COPR and coronavirus

[nehakhedekar]

Hello Everyone,
Sharing my experience here just in case it helps someone.
I managed to complete my landing at Toronto today. Although CoPRs are exempt from travel restrictions, while checking in at the counter, the agent had to call the ETA Helpdesk to check if I could board the plane! They’re checking all visas on case by case basis and after they arrive at the conclusion that it’s essential only then will they issue your boarding pass. 2 people had to return since they’re travel was deemed as non essential by the ETA agent (not sure about the exact details of these passengers though).
There were hardly 10 to 12 people on board and hence could maintain the distance between passengers. Finished my immigration and customs in less than 10 minutes. The officer did ask me how was I going to quarantine myself and if I understand that I cannot step out for any reason and as to how was I going to manage with the essentials. The 14 day isolation is mandatory! No soft landing allowed.
Let me know if you have any questions!

Hi Thank you so much for sharing your experience. Just want to know, what are the arrangements you made for self isolation and later an accomodation and what about finding a job? What is the scenario there. Do you think its better to stay back in home country until all this subsides or fly and complete the formalities and live there in isolation.

 

[Canaspirant xyz]

This seems confusing ref Air Canada given if you check their website it implies many Canada - Delhi routes are suspended through end May. Obviously if there is no outbound from Canada there cannot be a return from India. Still seems though the booking system much same as many airlines seem to be doing is taking a gamble by accepting bookings for May but in Air Canada’s case they are code share flights not actual Air Canada planes

https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/home/book/travel-news-and-updates/2020/china-travel.html#/atlantic-2

All the dates I mentioned were of March.23rd March the last flight of Air Canada took off from Delhi.

 

[M160RA]

Does IRCC mention anywhere that we will not have to submit POF again for reissuing/extending COPR?

Everyone seems certain that only medicals and PCC will be asked for.

 

[SWB]

Does IRCC mention anywhere that we will not have to submit POF again for reissuing/extending COPR?

Everyone seems certain that only medicals and PCC will be asked for.

Yes they have specifically said that valid medicals, security clearance. PoF is anyways required at the time of landing

 

[M160RA]

Yes they have specifically said that valid medicals, security clearance. PoF is anyways required at the time of landing

Thanks!

Can you link me to where they have mentioned this?

 

[abong]

Hey everyone !

I recently completed my PR landing at Montreal. Here was my experience -

The Journey
After a lot of back and forth in my head about whether to travel or not, I decided that it may be the safest to travel now before things get more crazy and there are newer restrictions/bureaucratic hurdles in the future. I am an Indian passport holder, but was in Germany for the past 2 months and decided to fly from Frankfurt to Montreal via a direct flight. As was suggested on this forum earlier - the airlines do not know of the exemption for the confirmed PR applicants so I carried copies of the statement from IRCC and highlighted the text that specified that we were exempt. At the time of collecting the boarding pass I had to show these documents and the lady at the desk made a phone call and thankfully the person on the other side know of this change and she handed me the boarding pass. The whole process was about 10-20 mins long.

Then came a long wait at an empty and apocalyptic Frankfurt airport - no health checks at any point though. Not even before boarding my flight. At the time of boarding again I had to show the paper with the highlighted exemption to the staff that I was exempt. Barely 30 people in Air Canada flight and every passenger had an almost entire row to themselves. Overall nothing too scary yet.

Landing and Immigration
Fast forward to landing at Montreal airport - no health checkups here either. Finished up the routine paperwork about goods to follow ,etc and then headed to immigration. At first, the immigration officer asked routine questions - whether I had committed any crime, whether I had been denied entry to Canada before, etc all of which the reply from me was a No.I had been extra proactive and submitted a signed letter to the officer from my friend whose house I was going to isolate myself for 14 days where it stated that I would be staying there for 1 month and it was Montreal based address. This was where things took a wrong turn - the officer said I am going to REJECT your entry - and I was left shocked. He said that in order to "settle" in Montreal I had to have a CSQ which is a Quebec specific document.I said wait but I have a CoPR -I had no idea about this rule. He just rudely pointed me to go to a chair and sit there. And then he went away from his desk. At this point, I was cursing myself for having taken this journey and thought all was lost. However - I don't know what changed the officers mind - he came back to the desk and told me to sign on a couple of spots on the paper and handed me a paper saying that now I was a permanent resident. He warned me very sternly though that I had to leave Quebec after the 14 day isolation and make my way to Vancouver (which was the destination I had mentioned at the time of the initiation of the Express Entry process and was printed on the CoPR).The officer didn't take any address for mailing the PR card to and said that the PR card better not get mailed to Montreal - because that would be a red flag. I just agreed to everything he said, said that I would leave Quebec after the 14 day period (which I plan to do) and just left feeling a bit traumatised.

At the end of the day though - I am now a Permanent resident of Canada , a bit sour on how the journey as a Canadian PR has started - but it's done now. Now I have to figure out how to update my PR mailing address- have sent a web form but not expecting much. Unfortunately, the in-person helpline has been shut down so this is the best I can do.

Bottom line - If your final destination on the PR is not Montreal - DO NOT make the mistake I made and fly to Montreal without the CSQ. If you plan to fly into Canada now, go to the airport a lot earlier, be prepared with the documents showing exemptions are in place and be prepared for some confusion. No health checkups at any point which was very surprising. I am now self-isolating in Montreal and am glad to have crossed to the other side.

 

[SCOTCAD]

Hey everyone !

I recently completed my PR landing at Montreal. Here was my experience -

The Journey
After a lot of back and forth in my head about whether to travel or not, I decided that it may be the safest to travel now before things get more crazy and there are newer restrictions/bureaucratic hurdles in the future. I am an Indian passport holder, but was in Germany for the past 2 months and decided to fly from Frankfurt to Montreal via a direct flight. As was suggested on this forum earlier - the airlines do not know of the exemption for the confirmed PR applicants so I carried copies of the statement from IRCC and highlighted the text that specified that we were exempt. At the time of collecting the boarding pass I had to show these documents and the lady at the desk made a phone call and thankfully the person on the other side know of this change and she handed me the boarding pass. The whole process was about 10-20 mins long.

Then came a long wait at an empty and apocalyptic Frankfurt airport - no health checks at any point though. Not even before boarding my flight. At the time of boarding again I had to show the paper with the highlighted exemption to the staff that I was exempt. Barely 30 people in Air Canada flight and every passenger had an almost entire row to themselves. Overall nothing too scary yet.

Landing and Immigration
Fast forward to landing at Montreal airport - no health checkups here either. Finished up the routine paperwork about goods to follow ,etc and then headed to immigration. At first, the immigration officer asked routine questions - whether I had committed any crime, whether I had been denied entry to Canada before, etc all of which the reply from me was a No.I had been extra proactive and submitted a signed letter to the officer from my friend whose house I was going to isolate myself for 14 days where it stated that I would be staying there for 1 month and it was Montreal based address. This was where things took a wrong turn - the officer said I am going to REJECT your entry - and I was left shocked. He said that in order to "settle" in Montreal I had to have a CSQ which is a Quebec specific document.I said wait but I have a CoPR -I had no idea about this rule. He just rudely pointed me to go to a chair and sit there. And then he went away from his desk. At this point, I was cursing myself for having taken this journey and thought all was lost. However - I don't know what changed the officers mind - he came back to the desk and told me to sign on a couple of spots on the paper and handed me a paper saying that now I was a permanent resident. He warned me very sternly though that I had to leave Quebec after the 14 day isolation and make my way to Vancouver (which was the destination I had mentioned at the time of the initiation of the Express Entry process and was printed on the CoPR).The officer didn't take any address for mailing the PR card to and said that the PR card better not get mailed to Montreal - because that would be a red flag. I just agreed to everything he said, said that I would leave Quebec after the 14 day period (which I plan to do) and just left feeling a bit traumatised.

At the end of the day though - I am now a Permanent resident of Canada , a bit sour on how the journey as a Canadian PR has started - but it's done now. Now I have to figure out how to update my PR mailing address- have sent a web form but not expecting much. Unfortunately, the in-person helpline has been shut down so this is the best I can do.

Bottom line - If your final destination on the PR is not Montreal - DO NOT make the mistake I made and fly to Montreal without the CSQ. If you plan to fly into Canada now, go to the airport a lot earlier, be prepared with the documents showing exemptions are in place and be prepared for some confusion. No health checkups at any point which was very surprising. I am now self-isolating in Montreal and am glad to have crossed to the other side.

I landed on the 26th of March and also had a tough time with the agent upon getting my COPR cleared, I wouldn't take it personally.

They also did not take an address for my PR card from me, I updated this via webform and got confirmation the address was added to my file yesterday. As for how long the PR card will take, I'm still playing that waiting game.

 

[SithLord]

Hey everyone !

I recently completed my PR landing at Montreal. Here was my experience -

The Journey
After a lot of back and forth in my head about whether to travel or not, I decided that it may be the safest to travel now before things get more crazy and there are newer restrictions/bureaucratic hurdles in the future. I am an Indian passport holder, but was in Germany for the past 2 months and decided to fly from Frankfurt to Montreal via a direct flight. As was suggested on this forum earlier - the airlines do not know of the exemption for the confirmed PR applicants so I carried copies of the statement from IRCC and highlighted the text that specified that we were exempt. At the time of collecting the boarding pass I had to show these documents and the lady at the desk made a phone call and thankfully the person on the other side know of this change and she handed me the boarding pass. The whole process was about 10-20 mins long.

Then came a long wait at an empty and apocalyptic Frankfurt airport - no health checks at any point though. Not even before boarding my flight. At the time of boarding again I had to show the paper with the highlighted exemption to the staff that I was exempt. Barely 30 people in Air Canada flight and every passenger had an almost entire row to themselves. Overall nothing too scary yet.

Landing and Immigration
Fast forward to landing at Montreal airport - no health checkups here either. Finished up the routine paperwork about goods to follow ,etc and then headed to immigration. At first, the immigration officer asked routine questions - whether I had committed any crime, whether I had been denied entry to Canada before, etc all of which the reply from me was a No.I had been extra proactive and submitted a signed letter to the officer from my friend whose house I was going to isolate myself for 14 days where it stated that I would be staying there for 1 month and it was Montreal based address. This was where things took a wrong turn - the officer said I am going to REJECT your entry - and I was left shocked. He said that in order to "settle" in Montreal I had to have a CSQ which is a Quebec specific document.I said wait but I have a CoPR -I had no idea about this rule. He just rudely pointed me to go to a chair and sit there. And then he went away from his desk. At this point, I was cursing myself for having taken this journey and thought all was lost. However - I don't know what changed the officers mind - he came back to the desk and told me to sign on a couple of spots on the paper and handed me a paper saying that now I was a permanent resident. He warned me very sternly though that I had to leave Quebec after the 14 day isolation and make my way to Vancouver (which was the destination I had mentioned at the time of the initiation of the Express Entry process and was printed on the CoPR).The officer didn't take any address for mailing the PR card to and said that the PR card better not get mailed to Montreal - because that would be a red flag. I just agreed to everything he said, said that I would leave Quebec after the 14 day period (which I plan to do) and just left feeling a bit traumatised.

At the end of the day though - I am now a Permanent resident of Canada , a bit sour on how the journey as a Canadian PR has started - but it's done now. Now I have to figure out how to update my PR mailing address- have sent a web form but not expecting much. Unfortunately, the in-person helpline has been shut down so this is the best I can do.

Bottom line - If your final destination on the PR is not Montreal - DO NOT make the mistake I made and fly to Montreal without the CSQ. If you plan to fly into Canada now, go to the airport a lot earlier, be prepared with the documents showing exemptions are in place and be prepared for some confusion. No health checkups at any point which was very surprising. I am now self-isolating in Montreal and am glad to have crossed to the other side.

You were very lucky to have not got rejected.

Quebec has its own immigration and therefore one needs CSQ to settle in that province. Therefore, it is advised not to land in Montreal for first time immigrants. However, you can move to Montreal after you receive your PR card because as as PR you have the right of movement and can set up residence in any province.

Congratulations on becoming PR!! That's what matters at the end of the day

PS: Even I'm planning on travelling via Lufthansa,

 

[abong]

I landed on the 26th of March and also had a tough time with the agent upon getting my COPR cleared, I wouldn't take it personally.

They also did not take an address for my PR card from me, I updated this via webform and got confirmation the address was added to my file yesterday. As for how long the PR card will take, I'm still playing that waiting game.

Thank you for your response! Your post earlier in the forum was mighty helpful - thanks for that. And yes, you are right taking it personally is not an option now. And it's good to know that you got a response after submitting the webform - that is encouraging and gives me hope

 

[indianstudent96]

Hey everyone !

I recently completed my PR landing at Montreal. Here was my experience -

The Journey
After a lot of back and forth in my head about whether to travel or not, I decided that it may be the safest to travel now before things get more crazy and there are newer restrictions/bureaucratic hurdles in the future. I am an Indian passport holder, but was in Germany for the past 2 months and decided to fly from Frankfurt to Montreal via a direct flight. As was suggested on this forum earlier - the airlines do not know of the exemption for the confirmed PR applicants so I carried copies of the statement from IRCC and highlighted the text that specified that we were exempt. At the time of collecting the boarding pass I had to show these documents and the lady at the desk made a phone call and thankfully the person on the other side know of this change and she handed me the boarding pass. The whole process was about 10-20 mins long.

Then came a long wait at an empty and apocalyptic Frankfurt airport - no health checks at any point though. Not even before boarding my flight. At the time of boarding again I had to show the paper with the highlighted exemption to the staff that I was exempt. Barely 30 people in Air Canada flight and every passenger had an almost entire row to themselves. Overall nothing too scary yet.

Landing and Immigration
Fast forward to landing at Montreal airport - no health checkups here either. Finished up the routine paperwork about goods to follow ,etc and then headed to immigration. At first, the immigration officer asked routine questions - whether I had committed any crime, whether I had been denied entry to Canada before, etc all of which the reply from me was a No.I had been extra proactive and submitted a signed letter to the officer from my friend whose house I was going to isolate myself for 14 days where it stated that I would be staying there for 1 month and it was Montreal based address. This was where things took a wrong turn - the officer said I am going to REJECT your entry - and I was left shocked. He said that in order to "settle" in Montreal I had to have a CSQ which is a Quebec specific document.I said wait but I have a CoPR -I had no idea about this rule. He just rudely pointed me to go to a chair and sit there. And then he went away from his desk. At this point, I was cursing myself for having taken this journey and thought all was lost. However - I don't know what changed the officers mind - he came back to the desk and told me to sign on a couple of spots on the paper and handed me a paper saying that now I was a permanent resident. He warned me very sternly though that I had to leave Quebec after the 14 day isolation and make my way to Vancouver (which was the destination I had mentioned at the time of the initiation of the Express Entry process and was printed on the CoPR).The officer didn't take any address for mailing the PR card to and said that the PR card better not get mailed to Montreal - because that would be a red flag. I just agreed to everything he said, said that I would leave Quebec after the 14 day period (which I plan to do) and just left feeling a bit traumatised.

At the end of the day though - I am now a Permanent resident of Canada , a bit sour on how the journey as a Canadian PR has started - but it's done now. Now I have to figure out how to update my PR mailing address- have sent a web form but not expecting much. Unfortunately, the in-person helpline has been shut down so this is the best I can do.

Bottom line - If your final destination on the PR is not Montreal - DO NOT make the mistake I made and fly to Montreal without the CSQ. If you plan to fly into Canada now, go to the airport a lot earlier, be prepared with the documents showing exemptions are in place and be prepared for some confusion. No health checkups at any point which was very surprising. I am now self-isolating in Montreal and am glad to have crossed to the other side.

Consider yourself extremely lucky. The officer was well within his power to refuse your entry to Canada.

I came here as an International student and the officer who issued my study permit was rude, but the other officers who helped me to get to the right spot in the airport were very polite and professional. I decided to not let that one negative experience get into my head. Since then, I have not run into any rude CBSA officer to date (I travel a lot).

Congrats on becoming a PR.

 

[abong]

You were very lucky to have not got rejected.

Quebec has its own immigration and therefore one needs CSQ to settle in that province. Therefore, it is advised not to land in Montreal for first time immigrants. However, you can move to Montreal after you receive your PR card because as as PR you have the right of movement and can set up residence in any province.

Congratulations on becoming PR!! That's what matters at the end of the day

PS: Even I'm planning on travelling via Lufthansa,

Yeah ! That's the perspective I am adopting on this whole episode ! Best of luck and safe travels to you too!

 

[whyCorona]

You were very lucky to have not got rejected.

Quebec has its own immigration and therefore one needs CSQ to settle in that province. Therefore, it is advised not to land in Montreal for first time immigrants. However, you can move to Montreal after you receive your PR card because as as PR you have the right of movement and can set up residence in any province.

Congratulations on becoming PR!! That's what matters at the end of the day

PS: Even I'm planning on travelling via Lufthansa,

Is it okay if POE is Montreal (but final destination is Ottawa) to do immigration paperwork and then catch a connecting flight to Ottawa and self quarantine there?

 

[SCOTCAD]

Thank you for your response! Your post earlier in the forum was mighty helpful - thanks for that. And yes, you are right taking it personally is not an option now. And it's good to know that you got a response after submitting the webform - that is encouraging and gives me hope

No problem at all, we're all in the same boat here so it's good to return the help I received when applying!

You'll have no problems updating your address, they still seem to be replying to webforms relatively promptly (within a week for the ones I have sent anyway).

I've now got the problem of trying to exchange my driving license, applying for OHIP, getting a SIN etc as most of the Service Ontario/Canada offices have shut and I'm not sure wether they are allowing people to visit for the ones that are open.

I will be out of isolation at the end of this week so I will report back once I have tried to use these services once I'm able.

 

[navinball]

Is it okay if POE is Montreal (but final destination is Ottawa) to do immigration paperwork and then catch a connecting flight to Ottawa and self quarantine there?

yes, just dont give a quebec address.

 

[whyCorona]

Is it okay if POE is Montreal (but final destination is Ottawa) to do immigration paperwork and then catch a connecting flight to Ottawa and self quarantine there?

@SithLord Nevermind. I got my answer.

Bottom line - If your final destination on the PR is not Montreal - DO NOT make the mistake I made and fly to Montreal without the CSQ.