Hi folks,
I don't see many people sharing their landing experience in Ottawa as most of the new immigrants with a COPR tend to land in major airports like Calgary or Toronto. So here is my experience!
I started my journey in New Delhi! My flight was Delhi to Paris and Paris to Ottawa. The check in at Delhi airport was extremely quick since I arrived early and checked in online for my flight. Then in Indian immigration they asked me "where I am going" "will kind of job I'll be doing in Canada" and "how I got selected for the PR". For the second answer, I told him that I will find something once i arrive in Canada, and for the third answer I said that I got selected through express entry and getting a lot of bonus points for French language. I think by that time, he was already glancing over my previous European visas so he didn't create any problems whatsoever. The process barely took 20 seconds.
The Paris airport is nothing special at all. Food options are very limited and it seemed much smaller than other European airports I've been to such as Brussels, Frankfurt, Berlin, etc. There was a quick visa check before boarding that takes 10 seconds and if you have an immigrant visa, they'll wave you through immediately.
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Arrival at Ottawa.
The one thing I noticed was how small the airport was. Compared to Toronto or Montreal, it was very small. After the automatic kiosks, the CBSA officers will send you straight into the luggage hall without asking you any questions because the COPR documents are signed at the secondary office. The luggage hall is very small as well. At the exit, the officer will direct you to the immigration office- which once again- is not very big at all. When I was there, there was an officer who was grilling a couple of young French nationals for coming on a 3 month long vacation. The officer that spoke to me was super nice and friendly and told me "it's a big moment for you" as he instructed me to sign my COPR. And voila! I was a permanent resident! The process was super smooth and uneventful.
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Thought I'll share this experience because even after scouring through the internet, I couldn't find experiences of folks who landed in Ottawa.
I don't see many people sharing their landing experience in Ottawa as most of the new immigrants with a COPR tend to land in major airports like Calgary or Toronto. So here is my experience!
I started my journey in New Delhi! My flight was Delhi to Paris and Paris to Ottawa. The check in at Delhi airport was extremely quick since I arrived early and checked in online for my flight. Then in Indian immigration they asked me "where I am going" "will kind of job I'll be doing in Canada" and "how I got selected for the PR". For the second answer, I told him that I will find something once i arrive in Canada, and for the third answer I said that I got selected through express entry and getting a lot of bonus points for French language. I think by that time, he was already glancing over my previous European visas so he didn't create any problems whatsoever. The process barely took 20 seconds.
The Paris airport is nothing special at all. Food options are very limited and it seemed much smaller than other European airports I've been to such as Brussels, Frankfurt, Berlin, etc. There was a quick visa check before boarding that takes 10 seconds and if you have an immigrant visa, they'll wave you through immediately.
-----------------------------
Arrival at Ottawa.
The one thing I noticed was how small the airport was. Compared to Toronto or Montreal, it was very small. After the automatic kiosks, the CBSA officers will send you straight into the luggage hall without asking you any questions because the COPR documents are signed at the secondary office. The luggage hall is very small as well. At the exit, the officer will direct you to the immigration office- which once again- is not very big at all. When I was there, there was an officer who was grilling a couple of young French nationals for coming on a 3 month long vacation. The officer that spoke to me was super nice and friendly and told me "it's a big moment for you" as he instructed me to sign my COPR. And voila! I was a permanent resident! The process was super smooth and uneventful.
------------------------------
Thought I'll share this experience because even after scouring through the internet, I couldn't find experiences of folks who landed in Ottawa.
