Hello All,
First of all,Happy New Year 2020 to everyone. Hope everyone realizes their full potential & acheive their good genuine goals in 2020..
As promised, below is my return landing experience on 30th Dec at MTL after being out of Canada since Feb-2017.
Would read like a story -apologies for that with a further cry for help towards the end of the post.
-Note that I was not given a Declaration card by the airline staff unlike in Feb-2017 when I landed in Toronto.Unsure when this started or if this is unique to MTL.
-Walked with the crowd to the arrivals section one level down.
-Multiple self-service machines here for the customs declaration-you would be guided by the staff to queue up to use these, depending on the crowd & the availability (keep your PR card ready).Front portion of card should face you when you place it on the top LHS corner of the scanner
-Questions around whether food is brought in,goods to follow,cash more than 10K CAD etc.
-Machine would take photo (remove spectacles)-my most horrible photo after 21 hours of traveling
-CBSA Officers at the end of each row of machines to talk to next. Most likely,PRs would be asked to follow the line with the Yellow direction indicator.Was asked preferred language to converse in.
-No questions on why I am landing close to 3 years mark,but I invariably led him to ask that when I said I have goods to follow-was planning to send 1 suitcase with personal effects through mover or bring along with me the next time.
Note that when I did initial landing,just carried 1 suitcase and said no goods to follow.Officer at that time did not collect BS-186 (accompanying goods list).
-The officer now started asking me abt the value,content of goods following.I offered to show hm the detailed list. He then looked at the PR card and said I am returning close to 3 years since becoming PR.He then typed something and made 2 lines on the card and asked me to collect my baggage.He said another colleague will decide after reviewing further.
-Collected 2 suitcases and stood in one of the 3 lines to Customs-office looked at my card and pointed me to 'secondary inspection' area.
-Stood 1st in the line (just another person after me) of a large hall with many officers,mostly idle.I could see some officers going through someone's luggage.Now,I was getting worried -more due to having to repack the luggage again rather than about the contents themselves.
-A lady officer called me over-I handed over the declaration card,PR card and passport.Was asked similar questions as before-content & value of goods to follow.She then asked about when the goods accompanying & goods to follow were acquired-before or after 2017.
90% were genuinely old stuff except for a few shirts and winter clothing and I mentioned that.
She looked at the PR card & mentioned that I have been a PR since 2017 and am returning after close to 3 years.She mentioned about the $800 allowance that Canadians have for new goods and that above that tax is payable. I explained what happened when I landed in Toronto.She said nevetheless it doesn't make sense to hand the lists now.Made a quip about me being a Canadian now & following laws. She said that in a non-aggressive but polite & in a matter of fact way. She said everytime I land I could just come in & explain to the officers like I did to her now and then let me off.
-So, here is my problem-both times I landed I spent a lot of time preparing the goods accompanying/to follow lists & never managed to hand them over or get them sealed.
-I never intended to flout the laws willingly,but am worried if this is going to be a problem going forward-even for entering Canada and potentially when applying for new PR card or citizenship.
