Hi All,
This forum helped me a lot so I wanted to share my experience with you all about my recent move to Toronto from Kansas City, USA. Hope it helps!!
About me -
Me and my wife, Canadian PRs, were staying in USA on H1b and H4 respectively since Mar 2017. We did out soft-landing on 6th Nov 2019. After securing jobs recently, we decided to move to Toronto.
1. Household belongings - I had decided to ship most of my things so I did some research on Relocube, PODS and other external vendors but in the end I went with PODS. Mainly because they were a little bigger than Relocube, felt more trustable than local movers and I found they were comparatively cheaper based on their quotes. The only downside - they provide only 2 sizes for international moves, 7' and 16'.
Please do your own research because when I actually booked them, there was some discrepancy as to what was in USD and what was in CAD. Right now, as per their invoices, I am looking at a total cost of CAD 3400 (USD 2700) for their 7' container (smallest size). In hindsight, I think Relocube might have been cheaper because the PODS, even the smallest size, turned out to be more than enough for me. Among the bigger things, I had one king mattress with box springs, 4-drawer chest, 55" inch TV, basic TV cabinet and dining table that I had disassembled. I did "rehearsals" and would suggest to do it if you can by marking spaces in an empty room (Yes, I had a lot of free time!!!).
I am still in the process of getting my shipment so I will be writing a follow-up review later on PODS.
2. Car - I own a 2009 Honda Accord with 99k miles on it. Many of my friends suggested to bring my car with me because the car prices in Canada are on the higher side and given that I don't have a Canadian credit history, I had less options to buy. But I had two main concerns - a. The process and b. The travel time.
I went through many posts and independent websites and most of them discouraged it, saying "take your car only if it has a sentimental value", etc, etc. But thanks to @KBH's post - https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/exporting-a-vehicle-from-the-u-s-and-importing-into-canada-complete-step-by-step-guide.539649/ , it felt doable. I had some hiccups in getting the recall clearance letter from American Honda but rest all was pretty easy. I used https://simplifiedtradesolutions.com/ to get my ITN for only USD 35 and their website has all the details based on your port of entry. There was also one big thing I had to factor in - I had already done my soft-landing and did not declare my car in the B4 forms. So I called up CBSA and they informed me that I will have to pay 5% of the car price that they will calculate as per the Canadian Red Book. Still I decided to give a shot at the border to submit an updated B4 form.
I also paid the RIV fees online and got the printout of Vehicle Import Form which is required on the Canadian side.
3. Travel days - So now we are on the most difficult stage. I had to time two things - a. A negative pre-entry COVID test result within 72 hrs and b. A minimum 72 hrs notice to the port of entry for my vehicle export. We decided to leave on a Saturday so I dropped an email to the Detroit CBP about my vehicle export on Friday night. We gave the test Sat morning thinking that the results should be in by Monday but after everything was done, the lab tech told me that the results will be ready by Tues or Wed because of the weekend. So, yes, it was pretty much waste of valuable resources.
We still decided to start from Kansas City and had planned to take two stops - Sat night in Effingham, IL and Sun night in Perrysburg, OH. We booked slots for testing on Monday morning in Perrysburg (best decision ever!!!). After our tests, we checked-in to a closer hotel near the border and for lack of options, it was La Quinta because our duration was undecided so we needed a cheaper option. Ultimately, our unplanned stay ended on Wednesday morning when we got the results. We immediately registered all the details in ArriveCan app, checked out and headed towards the border ( For those two days, I almost felt homeless staying in a cheap motel reeking of marijuana. The wait was very difficult and frustrating ).
4. At the border - Thanks to the image posted by @karthikmuthuraman here - https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/exact-address-of-the-cargo-facility-detroit-to-export-car.564200/ , I was able to locate the exact entrance to Detroit CBP. Once you are under the bridge, drive up to the gate near a calling booth. If no one is there, press the call button and state your reason. An officer will come and open the gate. In our case, the officer who came to open the gates asked our purpose again, checked our passports and directed to the building.
Inside the building, they asked for all of my I797s, our passports, the title, ITN. I had a WTF moment when the officer said the I797s are only till Oct 2019. I realized I had misplaced my most recent I797. Seeing that I was panicking, the officer told me that he can look it up but at that moment I said I have my wife's latest H4 I797 and gave it to him. He then said that's better because she would not get it if I did not have an H1B I797. (Phheewwww!!!!). After that, the officer stamped on my title and we were good to go. The route was one-way from the CBP office so you will end up on the Ambassador bridge, just follow the "For Cars" sign as there are lot of trucks and they have a separate lane. We took a quick break at the duty free shop.
After crossing the bridge, again stick to the "For Cars" lane, there are officers who will direct you. You will first reach kind-of-toll-booth immigration checkpoint. There the officer asked about our quarantine details, COVID test results PDF, the contents of our car and when I said that I am returning to establish residency, she asked - "How did you get these?" pointing at my PR cards. I was not expecting that question, so stammering, I said that I stayed at my friends location till I got my PR and then moved back to US. She asked me to update the address later. She then gave me a yellow slip and asked me to park my vehicle ahead and go to their Immigration office.
Inside the office, I was directed to an officer who asked me for the documents and asked the same question pointing at the PRs - "How did you get these?", I gave the same answer but it felt bit weird. She asked couple of more questions related to my answer which I cannot recall. I requested her that I have a stamped B4 but can I submit an amended form as I did not include my car. Hearing this, she got frustrated, asked us to sit and threw our PR cards on her desk. After sometime she called us and asked if there is anything else other than car, so I said yes and the total difference is CAD 90. She then muttered, I am not stamping a new one for 90 dollars and then asked us to pay the 5% of the car price - CAD 5800 which they calculated from Red Book. She then asked me get the latest mileage and manufacturing details, and handed me Vehicle Import Form and asked to pay the RIV fees. By this time, I was so flustered that it did not even occur to me to say that I have already paid it online. I just wanted to leave. After paying the taxes, she gave some instructions about registration and handed over the COVID test kit. We were done.
When we came outside, there was an officer who started asking questions about 2 houseplants he saw in our car. We had to do some explaining but after he was convinced that none of them came from India and that everything is from US, he let us go. We did our COVID test there itself and hit the road.
I must say that our overall experience at the Canada border office was not that good.
So, after 5 days on road, travelling for more than 1000 miles, eating sh*tty fast food, I have finally checked into my hotel for quarantine.
Good luck to all future travelers!!
This forum helped me a lot so I wanted to share my experience with you all about my recent move to Toronto from Kansas City, USA. Hope it helps!!
About me -
Me and my wife, Canadian PRs, were staying in USA on H1b and H4 respectively since Mar 2017. We did out soft-landing on 6th Nov 2019. After securing jobs recently, we decided to move to Toronto.
1. Household belongings - I had decided to ship most of my things so I did some research on Relocube, PODS and other external vendors but in the end I went with PODS. Mainly because they were a little bigger than Relocube, felt more trustable than local movers and I found they were comparatively cheaper based on their quotes. The only downside - they provide only 2 sizes for international moves, 7' and 16'.
Please do your own research because when I actually booked them, there was some discrepancy as to what was in USD and what was in CAD. Right now, as per their invoices, I am looking at a total cost of CAD 3400 (USD 2700) for their 7' container (smallest size). In hindsight, I think Relocube might have been cheaper because the PODS, even the smallest size, turned out to be more than enough for me. Among the bigger things, I had one king mattress with box springs, 4-drawer chest, 55" inch TV, basic TV cabinet and dining table that I had disassembled. I did "rehearsals" and would suggest to do it if you can by marking spaces in an empty room (Yes, I had a lot of free time!!!).
I am still in the process of getting my shipment so I will be writing a follow-up review later on PODS.
2. Car - I own a 2009 Honda Accord with 99k miles on it. Many of my friends suggested to bring my car with me because the car prices in Canada are on the higher side and given that I don't have a Canadian credit history, I had less options to buy. But I had two main concerns - a. The process and b. The travel time.
I went through many posts and independent websites and most of them discouraged it, saying "take your car only if it has a sentimental value", etc, etc. But thanks to @KBH's post - https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/exporting-a-vehicle-from-the-u-s-and-importing-into-canada-complete-step-by-step-guide.539649/ , it felt doable. I had some hiccups in getting the recall clearance letter from American Honda but rest all was pretty easy. I used https://simplifiedtradesolutions.com/ to get my ITN for only USD 35 and their website has all the details based on your port of entry. There was also one big thing I had to factor in - I had already done my soft-landing and did not declare my car in the B4 forms. So I called up CBSA and they informed me that I will have to pay 5% of the car price that they will calculate as per the Canadian Red Book. Still I decided to give a shot at the border to submit an updated B4 form.
I also paid the RIV fees online and got the printout of Vehicle Import Form which is required on the Canadian side.
3. Travel days - So now we are on the most difficult stage. I had to time two things - a. A negative pre-entry COVID test result within 72 hrs and b. A minimum 72 hrs notice to the port of entry for my vehicle export. We decided to leave on a Saturday so I dropped an email to the Detroit CBP about my vehicle export on Friday night. We gave the test Sat morning thinking that the results should be in by Monday but after everything was done, the lab tech told me that the results will be ready by Tues or Wed because of the weekend. So, yes, it was pretty much waste of valuable resources.
We still decided to start from Kansas City and had planned to take two stops - Sat night in Effingham, IL and Sun night in Perrysburg, OH. We booked slots for testing on Monday morning in Perrysburg (best decision ever!!!). After our tests, we checked-in to a closer hotel near the border and for lack of options, it was La Quinta because our duration was undecided so we needed a cheaper option. Ultimately, our unplanned stay ended on Wednesday morning when we got the results. We immediately registered all the details in ArriveCan app, checked out and headed towards the border ( For those two days, I almost felt homeless staying in a cheap motel reeking of marijuana. The wait was very difficult and frustrating ).
4. At the border - Thanks to the image posted by @karthikmuthuraman here - https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/exact-address-of-the-cargo-facility-detroit-to-export-car.564200/ , I was able to locate the exact entrance to Detroit CBP. Once you are under the bridge, drive up to the gate near a calling booth. If no one is there, press the call button and state your reason. An officer will come and open the gate. In our case, the officer who came to open the gates asked our purpose again, checked our passports and directed to the building.
Inside the building, they asked for all of my I797s, our passports, the title, ITN. I had a WTF moment when the officer said the I797s are only till Oct 2019. I realized I had misplaced my most recent I797. Seeing that I was panicking, the officer told me that he can look it up but at that moment I said I have my wife's latest H4 I797 and gave it to him. He then said that's better because she would not get it if I did not have an H1B I797. (Phheewwww!!!!). After that, the officer stamped on my title and we were good to go. The route was one-way from the CBP office so you will end up on the Ambassador bridge, just follow the "For Cars" sign as there are lot of trucks and they have a separate lane. We took a quick break at the duty free shop.
After crossing the bridge, again stick to the "For Cars" lane, there are officers who will direct you. You will first reach kind-of-toll-booth immigration checkpoint. There the officer asked about our quarantine details, COVID test results PDF, the contents of our car and when I said that I am returning to establish residency, she asked - "How did you get these?" pointing at my PR cards. I was not expecting that question, so stammering, I said that I stayed at my friends location till I got my PR and then moved back to US. She asked me to update the address later. She then gave me a yellow slip and asked me to park my vehicle ahead and go to their Immigration office.
Inside the office, I was directed to an officer who asked me for the documents and asked the same question pointing at the PRs - "How did you get these?", I gave the same answer but it felt bit weird. She asked couple of more questions related to my answer which I cannot recall. I requested her that I have a stamped B4 but can I submit an amended form as I did not include my car. Hearing this, she got frustrated, asked us to sit and threw our PR cards on her desk. After sometime she called us and asked if there is anything else other than car, so I said yes and the total difference is CAD 90. She then muttered, I am not stamping a new one for 90 dollars and then asked us to pay the 5% of the car price - CAD 5800 which they calculated from Red Book. She then asked me get the latest mileage and manufacturing details, and handed me Vehicle Import Form and asked to pay the RIV fees. By this time, I was so flustered that it did not even occur to me to say that I have already paid it online. I just wanted to leave. After paying the taxes, she gave some instructions about registration and handed over the COVID test kit. We were done.
When we came outside, there was an officer who started asking questions about 2 houseplants he saw in our car. We had to do some explaining but after he was convinced that none of them came from India and that everything is from US, he let us go. We did our COVID test there itself and hit the road.
I must say that our overall experience at the Canada border office was not that good.
So, after 5 days on road, travelling for more than 1000 miles, eating sh*tty fast food, I have finally checked into my hotel for quarantine.
Good luck to all future travelers!!
