Just sharing my landing experience...
My wife and I landed last Friday using Detroit-Windsor Border then came back to the US afterwards. Toll is 4.00 USD or 4.50CDN. At the immigration booth we I told the office that we are landing immigrants and he pointed me towards the immigration office. The officer there asked for out passports and CPR (Certificate of Permanent Residency) then asked us to signed. He gave us a form for the PR cards to be mailed, he told us to just fax it ourselves. Afte that we went to the other booth for Customs, I gave the goods to follow list and asked us how much money we have. Since I bought my car to be imported later into Canada they said papers must processed already, it took a while to finish those. Then we went to Service Canada for SIN, it's quite fast and people are friendly. Then went for the Bank Appointment (reserved appointment days before) to open account. It's possible to open account in Ontario even though your address is in Alberta. Everything is set for the final move in a few months. All is smooth until the time to come back to the US. My wife is using AVR, she has expired visa but has valid I797 and I94. Alot of questions from the officer in the booth about what we did in Canada, where do we work in the US, why do we live in one state and work on another and work office is in another, etc...then told us to go to the office. We stayed there for about 30minutes as we heard that the officers are having conversations regarding if it is possible to allow an expired visa with valid I94, apparently, I think the officer is not aware of AVR so have to validate everything or something. I do understand the security concerns but I felt aweful like a criminal being scrutinized. I've been to other countries and you feel welcome when you enter.
I would suggest to just land when you are moving permanently. If you do plan to land first and move later and you are importing a car, use a rental car if you're landing by car.
There...hope everybody's experience will be better.
My wife and I landed last Friday using Detroit-Windsor Border then came back to the US afterwards. Toll is 4.00 USD or 4.50CDN. At the immigration booth we I told the office that we are landing immigrants and he pointed me towards the immigration office. The officer there asked for out passports and CPR (Certificate of Permanent Residency) then asked us to signed. He gave us a form for the PR cards to be mailed, he told us to just fax it ourselves. Afte that we went to the other booth for Customs, I gave the goods to follow list and asked us how much money we have. Since I bought my car to be imported later into Canada they said papers must processed already, it took a while to finish those. Then we went to Service Canada for SIN, it's quite fast and people are friendly. Then went for the Bank Appointment (reserved appointment days before) to open account. It's possible to open account in Ontario even though your address is in Alberta. Everything is set for the final move in a few months. All is smooth until the time to come back to the US. My wife is using AVR, she has expired visa but has valid I797 and I94. Alot of questions from the officer in the booth about what we did in Canada, where do we work in the US, why do we live in one state and work on another and work office is in another, etc...then told us to go to the office. We stayed there for about 30minutes as we heard that the officers are having conversations regarding if it is possible to allow an expired visa with valid I94, apparently, I think the officer is not aware of AVR so have to validate everything or something. I do understand the security concerns but I felt aweful like a criminal being scrutinized. I've been to other countries and you feel welcome when you enter.
I would suggest to just land when you are moving permanently. If you do plan to land first and move later and you are importing a car, use a rental car if you're landing by car.
There...hope everybody's experience will be better.
