RobsLuv said:
I don't agree at all with this advice about the PR cards. The rest is true - you can "land" and then go home and prepare to move. But get a PO Box or something in Canada, if you have to, before you land so that you're able to give them an address in Canada to send your PR card(s) to. This is required! You do not apply later for a PR card - it's part of the process and one is issued for you after you land. You will need it to prove that you have permanent status when you go to bring all your belongings into Canada in December. You also do not want to complicate your landing with information about how you intend to return home and stay until December. Bring your B4 form for whatever you're importing into Canada (if anything) when you land, and also have a separate B4 form for items you will be importing when you make your move in December. Both forms will be processed at your landing, but they will assume you are entering Canada at your landing to settle. No requirement that you actually do that, but don't get into it with them. Play the game, then turn around (after a few hours or a few days, whatever works) and go back home to settle your affairs. It will take about 6 weeks to receive the PR cards - so arrange to have someone pick them up and FedEx them to you in the States after they're delivered so that you have them with you when you actually move up.
The ability to order your initial PR card for 6 months (180 days to be precise) after landing is a fact, not my opinion (see direct quote from CIC's website below*). You are
not required to provide the address at landing.
I don't know enough about the OPs situation to make specific recommendations. I wanted to make sure the OP was aware that she has options to consider – the sentence you omitted in my original post right before the one you quoted was: “Once you land, you have flexibility.“ And, the fact that she can choose to get her family's initial PR cards later is an example of that flexibility. Often times people immigrating from the US don't realize that they have flexibility after landing, assuming Canadian PR rules are similar to the ones in the US. In Canada, landing alone does not make you a resident for other purposes (customs, health care, CRA, etc) and being a non-resident for other purposes does not affect your PR status (hence, the ability to move at a later date).
Reading prior posts, the OP has signed a lease on a place in Canada. However, I don't know if anyone will be living there and I wouldn't want to send something as important as a PR card to a new address if nobody will be there to receive it (a possibility, given the limited information the OP has posted). Hence, knowing that she has the flexibility to request them later could be helpful to the OP - only she knows and can decide what risks to take based on her specific situation.
From reviewing prior posts, it is also clear that the OP is visa-exempt (since they only requested copies of the passports to issue the CoPR). That means that as long as the OP and her children have the stamped CoPR – which they will get at landing – they can even use commercial transportation without hassle. Therefore, waiting to get the PR card until after they move wouldn't have any major implication on their lives (as opposed to people who require visas and would need to apply for a travel document to be able to fly, for example). As far as proof that they are PRs, the CoPR is *the* conclusive proof that you are a PR for ever and ever so they won't have any trouble using it in December as proof of status for CBSA.
Furthermore, I urge caution on advising people to mail their PR cards. While people do it all the time, you are not supposed to and mailing companies have been instructed to confiscate any PR card they detect is being mailed out of Canada. That would be a headache, at least from my perspective.
Finally, given that the OP has an apartment and clearly the intent to move to Canada for at least 12 months at the time of landing (albeit in December) she should have no problem submitting her B4 and B4A at the time of landing even if she is open about not moving yet. She meets the requirements set by the law to do so at the time of landing and really should submit it at that time. Given her circumstances, she would have a risk of not being able to submit them in December (if she gets a strict agent since it's not her first entry after intending to move). Hence, my links to the instructions on what you can import, etc.
* * *
* Source: First FAQ at http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/faq/pr-card/index.asp states:
Code:
"[b]I'm a new permanent resident of Canada. Do I need to apply for a permanent resident (PR) card?[/b]
No. You will automatically receive your first permanent resident card by mail. That is part of the immigration process.
Within 180 days of becoming a permanent resident, you must send your Canadian address to Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) using our Address notification tool. CIC will then mail your first card to you, within four to six weeks. If you do not send CIC your address within 180 days, the PR card will be cancelled and you will have to apply for a new one."
