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My Experience during Soft Landing in Canada at the time of COVID-19 in June 2020 from USA

M

manjari86

Newbie
Aug 11, 2020
2
0
Hi @tchitnis , Thank you for sharing your experience. This helps a lot. We are planning to do soft landing in Aug end and were getting all mixed info on if we are allowed to soft land or not.
Can you please let me know how many days it took for you PR card to get delivered and did you provide your Airbnb address. Trying to plan our stay there. I know we need to mandatory quarantine for 14 days.

Thanks,
Manjari
 
A

Assheikh

Newbie
Aug 22, 2020
6
0
manjari86 said:
Hi @tchitnis , Thank you for sharing your experience. This helps a lot. We are planning to do soft landing in Aug end and were getting all mixed info on if we are allowed to soft land or not.
Can you please let me know how many days it took for you PR card to get delivered and did you provide your Airbnb address. Trying to plan our stay there. I know we need to mandatory quarantine for 14 days.

Thanks,
Manjari
Click to expand...
Hi manjari,

Where are you travelling from? Can we connect somehow?

I am in the same position. Me and husband will be travelling from doha, planning to soft land in 1st week of September but really confused with all info....
 
B

Berrie

Newbie
Aug 24, 2020
1
0
tchitnis said:
My Details:​

Type of Application: Express Entry FSW
PR Application Date: September 15, 2019
COPR date of Approval: February 2, 2020

Landing Date in Canada: June 26, 2020
Landing Location: Blue Water Bridge, Sarnia, Ontario
Landing Time: 5 PM EST
Mode of Transport: Personal Vehicle



My Experience​

I live in USA on work visa and I applied to Canada PR in search of a better life without visa issues. I decided to perform my landing formalities on June 26, 2020 through Sarnia, ON. Since I was approved as a PR before March 18, 2020 I was exempt from the USA-Canada border restrictions.

I started from Chicago, IL in the morning in my personal vehicle and drove to Port Huron, MI with intermediate stops to buy groceries. I had read about the 14-day mandatory quarantine requirement put in place by Government of Canada for COVID19. I bought enough groceries for isolating at home for 14 days. I reached the Blue Water Bridge at 5 PM to cross the border. On my way to the bridge, there were a bunch of signs showing ‘Bridge to Canada’ board and my excitement was growing as I passed each board. Then there came a sign saying ‘Last Exit to USA’ but I moved on. My excitement had reached its peak by now. There was a toll booth just before the bridge and I payed $3 with my credit card to access the bridge. As a started out onto the bridge, suddenly my Google Maps shouted ‘Welcome to Canada !!’. Now, I was both excited and nervous for the next process. The Google Maps quickly shifted from ‘miles’ to ‘kilometers’ and from ‘MPH’ to ‘KMPH’ and asked me to slow down from 50 MPH to 50 KMPH. The road bifurcated into two separate entry posts, one for Semis and other for Cars. There was literally No One at the border apart from me who was there to complete the landing formalities. I entered the entry post in my car and saw an officer there. I was wearing a face mask. He asked me for my passport and the COPR papers. Next, he asked me following questions:

  • Why are you here today?
    • I said I am here to immigrate
  • What do you do in USA?
    • I said I work in XYZ company and I live in Illinois state
  • Where are you headed to in Canada? And do you have a plan for 14-day quarantine?
    • I said I have booked an Airbnb for 14 days and I plan to stay there for all those days to quarantine
    • I handed out my plan for quarantine that included booking receipt of Airbnb, My insurance documents, Receipts of all the Groceries that I brought with me
  • How many days are you going to stay?
    • I said I will stay for 15 days and return to USA
At this point, he handed over my Passport and a yellow page which mentioned all the answers that I just gave and pointed at a big office that said ‘Customs Office’ and asked me to park my car there and go inside

I drove there and parked my car. I took my documents and went inside it. Inside, it was all deserted and there was not even a single person waiting for completing their formalities. It looked like all the officers in there were waiting to pounce on the first person that walked into that office There were 6 booths and 4 of them were occupied with officers. One of the officers waived at me and I walked up to that booth. The officer asked me for my passport, the yellow page from above and my COPR documents. The officer asked me loudly ‘ Why are you here?’ and that too ‘just for 15 days’. I said I was here to complete my landing formalities and would quarantine for 14 days and would return back to USA on the 15 day. The officer looked a bit furious because I was traveling during a pandemic. The officer asked me ‘What do you do in the USA?’, I said I work. The officer asked me the Employment Offer Letter and Pay slips for last 12 months.

Next The officer asked me the bank statements that showed enough money required for settlement. At this point, I was asked to go and sit in the waiting room until they cross checked my documents. It took them about 10 minutes to go through the documents and I was asked to come to the booth again. Now they asked me for my List of Accompanying Goods and List of Goods to Follow along with an address where my PR card would be sent to. I had already filled up the form BSF186 with all that information and gave them that. They asked me if there anything in your car that is not listed on the Form, I said I haven’t included the list of groceries and gave them the receipt. They again asked me to wait and they finalized the BSF186 list by including the groceries on the list.

My heart was racing! I was called to the booth again. They asked me for my plan for 14-day quarantine once again and cross checked my Airbnb reservation against their database. They made copies of all the documents I had given and returned my copies.

Their last sentence: “Congratulations!! Welcome to Canada!” I heaved a sigh of relief!!!! They said a bunch of things after this but I don’t remember any of it lol! I was too excited and relieved! Finally, my wish had been fulfilled. I am now an official PR of Canada. I walked out of the office and headed straight to my Airbnb to quarantine.
Click to expand...
Hi Tchitnis,

congratulations for your RP. I have a questions for you.

we tried to do the same yesterday with my husband. But at the end the Officer could not activate our RP because our online Profile was not updated by the immigration.

Our RP application expired in May but we could not travel before due to Covid-19. Therefore, we completed several Web Forms to get everything ready to move. The only thing we received is that our PR could not be denied due to Covid-19. Today it is not denied but on hold, we are staying in an Hotel in Detroit with our U-Haul trying to contact the CIC any way we can to be able to cross the Ambassador bridge again.

Did you receive something for the CIC when you completed the WebForm? How did it take to get the reply from them?

Thanks in advance,
 
P

prrem1

Star Member
Oct 26, 2018
52
14
This is interesting we are currently in the US and was planning to do a soft landing but I clearly see do not enter Canada to just activate your PR unless you are planning to migrate. This is pretty misleading from their part online. We are not planning to drive and we planned to fly does it make any difference ? Any idea ? It will be great if anyone could share
 
N

nigorausmonova

Member
Aug 26, 2020
11
4
Assheikh said:
Hi manjari,

Where are you travelling from? Can we connect somehow?

I am in the same position. Me and husband will be travelling from doha, planning to soft land in 1st week of September but really confused with all info....
Click to expand...
Hi Assheikh,

We were planning to travel from Doha as well. We wanted to do sosft landing in Mid September, but on the immigration site it says soft landing not allowed. Now we are confused too...
 
S

Surbhi9146

Member
Sep 19, 2020
19
0
Berrie said:
Hi Tchitnis,

congratulations for your RP. I have a questions for you.

we tried to do the same yesterday with my husband. But at the end the Officer could not activate our RP because our online Profile was not updated by the immigration.

Our RP application expired in May but we could not travel before due to Covid-19. Therefore, we completed several Web Forms to get everything ready to move. The only thing we received is that our PR could not be denied due to Covid-19. Today it is not denied but on hold, we are staying in an Hotel in Detroit with our U-Haul trying to contact the CIC any way we can to be able to cross the Ambassador bridge again.

Did you receive something for the CIC when you completed the WebForm? How did it take to get the reply from them?

Thanks in advance,
Click to expand...
Hi Berrie - were you doing the soft landing on expired COPR from us or permanent move to canada ? Can you please connect with me @ 314-277-9387 as we need to move to canada on expired COPR in july , raised multiple forms but not getting any reply regarding next steps for Travel! We just have the extension letter that your PR won’t be rejected and let us know when you ready for Travel.
 
K

kranthi646464

Member
Apr 15, 2020
11
3
tchitnis said:
Its upto you. If you want to import the cart during soft landing, you can put it on the Goods to Accompany. If you want to do it later, it would go on Goods to Follow. There is no specific rule to this. Whatever suits your needs
Click to expand...
Hi @tchitnis , thanks for sharing your experience. I am planning to do my landing soon and my Car in US is not paid off yet and don't have the title . I plan to get the car later . Can we list the car in the Goods to follow list and how ?
 
C

ClassicCause

Member
Sep 22, 2020
15
3
@tchitnis Thank you so much for sharing your experience! How exciting! Congratulation on your PR!

Question: why did you stay in Canada for 15 days and then return to the US?

Did you return to the US to pack up a U-Haul?
When you returned back to the border with all of your belongings, was there an issue?
Did you have to pay a tax on all of your furniture, etc?
 
W

walter_white

Hero Member
Aug 30, 2019
307
255
kranthi646464 said:
Hi @tchitnis , thanks for sharing your experience. I am planning to do my landing soon and my Car in US is not paid off yet and don't have the title . I plan to get the car later . Can we list the car in the Goods to follow list and how ?
Click to expand...
You have to list your car’s make, model and vin number in your goods to follow list upon your initial landing and get it stamped to be able to import it tax free when you actually move.
 
D

DonCorleone

Newbie
Nov 30, 2020
7
12
Thanks for the response. Did you move permanently or soft landing? I'm planning to do soft landing (through buffalo). Just wanted to see if anyone did the crossing recently.
 
K

kranthi646464

Member
Apr 15, 2020
11
3
DonCorleone said:
Thanks for the response. Did you move permanently or soft landing? I'm planning to do soft landing (through buffalo). Just wanted to see if anyone did the crossing recently.
Click to expand...
You can do the soft landing and return back to US the same or you can come back after your 14 days of quarantine .
I moved permanently but came to US after the quarantine period.
 
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