Land in Vancouver en route to QC? Or land in QC later?

[Catou]

Hi all,
I will be arriving on an international flight into Vancouver and going through border control there. I am going to Quebec and I understand its better to do my actual landing in Quebec. Can I do the landing in Montreal if I fly in on a domestic flight from Vancouver? If I can, would I hit problems arriving in Vancouver with a load of luggage? Or would border control be satisfied if I showed them my COPR and CSQ and explained what I was doing? Would the import form be stamped in Vancouver or Montreal?

I'd appreciate any tips from people that have done their landing in Montreal too. I've heard that they provide lots of useful information and arrange the SIN card at the same time. Is that still happening?

Sorry for so many questions. I will be on my way to Canada very soon and seem to be full of questions at the moment

 

[scylla]

Your landing will be in Vancouver - not Montreal. Landings always happen in the first Canadian city you reach because this is where you pass through immigration. Unfortunately you do not have a choice of where you land - it will definitely be Vancouver.

Make sure you have at least a couple of hours between flight. Landing doesn't take very long - but if there are line-ups, a couple of hours is possible.

 

[browntrout]

I will also do my landing in Vancouver soon, post back on this thread how the landing process where there

 

[Catou]

Your landing will be in Vancouver - not Montreal. Landings always happen in the first Canadian city you reach because this is where you pass through immigration. Unfortunately you do not have a choice of where you land - it will definitely be Vancouver.

Make sure you have at least a couple of hours between flight. Landing doesn't take very long - but if there are line-ups, a couple of hours is possible.

Is it not possible to enter as a visitor and do the landing on reaching Montreal?

 

[scylla]

Is it not possible to enter as a visitor and do the landing on reaching Montreal?

If you mean landing at the Montreal airport - then no, it's not possible. You will be arriving on a domestic flight from Vancouver and won't be passing through immigration. If you want to land as part of this trip, Vancouver is your only option.

I suppose you could enter as a visitor in Vancouver and pass through immigration without landing. However once you arrive in Montreal, in order to land, you would have to drive to a US/Canada land border and flagpole (exit Canada and then re-enter). You won't be able to land at the Montreal airport.

 

[Rob_TO]

I suppose you could enter as a visitor in Vancouver and pass through immigration without landing.

This would probably involve lying to the immigration officer. When they ask what your purpose is in Canada... if you tell them you have COPR but don't want to land, i'm not sure what they would say or if they would even let you enter as a visitor.

I don't see what the problem is of just landing in Vancouver. It really doesn't matter where you will end up residing, and landing in a different province to catch a connecting domestic flight is very common.

 

[sunshine0484]

This would probably involve lying to the immigration officer. When they ask what your purpose is in Canada... if you tell them you have COPR but don't want to land, i'm not sure what they would say or if they would even let you enter as a visitor.

I don't see what the problem is of just landing in Vancouver. It really doesn't matter where you will end up residing, and landing in a different province to catch a connecting domestic flight is very common.

hi rob_to, please tell me how to land and what I do? I am nervous and confused thank you

 

[scylla]

This would probably involve lying to the immigration officer. When they ask what your purpose is in Canada... if you tell them you have COPR but don't want to land, i'm not sure what they would say or if they would even let you enter as a visitor.

No - it wouldn't involve lying. You would just be up front with the fact that you have a PR visa in your passport but that you don't wish to land at this time and will be landing on your next trip into Canada. We've had a couple of people on this forum do this successfully and immigration didn't seem bothered since they were visa exempt (as is the OP).

 

[Rob_TO]

hi rob_to, please tell me how to land and what I do? I am nervous and confused thank you

It's simple. You show your COPR to the immigration officer, they will ask you your address in Canada and if you are importing anything now or have goods to follow, and then you are finished and they say welcome to Canada. It's incredibly easy.

 

[Rob_TO]

No - it wouldn't involve lying. You would just be up front with the fact that you have a PR visa in your passport but that you don't wish to land at this time and will be landing on your next trip into Canada. We've had a couple of people on this forum do this successfully and immigration didn't seem bothered since they were visa exempt (as is the OP).

Interesting, good to know.
Although I still don't see the point of the OP doing that in this case, as landing in Vancouver sounds a heck of a lot more convenient then driving to the US border later, and also delaying the start of your health coverage.

 

[Catou]

Interesting, good to know.
Although I still don't see the point of the OP doing that in this case, as landing in Vancouver sounds a heck of a lot more convenient then driving to the US border later, and also delaying the start of your health coverage.

I've got health coverage so a delay of a few days or a week or two doesn't matter.
I don't see the point either (now) but I wanted feedback so I could weigh the advantages/disadvantages of each. The advantage of landing in Montreal is that the Guide to Quebec, information on language courses, leaflets about government services (such as health care for QC), and other information is made available there. So, landing and getting the information sheets and guides, registration forms etc at the same time means not having to make an appointment downtown to get that stuff. Since MICC asked me to either land there or to make an appointment to get the info I thought landing was the easier way of doing things.

It's one of the fun things about immigrating to Quebec - there's always that extra step to take. Not that I mind - I'm just so happy that I will be there soon that even arriving in winter isn't fazing me