'Landing' on Monday

[ukmike]

Hi guys,

My passport and COPR arrived to me today in Canada so just wanted to ask a few final questions before I do my landing at the start of next week.

1. When I drive to the border I will be with my partner in her mothers car - as long as she has her Canadian passport will that be ok?

2. I've heard you need to show what you are bringing into the country and what will follow - as I am already in Canada I have everything I own here and there is nothing to follow - does that mean I don't have to do anything?

3. It says on the cic site you need to prove your funds: "You must inform the visa officer of any funds you are bringing into Canada (cash, stocks, bonds, money orders, traveller’s cheques, etc.)" - does that mean I just need to inform them of the cash I will have with me in my wallet? or in my UK bank account and/or also in my Canadian bank account?

Think that's about it for now.

Good luck to everyone still waiting to hear about their visas,
Mike

 

[mitamata]

1.) I believe that should be fine.

2.) I was landing at an airport and the subject never even came up. I think you can safely not bother with that.

3.) Only what you're bringing into the country at that point, so any savings you have abroad don't count. Just what you have with you.

Out of curiousity, where are you landing? And good luck!

 

[ukmike]

Thanks for the reply - sounds straight forward.

Well the plan was to drive over to Fort Erie, Ontario which is a couple of hours away but after receiving the information that came back with my passport there is a statement on the last page at the bottom that reads:

"Please note that if you are already in Canada and have valid temporary resident status, you now have the option of obtaining your permanent resident status in Canada as opposed to leaving Canada and re-entering at a port of entry. Please contact CIC's Call Centre at 1-888-242-2100 as soon as possible to arrange an appointment with the nearest Citizenship and Immigration office to your place of residence."

I'm not sure if that applies for me but was planning on giving them a call tomorrow to find out.

Mike

 

[dfb]

UKMike - I would be curious what you are told about that as I will be in the same position. Thanks

 

[ukmike]

Re: 'Landing' Monday.

Ok I called the Call Centre and got some good news.

First off, if you try and call and are getting lost in the automated messages try this: Press 1 for English, then Press 2 for Application Status, Then press 0 to get placed straight into the queue - took me 6 minutes.

I explained I was here on holiday, received my passport and COPR and was planning on going to the border to do my landing and then just asked about that statement I have read and asked if that was applicable for me. He asked me a few questions such as, getting me to check my passport stamp to see how long I would be valid to stay in Canada, the expiry date of my visa, where I am located now. He then told me he will contact the local office (London which is 20 minutes away) and get them to give me a call within the next 2 weeks to arrange a landing interview

I will keep you updated but hopefully it should be straight forward and a little easier than a 5 hour round trip and dealing with border traffic.

Mike

 

[mitamata]

The reason most people avoid this is because it takes a while to get an appointment for the landing interview. Well, depends on the CIC office, some are much more busy than others. Hope you get yours soon! And if not, there's still that long trip you can take

 

[ukmike]

Yeah I didn't even realise this was an option - he said within 2 weeks on the phone but it doesn't really matter if it's a little longer.

 

[Tara_W]

Hey Mike,

That all sounds straight forward enough!

My partner is doing his landing Saturday 5th September in Toronto, so will let you know how it all goes. He's bucked up about the whole thing as well, by the way! Excited about college, looking at jobs etc. Hope it lasts!

We're not bothering with the "goods to follow" either as we're not moving over until Christmas. Even then we were just going to bung everything onto my form, the one for returning Canadians. Is the the right way to go? Will he get hassled by the officer at the airport is he has no paperwork at all?

Anyone who can offer advice on this?

Cheers,
Tara

 

[tme]

Hey ukmike, all sounds good - thanks for the updates. It's really helpful to know how this all works as we would really like to avoid having to fly back to the UK for the visa in the future. Did the person at the call centre have any problems with how the visa got into your passport as I would imagine that came up? Regarding the note on the bottom I take it you are in the country as a visitor and do not have valid temporary resident status?

thx again for being the guinea pig!
tme

 

[ukmike]

Hi Tara: you will probably land before me so will look forward to hearing what they ask you on the landing interview thing. Glad to hear you guys are looking forward to coming over, I'm sure you are feeling a little more relaxed now! Sorry I can't help with your questions, but I think I've read that some of the time they don't even check that stuff anyway - but I could be wrong.

Hi Tme: The call centre guy didn't ask how it got into my passport, I just said it was approved while I was over here and had just received it back with the visa attached. I think its a standard thing that when outland applicants on holiday within Canada get the visa approved they get their passport shipped over - its nothing they disapprove of. Just so you know as well, I got my parents to DHL it over to me, it was sent Monday afternoon and arrived here Wednesday morning. I'm just a visitor and don't have this 'temporary resident status' - I think that's what he was getting me to check my passport stamp for, he was asking if the officer had written anything on the stamp to indicate I had to leave on a specific date - as there was nothing written he just said I could stay for 6 months and just continued getting the other info.

Mike [professional guinea pig]

 

[ukmike]

Just wanted to give you all a progress update on the landing...

I had a call today from a nice guy at the London Immigration Office (Canada) asking if I was ready to do my landing. He informed me they could do a landing on either Tuesdays or Thursdays so am booked in for next week. He asked me to bring along my passport, COPR, proof of funds (from myself and/or my sponsor - he mentioned this was a very low threshold but I should have asked what it was), and also to bring along my sponsor.

I will give you one more final update after my meeting with them and hope this helps someone else who might be in a similar situation.

Mike

 

[Tara_W]

Proof of funds??? Wtf?

My partner and I are travelling from Dublin to Toronto this Saturday and he'll do his landing then. We're only staying a couple of weeks before moving permanently around Christmas. I have an bank account over there with some cash socked away, but he's not bringing cash with him- he's just going to use his Cirrus/Maestro card to pull money out his Irish account when he needs it.

Are we missing something crucial here?

Cheers,
Tara

 

[welshiess]

No, they just want to know how much cash you have on you. I'm sure he will have a few dollars!

I landed from the UK a couple of weeks ago but have also had to return to finalise the house sale. It's a great experience!

 

[dfb]

UKMike - That's great that you got an appointment so fast. I called this morning for an appointment to land in Toronto (where I live legally on a work permit) and they told me 6-8 weeks for an appointment.

The woman I spoke to basically told me just to drive to Buffalo and do it that way instead. I asked if I could make an appt and then if I decided instead to just go to Buffalo call and cancel - she said no - I had to decide right now. I ended up not making an appt, since I can probably get to the border sometime between now and then.

 

[ukmike]

Here is my final update and I'm happy to say I'm officially a Permanent Resident of Canada!!! Yay!!!

It was a piece of cake at the local office, we were there between 5-10 minutes. When we got to the immigration office it was one of those 'take a ticket and wait' places but I wasn't happy with waiting after I had been told to be there at a specific time and who I was seeing - so as soon as I saw that someone was opening up a new desk I just dived right up there before he could call out a number and it happened to be the guy I needed to ask for. He just said "yeah we can sort that out for you now" and he did. I bet everyone that was waiting hated me but oh well. He asked if I had a criminal record, if we had any children and asked for proof of funds (I had wage slips and bank statements for both of us - he looked at 1 of my wage slips and said that was good enough). After he had been in the back for 5 minutes checking everything was ok and we had paid he then came back, stamped my passport and gave me a copy of the COPR form after I had signed it (He also told me to keep it safe and for life - which sounded a little extreme). He then just congratulated me and I don't think I could have done a bigger smile - what a huge relief!

As it's just a normal immigration centre I guess they didn't have these 'welcome packs' I've heard about but he said I can apply for my SIN number and OHIP now - I'm sure their websites will have all the information I need.

So there we go, PR of Canada, all complete and no more visa stress!

Good luck to everyone!
Mike