Hi Steaky, thanks for your info.
I completed my landing today, March 26th, 2014. I am under the Quebec Skill Worker category. I also share my experience in this thread: http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/quebec-peq-lets-share-experience-t140346.375.html
I think my detailed experience for landing would be helpful for you guys as well specially if your target province is Quebec and you go with your own car from within Canada to Champlain/Lacolle Border.
1. How to get there? and how to pass the US gate and come back?
Drive all the way down Highway 15 South till you reach the U.S. border, namely the Champlain-St. Bernard de Lacolle Border Crossing. Firstly, you will pass the duty free before reaching the US gates, then you will see there is U-Turn marked as "Nexus and Immigration" on your left which you can use to go back to Canada without being rejected by US. But be aware!:
I tried this first U-Turn in the first place, however, when I reached the Canada gates, the Canadian official said I HAVE to go to the US because landing can only be done when you're "entering" Canada, that means, you HAVE to get rejected by US (someone in this forum said basically they give you a paper stating that they refused entry based on administrative rules or something. The guy said that it doesn't matter if you have a valid US visa or not, they will give you a refusal because you're only here for landing). So if you just take a U-turn before the border, you haven't really left Canada so you can't do your landing.
So once again, we took another round to head to the US gates with the and had to spend more time queuing. I told the US official that we need to return to Canada immediately to validate our Confirmation of Permanent Residence. The US official took our Passports and CPRs, after several minutes he gave back those documents plus a letter. Then he told me to take another U-Turn which is just on the left of the US gates. It is the second U-Turn that really worked for us!
2. How they process you at the Canada gate?
So basically we returned to the Canada side with passports + CPRs + letter were queuing again at the Canada gate. Once reached the gate, I informed the officer that we need to validate our CPRs. So he asked some basic questions (such as: is this your car?) and took our passports and CPRs, then he gave me a yellow page and we need to park our car in #2 parking lot after the gate and go to office.
3. How they process you at the Immigration Office?
When you get into the immigration office, the left counter is the immigration counter. One officer will process you.
Q1. Do you have your passports, CPRs, and CSQs?
I gave him the passports and CPRs.
Seated and waited to be called.
Q2. Do you have your CSQs?
Found the CSQs and gave to him, he took a brief look and return them to me.
Q3. Who is the principal applicant?
Me.
Q4. Are you still working? Where are you working? What is the company name?
Yes. I am a .... I am working in ..... do you want to see my name card? (He said no)
Q5. Bank statement?
I gave him the most recent bank statement with both names on it. He took it and looked at it. At the same time, I handed him my employment offer letter which states my salary, he took it and look at it.
Q6. What is your address?
I gave him my cover letter, the address is on the head letter.
Q7. Did you submit your application to extend your stay (WP extension)? Did you submit it before your current WP expired? (He is concerning about my implied status)
Yes. I submitted it last year on ....., now it is still pending. (at the same time, I showed him the printed out average processing time for WP extension, he took it and look at it).
Q8. Did you pay the fee? Show me the payment receipt.
Yes, I took the whole application package out and handed to him. Indicated to him the payment receipt, proof of mailing and successful delivery record. He took the package and looked at it.
Seated again and waited to be called.
Q9. Do you have the past permit? I need all of your original past permit.
I gave him all of the original study permit and work permit, he took them away (including the most recent one on the passport), and never return to me. For my husband, he only have copies of those permits, the officer did not say much about this.
Seated again and waited to be called.
Q10. Please read this part (basically no criminal on the IMM 5688), initial your name beside your answer, and sign.
We read before him, wrote <no>, initialed it, and then signed it.
Then he said Welcome to Canada Cheesy, and said a few things for us to pay attention to:
1. He crossed the Immigration Visa, said we should receive our Maple Card in 6-8 weeks, but the CPR paper is NOT a travel document.
2. We should live in Canada 730 days every 5 years.
3. Everytime we enter the POE, the CBSA will exam whether we had fulfill the residential obligation from that day <backward> 5 years time.
Then we moved to the next counter for the custom, basically entering your belonging in your country of origin which you want to bring in future.
Does anyone know who I should contact to get my Maple Card faster? Which department should I contact? CPP-Ottawa or the CBSA at the border? Because I want to get it before April 18 for travelling to the US for the Easter Holiday, and my US visa is going to expire on April 21st!!
6-8 weeks would be too long for me. Wink
steaky said:
Yes, this poster done something similar in the past:
http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/-t117956.0.html
I suggest you show as much money as you can or the amount stated in the website. Yes, you can bring things duty free as long as you have the intention of establishing for the first time a residence first time for a period not less than 12 months. See this website for details:
http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications/dm-md/d2/d2-2-1-eng.html
