Hi folks. My wife applied for a Canadian PR via Express Entry towards the end of 2020, with me (her husband) and our child as her dependents. We recently heard back from IRCC and received our CoPR and Canadian Visa stamps which expire in January 2023.
We're both Indian citizens working in the US (Seattle, WA) under H1B and our child is a US citizen. We both have valid I-797s but no valid US Visa stamp in our passports. We want to collect our PR cards and come back to the US, so that we can figure out things over the next year and them move to Canada in 2024. Given our circumstances, here's the plan we've come up with and wanted your opinion on it's feasibility.
1. Apply for an eTA for our child.
2. Buy a PO Box in Vancouver.
3. Enter Canada, via land, driving from Seattle to Vancouver.
4. Provide the PO Box address to the border agent so that the PR cards are sent there.
5. Make a U-turn, re-enter the US using an AVR, and come back to Seattle.
6. Once we get a notification from IRCC that the PR cards have been dispatched, we re-enter Canada via land using the same Canada Visa and CoPR from before.
7. We collect the PR cards and come back to the UA like before using an AVR.
The things we're not sure about are.
1. We're not sure if we'll have any problems with the AVR. So we want to hedge against it and want to modify the plan such as,
a. my wife goes first and comes back, and then we all enter Canada to collect her PR card once we receive a notification from IRCC. That way only one of us will be stuck in Canada at a time (at worse).
b. Instead of making a U-turn, we try to get a US Visa stamp at a consulate in Vancouver so that we don't have to rely on AVR.
2. I've heard that we can re-enter Canada multiple times via land using the same CoPR and Canadian visa stamps, but cannot find any documentation about it.
Anyway, sorry for rambling on, but we'd appreciate any help or pointers you could provide.
We're both Indian citizens working in the US (Seattle, WA) under H1B and our child is a US citizen. We both have valid I-797s but no valid US Visa stamp in our passports. We want to collect our PR cards and come back to the US, so that we can figure out things over the next year and them move to Canada in 2024. Given our circumstances, here's the plan we've come up with and wanted your opinion on it's feasibility.
1. Apply for an eTA for our child.
2. Buy a PO Box in Vancouver.
3. Enter Canada, via land, driving from Seattle to Vancouver.
4. Provide the PO Box address to the border agent so that the PR cards are sent there.
5. Make a U-turn, re-enter the US using an AVR, and come back to Seattle.
6. Once we get a notification from IRCC that the PR cards have been dispatched, we re-enter Canada via land using the same Canada Visa and CoPR from before.
7. We collect the PR cards and come back to the UA like before using an AVR.
The things we're not sure about are.
1. We're not sure if we'll have any problems with the AVR. So we want to hedge against it and want to modify the plan such as,
a. my wife goes first and comes back, and then we all enter Canada to collect her PR card once we receive a notification from IRCC. That way only one of us will be stuck in Canada at a time (at worse).
b. Instead of making a U-turn, we try to get a US Visa stamp at a consulate in Vancouver so that we don't have to rely on AVR.
2. I've heard that we can re-enter Canada multiple times via land using the same CoPR and Canadian visa stamps, but cannot find any documentation about it.
Anyway, sorry for rambling on, but we'd appreciate any help or pointers you could provide.