Hi all
here is my traveling update. My common-law partner and I were traveled separately with expired COPR and AL valid until 31 January. Now we are both in quarantine in Vancouver.
I was flying on the 18 January from Shanghai via Air Canada. It was a direct flight with technical stopover in Seoul. During check-in there was no questions asked. The lady only went somewhere to verify the AL letter. Besides this, they were asking for the test, Airbnb booking and expired COPR. The flight was max 30% full. There are two lines of immigration in Vancouver. The first is very simple, was asked only about quarantine plan. The second is much detailed but no major issues either. I had to wait for 1.5 hours (already all the people from my plane left), since they needed to print out new COPR and due to unknown reasons it took so long. They say, the PR card will be mailed out in 6-8 weeks. It was 9 pm, so the first floor currency exchange counter was closed, the second floor counter is open 24 h. Although I do not suggest to use, the exchange rate is very unfavorable. BTW in terms of food supply, our host was kind enough to stock up the fridge and I transferred her money by paypal. It should be enough for at least a week.
My partner was flying 23 January from Singapore via Air Japan with stopover in Tokyo. She said they were checking papers all the time and everywhere explaining they do not want you to get stuck in Canada. At the immigration, the officer says she does not need a new COPR printed and stamped the old one. It differs from mine experience though.
All the flights were on time. They were chosen based on flightstats.com data with very low cancellation probability. I already got a job interview scheduled for the next week, but I am a scientist and it is university position, so it might easier nowadays. Also, I do work remotely for my current company in China, so it is no rush to secure a job in Canada.
This is my short summary. Thanks a lot guys for your everyday support and encouragement. In summary it took us 3 years from application to landing. Time is tough but there will be dawn after darkness!
