Alright Folks,
Here is a quick post about my Landing experience this weekend- AINP Candidate Landing in Canada through Buffalo.
Feel free to shoot some questions, I will respond in a day or two.
I drove to Buffalo and stayed overnight and presented myself in my car and some luggage next morning at the border.
At Canadian Border Checkpoint , the Officer asks the purpose of my visit and I tell him that I am immigrating today, He welcomes me in gruffy loud voice - Welcome to be greatest country in the world.
He enters some information on a yellow card and returns my passport with the card and I am asked to pull over at one of the spots and go and present my papers and this card in the office.
No one in queue for Immigration, The lady officer reading a Stephen king Novel, quickly takes a look at my papers and again asks me the purpose of visit and explains me the residency requirement of staying there 3 out of 5 consecutive years, or else I will loose my residency, she asks me if I am staying in Toronto, I explain her that I am entering in Toronto as this is closest to where I live and I intend to later move to Alberta and therefore I have an Alberta address of a friend. She asks me the address where PR card should be sent and I give her my Calgary address. And At the end of discussion, I told her that if I will be going back to US, and that I have to bring more stuff from there and I might drive or fly with my goods. She said that I can come and go as I please, and there will be no problem, but I can not take a commercial airliner, unless I have my PR card and that it would take between 2-4 weeks. No more questions on that.
She asks for my medical form (It was mentioned on my COPR, I have a medical condition and would need to see the doctor when I move there, later I realize that she forgot to return it back to me, and I have to call CIC to know how to get it back or if I need it at all)
She asks me if I had applied for Green Card in US , and I tell her that I have not. She asks about my job situation, and when I am planning to move and I tell her that I am looking for jobs, and had no luck so far and I intend to move in a few weeks.
She asks about my intention to import car, and explains the paper work needed, and inquires about the cash I am carrying, notates all this information, She also explains me a few other formalities, and asks me to take my car title to the lady on the other counted who would enter my list of goods and vehicle import information. Folks you can not sell a car in less than a year without paying the import duty. So only bring a car if you intend to use it for a long time, and also the automobile should be bought more than 6 months before you move. Also as you might have already read on the forum, the auto insurance rates are pretty high and in some cases even more than double of US rates, even for a good driving record.
However the same car will have additional 10-12 % interest if you buy in Canada (Not super sure, please check this information).
The next lady officer takes about 15 minutes for the list of goods to be certified / copied and also fills in some additional forms for CAr Import. All done in about 30 minutes and I walk out of the door and start driving to Toronto.
I go to get the SIN number after my first cup of Tim Horton's, and I get it all done in less than 15 minutes, again no queue. I think early morning is the best time to get all these things done.
Next Stop my local hotel reservation in downtown Toronto, Lunch (some thai food) and than I head to Royal Bank of Canada. RBC Ontario is not same as RBC Alberta and therefore I had a pretty tough time explaining RBS staff that although my temporary SIN card and Landing papers say that the address is Calgary, I still want to get a bank account in Ontario, to start a credit history and to get a temporary debit card.
I would recommend you guys to go to TD bank as they also have branches in US, and I think they are offering zero monthly fee for new accounts by "newcomers".
Couple of observations (may be biased or incorrect, or specific to downtown Toronto only)-
Cons-
Almost everything was 10- 20% more expensive -postage, cab, gas, parking, cable, my favorites subway and Pizzahut too
A few parts of Toronto can use some serious trash collection, and graffiti removal (like southeast DC).
Pros -
Cultural diversity is pretty amazing, even more than DC.
People are undoubtedly more courteous and helpful , and nice. From customs to customer care , and everywhere, even strangers.
This weekend was a special weekend for Toronto, there was an all night cultural festival, the entire downtown was lit and the place was very happening, I can definitely live in this kind of atmosphere.
Infrastructure is good with Trams and Buses used by all demographics and so many people use bicycles in downtown, even as late as as 10 PM at night, and not for exercising but for going to work, and even visiting each other, just like Amsterdam and other European cities, (although I did not see 3 people riding the same bicycle,so a little different from europe may be).
Very Safe neighborhoods (to the best of my knowledge)
Overall a very good experience and to top it off with a visit to Niagara Falls made it an awesome trip. Now its time to find a job in Alberta and make my final moving arrangements.
