Got COPR but baby due soon!!!!

[Avadava]

Although I agree with OhCanadiana on the points raised, I can't help but wonder about the second option. Being a visa exempt national, in theory he could come to Canada without problems.

But if he does that after February, 2014, will his COPR still be valid? His COPR stated that he can land anytime until that date, meaning, after that day the COPR is not valid anymore.

I'm sure I'm missing something here, but don't know what. It's a bit confusing. Can he do the actual "landing" without providing an address for his PR card? He has 180 days to provide the address, right? And by stamped COPR, you mean the "landing" proof, right?

Just to make sure I have the right picture:

OP flies to Canada before February 2014 and lands as immigrant. Gets COPR stamped but doesn't give an address for PR card (he has 180 days to do that). Stays a couple of days in Canada then flies back to the UK to be with his wife who is expecting a baby in January. Once the baby is born, they will apply for a certificate of citizenship which takes about 6 months (if they go for the temporary passport route, do they still need the certificate of citizenship?). In the meantime, before the 180 day period expires, he informs CIC by email of his Canadian address. Baby's documents should be almost ready too (180 days = cca 6 months). He flies with the family to Canada showing only his passport and the previously stamped COPR (proving he has landed, but he hasn't received a PR card yet). He gets PR in the mail.

Did I get this right?

 

[Avadava]

Even better solution -

The Canadian mother in law is due over to the UK in January, so providing she has received it (mailed to her house by CIC by then) she can bring it back to the UK with her.

I think!?

This would be better yes, providing the PR card will get to her address by the time she leaves. With a 43 day process for the PR card, this means you need to land at the latest in early December.

 

[OhCanadiana]

Although I agree with OhCanadiana on the points raised, I can't help but wonder about the second option. Being a visa exempt national, in theory he could come to Canada without problems.

But if he does that after February, 2014, will his COPR still be valid? His COPR stated that he can land anytime until that date, meaning, after that day the COPR is not valid anymore.

I'm sure I'm missing something here, but don't know what. It's a bit confusing.

The expiration date is only for landing purposes. Once the CoPR is signed and stamped by a Border Officer during landing (and signed and initialed by the applicant), the CoPR is valid forever as it becomes the proof that the person is a landed immigrant to Canada. It is usually suggested to store it in a safe deposit box once the PR Card arrives, extracting it only to apply for naturalization once the time comes (it is one of the required docs to include with the naturalization application).

Can he do the actual "landing" without providing an address for his PR card?

Yes

He has 180 days to provide the address, right?

Correct. After that he can still get it, but he will need to pay the PR Card application fee and submit the application (before then, it's automatically processed as soon as you provide the address).

And by stamped COPR, you mean the "landing" proof, right?

Yes. When you land, the Border Officer will review the CoPR, go over the answers with you, make you initial some of them as confirmation, and then stamp it and sign it. At that point, the CoPR becomes a true "Confirmation of Permanent Residence" as it proves your status as a landed immigrant of Canada.

Just to make sure I have the right picture:

OP flies to Canada before February 2014 and lands as immigrant. Gets COPR stamped but doesn't give an address for PR card (he has 180 days to do that). Stays a couple of days in Canada then flies back to the UK to be with his wife who is expecting a baby in January. Once the baby is born, they will apply for a certificate of citizenship which takes about 6 months (if they go for the temporary passport route, do they still need the certificate of citizenship?).

Think of the temporary passport and the certificate of citizenship as separate items with different, though somewhat overlapping, purposes. A citizen of any given country should always enter that country using the passport of that country. Any other passport is usually just considered an ID and they verify citizenship some other way as you aren't a 'tourist' to a country that you are a citizen of. Since the citizenship certificate can take anywhere from a several weeks to several months to process (depending on location where it is applied for), it may not arrive in time for the OP to use it to apply for a 'regular' passport for his baby. Therefore, since his baby is under 2 years old,* Canada allows him to get a temporary passport for his baby. That temporary passport is issued at the Embassy/Consulate once they verify that the baby is indeed a Canadian citizen and can be used for the baby to travel back to Canada as a citizen.

The citizenship certificate is still necessary to apply for the regular Canadian passport for future travel as well as for other identification purposes that may be required (since the baby won't have a Canadian birth certificate). That can include everything from registering for school, professional registration, and old age benefits ... so it will be useful throughout the baby's life.

* Note for people who may read this in the future - children over 2 years old get a "facilitation visa" instead of a temporary passport.

In the meantime, before the 180 day period expires, he informs CIC by email of his Canadian address. Baby's documents should be almost ready too (180 days = cca 6 months). He flies with the family to Canada showing only his passport and the previously stamped COPR (proving he has landed, but he hasn't received a PR card yet). He gets PR in the mail.

Did I get this right?

That is one possible path. He can also fly before the citizenship certificate is ready on the temporary passport. In that case, he flies to Canada showing the temporary passport for the baby. For himself, the OP would show the airline only his passport (just like he will when he flies over to land) and then the immigration officers when he arrives in Canada the passport and the CoPR. Since we're going into so much detail, let me also mention that at that time he would also need to show his B4/B4A and his wife's B4/B4A for all the goods they will be importing at that time or as goods to follow to take advantage of the benefit they each have to import goods duty free. See my post here and here for more details from a similar situation.

With a 43 day process for the PR card, this means you need to land at the latest in early December.

FWIW, the timing usually keeps getting shorter during the Winter so the OP has limited risk in this regard (presumably people prefer to move in the Summer)

 

[Rob_TO]

Yes. It is also amazingly consistent across agents (which in and of itself tells me something).

Whether when a specific person mails a PR card, that specific PR card will be seized and returned to CIC, that's a different question. It doesn't show up in CIC guides, but that's not really surprising. CIC instruction guides for applicants cover before you apply for the most part and give you a sense of what will happen the process. CIC internal instructions such as OP's and IP's cover internal CIC processes as they the process an application so that wouldn't address instructions to other agencies or external organizations. Bulletins and interviews (e.g., of visa office heads in Parliament) sometimes give you an insight into specific administrative rules and interactions with other agencies (e.g., CBSA to request a seized passport for approved inland applicants to be able to land or for renewal purposes) but that's just a sliver of what I'm sure is many other interaction points. After all, although CIC is very open with us, they don't publish every internal document for our reading pleasure.

If it was illegal to mail the PR card, then there would have to be some document or law that states this that is accessible to the general public. I've searched and can't find anything... as mentioned above the only rule is that the card can't be ISSUED to an address outside Canada. Also i've read articles on this saying it's a myth, and likewise have not been able to see ANY historical cases whatsoever of anyone's PR card being seized... ever.

And finally, there would be no way for anyone to know what you are mailing, unless they opened the package up. There is no microchip in a PR card that would allow a scanner to see a PR card is inside any given envelope. It would just be shipped like 99.9% of millions of other documents, cards, papers etc that are shipped daily through various courier companies.

ETA: Avadava raises additional risks of mailing the card (identity theft)

Of course, but that is also true of people mailing their passports, which happens constantly. Not to mention tons of other sensitive documents people mail (like all the personal info contained in PR application itself) which could lead to identity theft if stolen.

Anyways it's kind of a moot point as the OP can have someone personally deliver the PR card... but still interesting!