PA and Sponsor: Marriage before landing

[ingainga]

Hello!
I’m a Canadian citizen sponsoring my common-law-partner and we have just received approval and his CoPR in the mail.

We’re engaged (as we noted in our application) and we’re planning to marry just before we move to Canada (so we can have a kind of wedding/leaving party all in one go).

Does anyone know: Is it straightforward enough to land after getting married i.e. does it just take a quick notification to CIC that our marital status will change a week or so before landing? Or will it mean we need to get the CoPR changed which could take time, in which case is it worth flying over just to land before returning to the UK and getting married before making the big move.

Any input much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Classic Chucks]

Or will it mean we need to get the CoPR changed which could take time, in which case is it worth flying over just to land before returning to the UK and getting married before making the big move.

Yes. Best option for me would be to land before you get married.

 

[Hurlabrick]

Yes. Best option for me would be to land before you get married.

I 'vote' for this option too!

Do a 'soft landing' to activate your CoPR, maybe throw in a few days or a week or two to have a look around, then head back and prepare for the wedding and the big move!

You have your CoPR in hand, do you really want to go another round with CIC and give them the chance screw things up / complicate things again?

Have a read about landing and soft landing here:

http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Landing_as_PR-Canada

 

[ingainga]

I 'vote' for this option too!

Do a 'soft landing' to activate your CoPR, maybe throw in a few days or a week or two to have a look around, then head back and prepare for the wedding and the big move!

You have your CoPR in hand, do you really want to go another round with CIC and give them the chance screw things up / complicate things again?

Have a read about landing and soft landing here:

http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Landing_as_PR-Canada

Thanks for the responses! Yes I was thinking we might need to do it that way. I wanted to avoid paying for extra flights, but on the plus side we can take as much luggage as we can carry on the first trip so it's less to send over eventually!

 

[Hurlabrick]

Thanks for the responses! Yes I was thinking we might need to do it that way. I wanted to avoid paying for extra flights, but on the plus side we can take as much luggage as we can carry on the first trip so it's less to send over eventually!

Yes, but be careful here. There are two types of landing. A 'landing to activate PR' and a 'landing as a settler'. You can do them at the same time, OR you can land as PR first, then at a later date, land as settler.

The soft landing I was referring to is the landing to activate PR only, the idea being that on your second landing, you would declare a landing as settler and on the second landing, do the CBSA customs 'goods accompanying' and 'goods to follow' lists and get those stamped then. You can only land as a settler once, so bringing some stuff in now and more later would only be possible if you did both landings on your first trip and got both your lists stamped at that point - problem being you have to be sure what you will be bringing with you on your second trip (refer to the section and links on this in the article I referred to above)

The other thing to consider is if you already have a Canadian address, or at least someone who you know well with an address in Canada that CIC can send your PR Card to. We did this, it took 2.5 months to arrive at my friends house and he then couriered it on to us. But in the meantime, your PA will not have a PR Card and yet will be classed as a Permanent Resident - so the only way you could fly back to Canada the second time is either once you have received your PR Card (allow 2 / 3 months) OR if you apply for a 'one-use' Permanent Residents Travel Document (sort of a temporary, single use PR card) - coz of course permanent residents cannot apply for an ETA. The only other alternative would be to fly to somewhere in the USA and get someone to pick you up and drive across a land border to Canada.

Just stuff to think about.