Hello Folks, Greetings to you all. I landed in Alberta on Feb 17. I drove from Missouri to Alberta. The driving was fun until I reached Great Falls, Montana. It stated snowing real bad, so I checked in nearest hotel Super6. I checked out of hotel at 11am to complete the final leg of my journey. I stopped at Shelby, which is about half an hour from border, to fill in gas and to book hotel in calgary on priceline. As I was nearing Shelby, the temperature started dropping. It dropped to single digits. I could feel the chill filling the gas tank. I got a deal on Priceline for $65 at Super8 for three days. The price was relatively cheap compared to what other people had mentioned on this forum. I left Shelby and started driving towards the border. My eyes became little moist with the thought of leaving US after 10 years. I was laid off form my previous job and a H1B transfer was filed that was approved in Dec till end of April, 2011. The endless wait for green card and extensions had taken a toll on me. On reaching the border, I showed passport to the officer. The officer looked at the visa and asked me if i am completing landing formalities today. I said yes and asked me what I am bringing with me. He game me a yellow slip and asked me to park the car and check inside. I went inside and gave passport at the immigration desk. The officer told me to wait for my name to be called. After 15 mins a young officer called my name and asked what documents I have. I gave him COPR, a printed mailing address in Alberta. He didn't take list of things that I was importing and told me to check with customs when I am done. He went inside and told me to wait so he can enter my data in the systems. He came out after few minutes and asked if anything has changed in the COPR and if all the info on COPR was accurate. I initialed and singed COPR. He went inside side and came out in few minutes to give me passport with stapled page of COPR on my passport and told me to go to customs. The lady at customs was very friendly. It took 45 mins to complete the documentation as I was importing my car. Once that was over, she told me if want to get my title cleared from US side today, I can go to US side or do that at later date. I drove back to US side and gave passport and title to the officer and told him that I do not intend to enter US. He told me to park my car and come inside. I met an old obnoxious lady inside. She looked at my old I-94 and did not bother to look at my new H1B approval. She was kind of wide eyed that I overstayed my stay. I told her about the approval. She looked at systems and said everything is fine. She handed me stamped car title and a US entry refusal paper that I was supposed to give to the Canadian side. She waved me as I left US. I went back to Canadian side, perplexed why I was handed that that refusal paper, since I had a valid status in US. I showed my passport and paper to the officer on the Canadian side. Without looking at passport or paper, he asked me to park my car and come inside. I went inside, the lady who did my customs took that piece of paper and said "oh they gave you that paper". She asked me if my title was stamped and told that I can go now. I was still confused why US side gave me that sheet. Later I learnt that was the standard procedure on the US side. I reached Calgary around 8:30pm. Checked in hotel for next three days. Next day I went to Service Canada for SIN card and later to Alberta Health for health Card. I opened my bank account. It was very very cold. Next day I called Chalocanda. His place was close to my hotel. He came to meet me. It was nice to meet someone in person from this forum. He took me to Windmobile to get me cell phone. It was good to know someone in Calgary. On his advise, I opened bank account at TD bank. The lady was very friendly. I opened an account in US dollars. I looked for apartments for next two days. There are many rental choices in Calgary. I did celebrate Chalocanada's daugther's first b'day on Sunday evening. On Tuesday, I checked out of hotel and drove to my sister's place, who lives about one and half hour north of Edmonton. I spent a week with her. It was very cold throughout. The temperature dropping to minus 8 F. Never experienced that cold. I came back to Calgary day before yesterday. Rented a two bed apartment for 900. One the positive note, there is a boom in midwest Canada. Today the temperature was 10 F and it looked like summer
. I am not going to bring my family for next 3-4 months. It is little lonely, but slowly I am starting a new life. I wish you guys good luck and feel free to contact me.
