Getting ready to land....have a few questions

[Bibiche]

Hi everyone! My husband picked up his visa Monday. Got in the office, left PP came 3 hours later, got visa. No explanation, no information, nothing. I don't know, perhaps it's the same everywhere...I was just curious. Don't they give any information about landing? We're not quite sure how it will work...does my hubby need any documents (other than passport and visa)? are there any forms to be filled? What about the things he will bring to Canada....can he just arrive with 4 suitcases?? (he won't have 4 suitcases but just wondering if he can land with a lot of belongings, etc.).

Also, once he gets here, it shows on his visa that it will expire in 36 months...I guess it's linked to his PP expiry date? Then, he will have to renew his visa and will it be good for 5 yrs or another 3 yrs?

Once he arrives, can we go out of the country anytime. E.g.: vacation abroad, visiting family next summer etc. how does it work? Do I understand that he has to stay in the country a certain amount of days within the 36 months that his visa will be valid? I've read about it but it's not all clear.

Any clarification would be greatly appreciated!!
Good luck to those who are still waiting....you will eventually get there! It seemed so far away at the beginning of the process now...I will be reunited with the love of my life in a few weeks!!! We are both soooooo happy!

 

[Canuck20]

Hi everyone! My husband picked up his visa Monday. Got in the office, left PP came 3 hours later, got visa. No explanation, no information, nothing. I don't know, perhaps it's the same everywhere...I was just curious. Don't they give any information about landing? We're not quite sure how it will work...does my hubby need any documents (other than passport and visa)? are there any forms to be filled? What about the things he will bring to Canada....can he just arrive with 4 suitcases?? (he won't have 4 suitcases but just wondering if he can land with a lot of belongings, etc.).

Also, once he gets here, it shows on his visa that it will expire in 36 months...I guess it's linked to his PP expiry date? Then, he will have to renew his visa and will it be good for 5 yrs or another 3 yrs?

Once he arrives, can we go out of the country anytime. E.g.: vacation abroad, visiting family next summer etc. how does it work? Do I understand that he has to stay in the country a certain amount of days within the 36 months that his visa will be valid? I've read about it but it's not all clear.

Any clarification would be greatly appreciated!!
Good luck to those who are still waiting....you will eventually get there! It seemed so far away at the beginning of the process now...I will be reunited with the love of my life in a few weeks!!! We are both soooooo happy!

We just went through the landing process last Friday. Your husband will need his passport, his COPR (visa) and he will need to fill out B4 and B4A forms that list all his goods he is bringing with him and any that will follow. He should have these filled out beforehand to present along with the other 2 items.
Once his COPR is signed he will need to wait for his PR card to arrive in the mail. We were told that travel by land to the USA was permissible prior to arrival of the PR card but not travel by air. Others in the forum have said this was not the case for them and they have travelled by air. Hopefully you will get further clarification from them.
Hope this helps a little. There are certainly many more inthe forum who can probably help more.

Congratulations on arriving at this stage. Happy Landing

 

[akoika]

You can go wherever you want and come back, with your PR card and any passport. The PR cards acts like an UBER-VISA allowing entry anytime into Canada.

Surprised the Visa expires in 3 years... it's never more than a year from what I heard. Surprised it took you 3 hours... taking us 13 business days and counting...

 

[kyc221]

Hi everyone! My husband picked up his visa Monday. Got in the office, left PP came 3 hours later, got visa. No explanation, no information, nothing. I don't know, perhaps it's the same everywhere...I was just curious. Don't they give any information about landing? We're not quite sure how it will work...does my hubby need any documents (other than passport and visa)? are there any forms to be filled? What about the things he will bring to Canada....can he just arrive with 4 suitcases?? (he won't have 4 suitcases but just wondering if he can land with a lot of belongings, etc.).

Well... I did arrive with 4 suitcases My hubby, on the other hand, arrived with 3 (we were lucky in that he lived with me while we were waiting for PR). We didn't want to deal with "goods to follow", since in our case it was actually cheaper to pay for extra suitcases than mail them or ship them. You have to declare what you're bringing into the country, and for that you use the B4 and B4A forms: In the B4 you list up to 8 categories of stuff (e.g., Item 1- Clothes, Item 2- Jewelry, etc.) and your car if you're importing one. If 8 categories is not enough, you continue with the list in the B4A form. If you have goods to follow, you need a separate set of B4/B4A, marked as the list of goods to follow. More info here: http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/b4-help-please-t100666.0.html;msg1465354#msg1465354

You have 2 options regarding the B4/B4A set:
1- you don't fill them, and wait to land to fill them out with the officer. You still have to know what you have with you and what you plan on getting later ("goods to follow"). Doing this takes a long time with the officer.
2- you fill out the B4/B4A beforehand. If you do this, you'll need 2 copies of each set of B4/B4A. The officer actually thanked me for bringing my B4s ready!

I had no problems landing

Also, once he gets here, it shows on his visa that it will expire in 36 months...I guess it's linked to his PP expiry date? Then, he will have to renew his visa and will it be good for 5 yrs or another 3 yrs?
Once he arrives, can we go out of the country anytime. E.g.: vacation abroad, visiting family next summer etc. how does it work? Do I understand that he has to stay in the country a certain amount of days within the 36 months that his visa will be valid?

I'm not an expert, but from what I understand, Visa and COPR are two different things. COPR shows that you have the right to land as a resident, whereas the visa is issued only to people who are applying from a non visa exempt country. 3-year long visa is a loooooong one, and it basically means you can land any time before those 3 years expire. Once you land, you are going to receive your PR around 2 months after landing. You'll use that to get in the country in the future, not the visa.

If you travel immediately after you land, before you get your PR card, then you might be able to use your visa. My visa had a very short validity, only 23 days. When I landed, the officer told me I should wait until I got my PR card, for if I went out of the country without it, I would need a visa to get back in Canada and mine would expire really soon. If I were you, I wouldn't risk it, and would wait for the PR card.

After you get that, my understanding is that you can get in and out of the country as often as you like, as long as you stay in Canada 3 out of each 5 years (or is it 2 out of each 5 years? :-X ). If you comply with this, you can renew your PR with no problem.

 

[Bibiche]

Thanks to you all who have took some time to reply! :-*

I made a mistake.....I mixed up COPR and visa.....My husband got a one entry visa ending in Aug. (so one entry) and the COPR is valid for 2 years. I understand that we can use that + passport if we ever travel outside the country and we will have to renew it before it expires in 2 years.

There are so many acronyms!!! I now, have a better comprehension of the whole process. I'll get those B forms out and get them ready before landing. Thanks for the information and the advice everyone!

Good luck to those who are still waiting....patience is a virtue!

 

[kyc221]

I made a mistake.....I mixed up COPR and visa.....My husband got a one entry visa ending in Aug. (so one entry) and the COPR is valid for 2 years. I understand that we can use that + passport if we ever travel outside the country and we will have to renew it before it expires in 2 years.

I'm not sure this is how it works for the COPR. I understand that once you land, you can't use the COPR but a special permit to get out of the country and be allowed to go back in; at least it makes sense considering what the officer told me when I landed. Hopefully someone with more experience can clarify this

 

[Bibiche]

Thanks kyc221 for your input. Hopefully, someone can shed light here!! Anyone knows what will be required if a PR wants to travel abroad after landing. (We're just thinking of winter vacation down South this coming winter!!) Other than a passport and visa...is there something else and if so, what is it and how to obtain it?
Thanks in advance!

 

[Sweden]

Thanks kyc221 for your input. Hopefully, someone can shed light here!! Anyone knows what will be required if a PR wants to travel abroad after landing. (We're just thinking of winter vacation down South this coming winter!!) Other than a passport and visa...is there something else and if so, what is it and how to obtain it?
Thanks in advance!

OK... I can help and clarify. Before landing, the applicant is issued a COPR, and a visa for non-visa-exempt applicant. That's because airline staff are not trained to read a COPR, so they need to see a visa to let the person on the plane. For visa-exempt, they can travel on their passport.

After landing, your COPR will be stamped, and in Canada you can use that as a proof of your PR status. 2 months after landing, you should get a PR card and you can safely put away the COPR. The PR card is an easier format to carry, and more widely recognized.

If you travel out of Canada, you should travel with your passport + your PR card, so any airline staff can see that you will be allowed into Canada even without a visa.

The issue is: what to do, for non-visa-exempt applicant, if you have to travel after landing, and BEFORE getting the PR card? in that case, you can go out of Canada, but before you come back, you must apply for a travel document, that you can show to airline staff. It's not a visa, it's not a COPR - it's a document proving that you are allowed to come back to Canada.

To make it easy on yourself - just wait until the PR card has arrived before you go out of the country. It usually takes between 2 to 3 months ( you can check the timeline on CIC website and it's pretty accurate), so if you can, just avoid leaving Canada. Once the PR card has arrived, that's easy.

For residency requirement: you must be present 2 out of 5 years. As long as you're present 2 out of 5 years, then you will be able to renew your PR without issue. If you stay 3 years out of 4, you also can qualify for citizenship but that's another immigration matter, so best to get to PR first, and worry about the next step later!

Hope it clarifies,
Sweden

 

[Bibiche]

Sweden: You are AWESOME!! :-* Thanks a lot for clarifying!! It does makes sense and I definitely have a better idea!! We're not going to travel abroad right away, i was asking in case we decide to escape the cold weather in February and head down South for a week! In the meantime, we have a beautiful and vast country, we'll be traveling within the country for a while! Thanks again for the extra details! We now know what to expect!
Take care!

 

[CTC027]

As for the B4 form, they didn't even ask for it. My wife landed at Pearson Int. 2 months ago and I asked the officer if she need to see B4 form, she replied no.