H1b Canada Landing Oct 6th - Automatic Revalidation

[KaneddaSapna]

Hi All,
I, my wife and son are planning to do the soft landing this weekend. We have many things to take care of like selling house etc before we actually move to Canada. So planning to not actually move there till next summer. We live in Michigan and thinking of entering via Sarnia or Windsor. I have a few questions -

- Can we go in on Monday morning, get the GC process done, goto Service center and get Social security number setup and come back the same day? Or do we need to stay an extra night at Windsor or Sarnia as someone mentioned that sometimes it takes a few hours for the GC to get updated in the service center's system?
- I read that few people didn't get the green card in Windsor since they were planning to not actually move there for a few months. Is it better to go via Sarnia vs Windsor? Also, we plan to use Automatic revalidation. Not sure if it makes a difference while coming back.

I appreciate all the help. Thanks

 

[lampbreaker]

You can return the same day. Sometimes the SIN office may not have your landing details and you may not be able to get SIN on the same day, but you can also get it anytime later. There is no requirement to get it immediately.

Some CBSA officers are very strict in their interpretation and refuse to apply for PR card when doing soft landing, this is especially known to happen in Windsor, but it can happen anywhere. If this happens, you can apply later also. You don't need PR card to travel to Canada by road from the US.

There will not be any issues with AVR.

 

[KaneddaSapna]

Thanks, appreciate the reply. I think we'll just go via Sarnia on Monday morning and try to get the SIN the same day and come back.

 

[KaneddaSapna]

Update - Crossed border via Sarnia. Canada Border Patrol folks were super nice. The whole thing was done in around 45 minutes. Then went to the Service Canada office and to get the SIN done. Again great folks and the paperwork was done within 30 minutes. Had Lunch at the Sitara Indian restaurant which had great food.

On the way back was a different story. We were stopped by the US Border Patrol for extra screening. Border patrol person who was helping in getting cars parked went on a rant on how he has an electrical engineering degree and still couldn't find an engineering job. How we (Immigrants) are exploiting the system and taking away American jobs? I have trained myself to never argue in these situations. When we went inside, the other Border Patrol folks were nice. Asked the as usual questions and said that we had to come in mainly because they needed to process our I-94s. Once processed, we were on our way.
Stressful day, but all is well if it ends well.

Thanks again for the help.

 

[santab]

Update - Crossed border via Sarnia. Canada Border Patrol folks were super nice. The whole thing was done in around 45 minutes. Then went to the Service Canada office and to get the SIN done. Again great folks and the paperwork was done within 30 minutes. Had Lunch at the Sitara Indian restaurant which had great food.

On the way back was a different story. We were stopped by the US Border Patrol for extra screening. Border patrol person who was helping in getting cars parked went on a rant on how he has an electrical engineering degree and still couldn't find an engineering job. How we (Immigrants) are exploiting the system and taking away American jobs? I have trained myself to never argue in these situations. When we went inside, the other Border Patrol folks were nice. Asked the as usual questions and said that we had to come in mainly because they needed to process our I-94s. Once processed, we were on our way.
Stressful day, but all is well if it ends well.

Thanks again for the help.

Wow, I have had my share of intimidating glances and sporadic questions during US immigration. But your experience takes the cake!

Did Canada border patrol ask you how long you are going to stay? Or any address proof for the address you provided for PR card delivery?

 

[KaneddaSapna]

Yup, this is a classic example of how few bad apples give the whole Border Patrol agency a bad name.
Canada Border Patrol did not ask about the stay duration. No address proof asked. I gave my cousin’s address for PR card delivery.