LANDED!

[MizzCanAm]

Congrats!! So happy for you and your family. How was your landing experience?

 

[Siouxie]

Awesome! Congratulations!

So very happy for you Robsluv, it's been a long journey but worth every step...

Welcome to Canada eh!​

 

[dlmt]

Well, it finally happened - my daughter and I are officially permanent residents of Canada!! We drove down to the border today, left Canada for the first time in almost 4 and a half years, and came back in to have our paperwork processed for landing. The happy ending to a very long journey. I am so thankful for all of the help, support and encouragement I found here. Our immigration journey is over, but I hope to stick around here to pay it forward.

CONGRATULATIONS!

 

[fleo]

Wonderful news, I'm so excited for you guys! What a weight off your shoulders this must be...

Congratulations and enjoy!

 

[pseudowolf]

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Kaycee1]

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And thank you very much for all the help you've provided to everyone else in the past, glad to hear you're going to stick around!

 

[RobsLuv]

Thanks, everybody, for all the well wishes. A couple of people asked about our experience: where we landed - was it surreal? Honestly, I have to say that our landing experience was about as bizarre as the rest of this process has been for us! First, for the past couple of years, approaching the border has been "threatening". To cross would mean separation - so even going near Niagara (where we landed) has caused me to have minor panic attacks. Yesterday was no different - as we got closer my heart started pounding and it got harder and harder to breath. I teared up knowing we were actually going to have to cross in order to finalize this thing . . . and, since hubby still doesn't have a passport, he wasn't going with us! My girl and I had to go it alone (although we took my mum-in-law with us . . . a little piece of Canada as assurance)!!

So first, the US guy challenged me!! We had to leave Canada and turn around again? Why? I was like, "What?" :-X Certainly we weren't the first people he's run into driving into the States to facilitate a landing!! I know we've been gone a long time but, after all, we are still US citizens! I really didn't expect to be harassed by my own countrymen! I had to drive about six blocks into Niagara just to get over that . . . my mum-in-law kept saying, "You can do a u-turn here, dear . . ." at every intersection, but I just kept going!! She might have wondered for a bit there if I was just going to keep driving til I got to California!! : But I seriously needed to calm down. (It didn't really help - I was so nervous.)

So then we turned back - got to the kiosk, and I stumbled all over my words to say I was entering to land. That officer didn't even look at our passports - she just wrote "Landing" across the yellow slip and said, "GO IN THERE". OKaaayyyy, then! :-[ Once inside, hubby (thank God, a friendly face!) greeted us at the door and we waited in line for awhile. There were four officers at the counter, but only one person was waiting on people. People were filing in behind us and the line was getting longer and longer. She was doing another landing - I heard her ask the three questions: Are you still in relationship with your sponsor? Have you committed any crimes? Do you have any dependents not included on this application? I wondered for a bit how I would answer that question, and decided I could honestly say NO because both of my sons are now over 22.

Finally it was our turn - went up, gave the guy the yellow slip, and our passports. He started typing into the computer and then said, "OK, I have to type some info into the computer and print out some paperwork for you to sign, so just go over there and have a seat". So we went and sat down. When I looked up, he was reading the computer screen. Then he picked up the phone and talked for awhile. Then two other officers went over and were reading the screen! Meanwhile, I was observing that all of them looked like they ate nails for breakfast everyday. I just hung on to hubby and tried to remember the words to one of the songs we'd sung at church on Sunday! Finally, he looked up and made eye contact with me with an almost friendly expression on his face. So we got up and went back over, and he finally smiled. He looked so much nicer when he smiled. He asked me to initial and sign my COPR, and then my daughter did the same with hers. (Mind you, there were no other papers for us to sign - other than the COPR we brought with us.) He sorta joked with us a bit - and hubby started talking to the officer next to him who was the guy who had given me my first VR on our wedding day! Surprisingly he didn't remember us - I was almost shocked. After all that's happened, you'd expect red lights and alarms would go off at the mention of our names!!

After everything was signed and he stapled the copies of our COPRs into our passports, he directed us over to Customs to deal with my Goods to Follow list. It wasn't until that officer had gone off to do something that I realized - he never asked me the three questions!! There was a moment where I looked over, and seeing him still there, wondered if I should go say something - but I thought I'd better not push my luck. When we were done with the Customs guy, we just put on our coats and walked out. Nobody said, "Congratuations" or even "Welcome to Canada". I think they hate me - but who cares? The real people in my world love me, and love my daughter . . . and now, in spite of everything that's happened, Canada is finally a place where I belong. Nobody can take that away from me - nobody can threaten to separate us ever again.
And THAT makes it all worth it! ;D

 

[Baloo]

And that's made it all worth it!

I'm so happy for all of you.

Fantastic post ;D

 

[Love_Young]

Wow RobsLuv what a journey. So glad you shared your experience with us.
I was about to cry when I read your last sentences. So beautiful and true.

 

[rjessome]

BIG congrats!!!! YAY!

Loved the story too! Considering all you have been through, I'm also surprised that there were no red lights and alarms! Hahahaha! And think about it this way, if he was reading the screen and saw your history, maybe he was a little scared to say WELCOME TO CANADA. He probably thought you would bite him! Perhaps he was scared of YOU!

Welcome to Canada!

 

[RobsLuv]

Thanks for that perspective - and for the Welcome. Much appreciated, actually.

 

[robrod]

Congratulations of the warmest kind, Rob'sLove!. Like my wife told me after we went to our landing appointment here in Scarberia: "Happy Canadian!!!!!"..
I bet Rob's as happy as you now.
These face-to-face moments with Secondary Inspection Canadian Immigration Officers always made my throat go very dry and was everytime hard to swallow for myself... then the heart palpitations I would have from time to time awaiting the outcome of our sponsorship application were uncomfortable as well... But it is now a thing of the past as I returned to Toronto from Xmas vacation in Mexico with our daughter and was able to use and test my new PR card which is a nice document, by the way... It went smooth and for the first time ever after all my trips to secondary prior to this trip, I finally no longer was sent to secondary inspection... That feeling was just as good as my landing experience... It actually made me feel that I belong just like you belong, Rob'sLove...
Congratulations again and enjoy your Canadian life, it's a nice one.
Rob(Rod).

 

[AllisonVSC]

Congrats, Robsluv.

I share some of your experiences with the border crossing and landing process. First, your description of the officers at your landing looking like they ate nails for lunch is SO true. No smile, no welcoming/reassuring gestures of any kind, and definitely no Welcome to Canada. They seemed to all hate their jobs and deplore working with the public.

As for crossing, my heart will always pound like mad, and unfortunately, that is going BOTH ways. I get the 3rd degree entering the US almost every time now. Going to the US, these are the standard questions I get hit with: 1. What's your citizenship even - if they are holding my US passport in their hand; I guess it's a one of those truth-seeking screening questions to see if I hesitate. 2. Where do you live? 3. What is the purpose of your visit? 4. What is your final destination? 5. How long will you be here? 6. Are you carrying any alcohol, tobacco products, weapons or items that are remaining in the US after you leave? Sometimes when I'm traveling with my sponsor we get, 1. How do you know each other? 2. How/when did you meet? 3. What does he do for a living? 4. What is the exact address of your final destination?

Entering Canada now seems easier. Hand over the passport and PR card and it's 1. Where do you live? 2. How long were you in the US? 3. What are you bringing in today?

 

[j2m]

Congratts, so happy for you. Thanks for keeping us all posted with invaluable information!

 

[heatherusa]

So happy for you!