Hi everyone, just wanted to share my experience of traveling outside and coming back to Canada with inland application in process. I got the OWP sometime at the end of February and I had to go to the US head office for the job interview. I am not from visa exempt country, but I have 4-year multiple entry Canadian tourist visa. Before travelling to the US I had to get a US visa. Even though I am not working yet, they gave me 10-year multiple entry visa
I was very worried when coming back as it says on my work permit that it does not guarantee re-entry, even though I have visa, it is a tourist visa and I wasn't coming as a tourist any more. It was also a bit confusing filling the declaration form - should i fill it as a visitor or a resident? :
So when I got back, the first question the CBSA officer asked me was "what is your status in Canada", immediately i pulled out my work permit and showed him, also i said i have a visa. Then he asked me about the things i am bringing in, the purpose of my trip to the US, when did we get married and where does my husband work. After that he was checking something on the computer for a while and then he just told me to fill another declaration form as a resident and that was all.
I was very nervous during my travel and most likely will not travel outside again while my application is being processed, but I realized one thing - if you absolutely have to travel while your inland application is processed make the process of coming back as smooth as possible, meaning: have a good reason to travel outside, do not bring back any valuable and prohibited things etc.
I hope it helps someone as this forum has been extremely helpful to me 8)
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