complete landing formalities.

 

[jomz]

Exactly what Scylla said. Your wife's landing will take place at the first Canadian port of entry, so in your case in Vancouver.

 

[djein]

So if I go through Japan airlines, or United...which flies to San Francisco then direct to Calgary the port of entry will be Calgary? !!! That is good news we can sort of organize it ourselves. Thank you so much for that information.

Do you really think a 2 hour layover in Vancouver is enough time? hmm...that is not so bad.

 

[gabba50]

I want to fly from Calgary to Manila, pick wife up, then fly back from Manila to Calgary so it will be a round trip for me, but only one way for my wife. As a result how can we book our flights so that we can stay together? Should we go to a travel agency? I have never used a travel agency before. Usually I book budget flights through kayak or similar sites since it doesn't matter where I sit on the plane when I visit her. But with my round trip and her one way plus seating arrangements I am confused as to how to organize this. Even more confusion will ensue if we are forced to stop in Vancouver for the main part of immigration. Saving money is a priority for us right now as all the travel to survive the long spousal sponsorship processing times has taxed our savings and we want to have some sort of nest egg left for our new beginnings in Canada.

You don't have to go to Vancouver, you can buy a ticket from Manila to USA(Seattle) for example and from USA to Calgary, you are not forced to go to Vancouver. You can book online or go to travel agents and specify your requests. For seats arrangements it depends on airplane company, you log in change seats the way you want..from A to B, from B to C...I always do it until I am satisfied,so you can do it with your wife too. If you can't do it yourself on board the flights attendants are always helpful with seats arrangements.

 

[jomz]

So if I go through Japan airlines, or United...which flies to San Francisco then direct to Calgary the port of entry will be Calgary? !!! That is good news we can sort of organize it ourselves. Thank you so much for that information.

Do you really think a 2 hour layover in Vancouver is enough time? hmm...that is not so bad.

Yes if you were to transit via US and your first port of entry in canada was Calgary than your wife would land in Calgary. If your wife is not visa except I would strongly discourage you from transiting in the U.S. Even as a Canadian citizen I try to avoid transiting in the U.S. As often there are lots of hassles, delayed flights etc. if your wife is not visa exempt she may need a transit visa (not sure about that requirement to be honest).

I would say that 2 hr layover in Vancouver is plenty time to land. If there is no line up in immigration your wife would be done in 15-20 min max. Immigration/customs in canada is very well staffed and they know when additional officers are needed when flights from non visa exempt countries land so really I wouldn't worry too much.

 

[djein]

Layovers in the states requires a TRV? ohhhh i did not realize that! She has a philippines visa so i don't believe she is visa exempt.

 

[Buletruck]

2 hours is probably enough, provided the airline is on time and you aren't facing any delays. I'd want more time than 2 hours between flights. by the time you de-plane, wander down to immigration and stand in line, that will be a good 30 minutes at least. I would seriously consider a longer lay over. If you check FlightAware for specific flight number it provides the on-time averages. The wife just flew in from Shanghai and they had a 2 1/2 hour delay there. The flight averages 56% on time and is usually over an hour late.

 

[Bs65]

Layovers in the states requires a TRV? ohhhh i did not realize that! She has a philippines visa so i don't believe she is visa exempt.

Yep transiting aliens as the US like to call foreigners (apart fron Canadian citizens) need either a visa or if visa exempt an ESTA to transit the US even if just changing planes with no intention of leaving airside. Always seem like paranoia but those are their rules unfortunately which some people find a nuisance, just ask people transiting LA from Europe to NZ on the same physical plane.

 

[steaky]

Layovers in the states requires a TRV? ohhhh i did not realize that! She has a philippines visa so i don't believe she is visa exempt.

She can also try transit in Japan or China. AC has one flight between Calgary and Tokyo. And Hainan Airline has flight between Calgary and Beijing.

 

[chilkootcee]

So if I go through Japan airlines, or United...which flies to San Francisco then direct to Calgary the port of entry will be Calgary? !!! That is good news we can sort of organize it ourselves. Thank you so much for that information.

Do you really think a 2 hour layover in Vancouver is enough time? hmm...that is not so bad.

When we landed in Calgary, at passport control (strangely we call it Customs and Immigration) they directed us to the Immigration office (some call this secondary). In that line, there were only about 12 people in front of us. It took a long time for 2 officers to process all of these people.....not sure how well staffed Vancouver is...but 2 hours might be pushing it.

C.

 

[chilkootcee]

Yes if you were to transit via US and your first port of entry in canada was Calgary than your wife would land in Calgary. If your wife is not visa except I would strongly discourage you from transiting in the U.S. Even as a Canadian citizen I try to avoid transiting in the U.S. As often there are lots of hassles, delayed flights etc. if your wife is not visa exempt she may need a transit visa (not sure about that requirement to be honest).

I would say that 2 hr layover in Vancouver is plenty time to land. If there is no line up in immigration your wife would be done in 15-20 min max. Immigration/customs in canada is very well staffed and they know when additional officers are needed when flights from non visa exempt countries land so really I wouldn't worry too much.

Completely agree with this. My last transit through US (without my spouse) was a nightmare....they are so paranoid. Had to do secondary for both immigration and customs and really they didn't care what was in my bags and just used it to continue to question me. I guess all the country stamps from Arabic countries didn't help....but honestly, I would not have even considered transiting through the US when my husband landed. Go through UK, Germany...where those having visa for Canada do not need transit visa...

C.

 

[djein]

Its going to be weird when i ask a travel agent to get me a 5-6 hour layover in vancouver

 

[methyl]

It's common for people to request long layovers to be able to see a city on the way. On many airlines you can request a layover of 48 hours before it's considered to be a stop rather than layover and having to pay for extra stops. It's normal.