Hello Folks, This forum has been quite helpful to me so I thought I'd return the favor 
Here is my experience making a "Soft landing" to Canada.
My status
Drive back to US
Hope this helps someone.
Here is my experience making a "Soft landing" to Canada.
My status
- Currently H1-B in US, with an expired stamping but a valid I-797
- Got my COPR in Jan 2022 with expiry of Dec 2022. (We applied in 2019)
- Wife is the primary applicant (same Masters education, 2 boys (both US citizens, also were on the application))
- Drive up to Canada through Buffalo (Peace Bridge)
- Stay with friends in Toronto for 3 days
- Drive back down through Buffalo and use AVR to enter
- By reading through many forum posts, watching youtube videos and reading blogs, I gathered the following docs for Canada Entry:
- Birth certificate or adoption papers
Family records (such as, marriage certificate or divorce papers)
Medical records (such as immunization records)
Official school records for children
Diplomas, degrees and transcripts
Academic credentials evaluation report (if you had your education assessed before coming to Canada)
Reference letters from previous and current employers
Professional or trade licences or qualification certificates
Up-to-date résumé or summary of work experience
Valid driver's licence or other identification documents
COPR, Passports & Visa
- Birth certificate or adoption papers
- To Enter back into US I had
- H1-B approval notice
- Most recent pay stubs
- Employer verification letter
- After driving almost 8 hrs (taking breaks along the way and really making it a vacay) , we were ready to exit US and enter Canada. I was surprised to see no customs/border control while leaving US. The Peace bridge directly took us to Canada.
- There was a quite a bunch of lanes (around 12-16) and quite a lot of cars (each lane had like 10 cars). I entered one of the lines and as we started getting closer, we were profiling the border agents :-D .. Are they smiling? Why are they taking so long etc. ?
- After about 25 mins, we got our turn. I drive up to the agent.
- Agent: Hello. Bonjour. How are you doing?
- Me : Doing well thanks. [ Handed my COPR & passports]
- Agent: [Takes the passports] Can you please roll the back windows ?
- Me: Sure
- Agent: What brings you to Canada ?
- Me: We recently got our PR approved and are here to move.
- Agent: [Checks our docs] Is this your first time coming to Canada ?
- Me: Yes. Its our first landing
- Agent: Oh ok .. no problem. Let me get this processed. [Goes inside his booth and starts typing things for like 4 mins]
- Agent: [Walks up to the kids and politely asks] How are you kids doing ?
- Kids: [One kid mumbles fine] [Younger kid yells FINE]
- Agent: Aha .. thats how you should reply
- Agent: How is this man here ?
- Kids: Yelling DAD
- Agent: and who is this lady ?
- Kids: Yelling even louder MOM
- Me: Please don't ask them if they like me
- Agent : Laughs and walks back to the booth
- Agent: You don't have to give it to me, but do you have a list of items you have brought today or later ?
- Me: Yes I have that list
- Agent: Do you have any tobacco or alcohol today ?
- Me: No
- Me : [Wife reminds we got a wine bottle as gifts for our friends] : oh sorry i do have 1 bottle of wine
- Agent: ok ... no tobacco ?
- Me: No
- Agent: [Gives us back the passport and COPR] Please park at spot # and go over to the central building there. They'll process you further.
- Me: Thanks officer
- Agent: Welcome to Canada
- We were already feeling good that we actually had a normal conversation with Border Patrol (most of the times in US it feels like an interrogation)
- We parked at our spot and stretched a bit, finally walked into the building.
- There was a big family already inside, someone was at the counter. There were 2 officers, one was busy with the person at the counter. The other officer asked me to take a seat. Right at that time, my younger kid ran inside and was being a handful. The officer looked at us and said its ok, give me your docs. Someone will call you soon :-D
- We sat and within 3 mins, a lady officer called us.
- Minor complication : Proof of Funds
- She checked the COPR and asked me, do you have the proof of funds ? I showed her my bank statement. She went through my statement and asked me "what is this autopay"? I answered that my credit card bill. She looked alarmed and said "you mean you took money from your credit card ?". I said no, that's what I owed the credit card company and I paid them. She said "oh ok.. you are not supposed to borrow money to show the funds. How did you get this money? ". I was a bit puzzled, " How do you mean? Its my money ". She asked "but how did you get it?" I replied " From my job, I work at #####". She said " Ah .. what do you do there ?", I answered "I am a Director of Blah Blah", She asked "how much do you make per year ?", I said "$$$$", She said "Oh ok then " .. I said "I do have the pay stubs if that helps (thankfully I had them to enter back into the US". She looked through those and was satisfied.
- She checked the COPR and asked me, do you have the proof of funds ? I showed her my bank statement. She went through my statement and asked me "what is this autopay"? I answered that my credit card bill. She looked alarmed and said "you mean you took money from your credit card ?". I said no, that's what I owed the credit card company and I paid them. She said "oh ok.. you are not supposed to borrow money to show the funds. How did you get this money? ". I was a bit puzzled, " How do you mean? Its my money
- Address of PR card
- She then asked me "do you have an address in Canada". I said yes and had it written on a piece of paper.
- She asked " Is this a home ?". I answered yes.
- She said "okay that would work". Please have a seat
- Second "fake" complication
- She looked at my application and didn't see any dependents listed. I could see a look of genuine concern on her face. She thought I just got my family here without applying for them. She said " Oh goodness, I don't see your dependants listed"
- I said "oh i am not the primary applicant, my wife is"
- She said " oh .. i am sorry i assumed that, you have been talking the most .." I said "no worries I am the organized one "
- From this point on she only called my wife
- Final "fake" complication
- She said " your medicals have expired quite a while ago". My wife just nodded and said "yeah i guess due to the delays".
- She went ahead and still processed everything.
- Finally she called both of us, asked us to sign the COPR in front of her and asked me to go to the customs counter.
- The customs officer was also very nice. He took my list and rounded it up (quite generously). He told me if I wanted to get my car, I should have it completely paid off.
- Finally gave me a copy back and said "Welcome to Canada, You are all set"
Drive back to US
- Drove up on the Peace bridge. No check on the Canadian side.
- Similar to US there were like 12 lanes, 6-7 cars per lane
- After 20 mins, our turn came
- Me: Hello Officer
- Agent: Hi [no smile]. Please remove your glasses and roll down your back window
- Me: Sure [handed him my passport, I-797]
- Agent: [Didnt talk and kept typing for 3 mins]
- Agent: Are you on L ?
- Me: No sir, I am on H1-B
- Agent: [typed some more]
- Agent: What were we doing in CA?
- Me: Visiting friends. We were there for 3 days
- Agent: Are you bringing anything back ?
- Me : Nope
- Agent : [leans in] Huh ?
- Me: No
- Agent : [checks his PC, with my passport and I-797 in his hands]
- Agent: [hands it to me] You are good. Go ahead
- Me : Thanks office. Have a great day
- The whole thing took less than 5 mins, didnt get out of the car, didnt get I-94 paper stamp, didnt get any fingerprinting.
Hope this helps someone.