+1(514) 937-9445 or Toll-free (Canada & US) +1 (888) 947-9445

soft landing by air?

LotusLeodis

Hero Member
Jul 23, 2020
360
110
Hi all,

I was wondering if soft landing by air is not possible at the moment.

Mr LL has CoPR, set to expire April 2022. We are in the middle of getting ready to sell our house and with the unpredictability of COVID and travel rules, we were thinking of landing (by air from the UK, obviously) in October for 16 - 18 days to accommodate possible quarantine and come back to give ourselves more time to tie things off.

Is this now not possible to do?

This is based on If we already approved your permanent residence application which says [italics mine]:

'If you’re outside Canada and your COPR and permanent resident visa are still valid
We’re changing Canada’s travel restrictions. If you hold a valid (not expired) Confirmation of Permanent Residence (COPR) and visa, you can travel to Canada as of June 21, 2021.
You must also

  • be coming to Canada to settle permanently (you cannot come to Canada and leave to go live in another country, even if it’s temporary) and
  • show you’re able to quarantine for 14 days
If you’re travelling by air, you need to pass a health check conducted by the airline before boarding a flight. If you show symptoms of COVID-19, you won’t be allowed to board.'

I'm worried if we leave it until March to travel, something COVID-y + CBSA striking with work to rule an imminent possibility, it could scupper plans to enter and activate PR that late, therefore cancelling the whole thing. We are both double vaccinated.

Does anyone have any information about this?

Thanks in advance,

LL
 

armoured

VIP Member
Feb 1, 2015
17,286
8,890
Hi all,

I was wondering if soft landing by air is not possible at the moment.

Mr LL has CoPR, set to expire April 2022. We are in the middle of getting ready to sell our house and with the unpredictability of COVID and travel rules, we were thinking of landing (by air from the UK, obviously) in October for 16 - 18 days to accommodate possible quarantine and come back to give ourselves more time to tie things off.

Is this now not possible to do?

This is based on If we already approved your permanent residence application which says [italics mine]:

'If you’re outside Canada and your COPR and permanent resident visa are still valid
We’re changing Canada’s travel restrictions. If you hold a valid (not expired) Confirmation of Permanent Residence (COPR) and visa, you can travel to Canada as of June 21, 2021.
You must also

  • be coming to Canada to settle permanently (you cannot come to Canada and leave to go live in another country, even if it’s temporary) and
  • show you’re able to quarantine for 14 days
If you’re travelling by air, you need to pass a health check conducted by the airline before boarding a flight. If you show symptoms of COVID-19, you won’t be allowed to board.'

I'm worried if we leave it until March to travel, something COVID-y + CBSA striking with work to rule an imminent possibility, it could scupper plans to enter and activate PR that late, therefore cancelling the whole thing. We are both double vaccinated.

Does anyone have any information about this?

Thanks in advance,

LL
Yes they don't technically allow it. Not that they have any way of enforcing it that I'm aware of.
 
  • Like
Reactions: LotusLeodis

frange

Hero Member
May 25, 2018
900
247
Hi all,

I was wondering if soft landing by air is not possible at the moment.

Mr LL has CoPR, set to expire April 2022. We are in the middle of getting ready to sell our house and with the unpredictability of COVID and travel rules, we were thinking of landing (by air from the UK, obviously) in October for 16 - 18 days to accommodate possible quarantine and come back to give ourselves more time to tie things off.

Is this now not possible to do?

This is based on If we already approved your permanent residence application which says [italics mine]:

'If you’re outside Canada and your COPR and permanent resident visa are still valid
We’re changing Canada’s travel restrictions. If you hold a valid (not expired) Confirmation of Permanent Residence (COPR) and visa, you can travel to Canada as of June 21, 2021.
You must also

  • be coming to Canada to settle permanently (you cannot come to Canada and leave to go live in another country, even if it’s temporary) and
  • show you’re able to quarantine for 14 days
If you’re travelling by air, you need to pass a health check conducted by the airline before boarding a flight. If you show symptoms of COVID-19, you won’t be allowed to board.'

I'm worried if we leave it until March to travel, something COVID-y + CBSA striking with work to rule an imminent possibility, it could scupper plans to enter and activate PR that late, therefore cancelling the whole thing. We are both double vaccinated.

Does anyone have any information about this?

Thanks in advance,

LL
Since your CoPR sets to expire in April 2022, I would highly recommend you to be fully vaccinated ( 2 shots) with one recognized vaccines in Canada, takes your time to organize your new life in Canada; but NOT soft landed if you are not in OBLIGATION to do so.
1- Once landed, your 5 years round as PR starts. Those days will be added to your settling days in order to apply for citizenship if you want to.
2- Even you have time, you can easily loose your status if something happen and you can not settle in Canada as planned. Postponed your PR activation is better since you have room to be fully prepared.
3- You have almost 8 months left, I would recommend you to NOT anticipate your PR activation, just prepared and landed when you are ready.
Take your 2 shots with one of those recognized vaccines and you won't be quarantine : Moderna, Pfizer, J&J, AztraZeneca....
 
  • Like
Reactions: armoured

LotusLeodis

Hero Member
Jul 23, 2020
360
110
HI ! What did you do ? . I am in the same situation and will probably do a soft landing via air in December .
We are going to Canada in March 2022 by air and have refundable return tickets at the moment. Deadline for CoPR is late April 2022.
 

Eli51

Hero Member
Jan 28, 2015
303
72
You can leave Canada with your eCOPR if you return by private vehicle by land. It just says you cant live outside Canada even temppray gking out of Canada for a weekend or for a few days is not cons living outside of Canda
 

LotusLeodis

Hero Member
Jul 23, 2020
360
110
It was OK. We were not selected for testing. The airport was busy. Touch screens for landing cards did not feel hygienic in a pandemic.

It's a bit frustrating that only one person can be on the goods to follow list, despite joint ownership of items after 20+ years of marriage.

We had the misfortune of having to apply for Mr LL's SIN at a Service Canada in Toronto, which was an all day wait outside in the cold. Thankfully, we had bought winter clothes immediately on arrival.

I was a bit frustrated with the online system to update address for PR. The fact that fax is still a thing was surprising, to say the least. Took about 2.5 months for PR card to arrive.

Most people masking and socially distancing, even though mandate ended after arrival.

So, a mixed bag.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Lpranitha

Lpranitha

Member
Apr 29, 2022
16
2
It was OK. We were not selected for testing. The airport was busy. Touch screens for landing cards did not feel hygienic in a pandemic.

It's a bit frustrating that only one person can be on the goods to follow list, despite joint ownership of items after 20+ years of marriage.

We had the misfortune of having to apply for Mr LL's SIN at a Service Canada in Toronto, which was an all day wait outside in the cold. Thankfully, we had bought winter clothes immediately on arrival.

I was a bit frustrated with the online system to update address for PR. The fact that fax is still a thing was surprising, to say the least. Took about 2.5 months for PR card to arrive.

Most people masking and socially distancing, even though mandate ended after arrival.

So, a mixed bag.
Thank you for sharing. Sorry you had to go through that but congratulations on recieving your PR card.
 

armoured

VIP Member
Feb 1, 2015
17,286
8,890
It's a bit frustrating that only one person can be on the goods to follow list, despite joint ownership of items after 20+ years of marriage.
Why was that frustrating? Did it matter at all? I mean, you are both exempt from mport taxes on personal goods, so who cares?

But I may have missed something.

We had the misfortune of having to apply for Mr LL's SIN at a Service Canada in Toronto, which was an all day wait outside in the cold. Thankfully, we had bought winter clothes immediately on arrival.
Why did you have to apply in person?

I say this partly as a "hey people!" notice - applying online is quite efficient and I don't know of any real downsides, certainly not for straightforward cases. Got the SIN numbers in 2-3 weeks, roughly when we were getting out of quarantine.

Even if we hadn't: you can apply for work without a SIN number. You just provide it later.
 

LotusLeodis

Hero Member
Jul 23, 2020
360
110
Why was that frustrating? Did it matter at all? I mean, you are both exempt from mport taxes on personal goods, so who cares?

But I may have missed something.
We were hoping for the possibility that one, the other or both of us could collect our stuff.

But we had filled in the forms for Mr LL, so only he can be the one to collect our stuff.

Why did you have to apply in person?

I say this partly as a "hey people!" notice - applying online is quite efficient and I don't know of any real downsides, certainly not for straightforward cases. Got the SIN numbers in 2-3 weeks, roughly when we were getting out of quarantine.

Even if we hadn't: you can apply for work without a SIN number. You just provide it later.
We didn't have the documentation required or the ability to upload the documents online.
 
  • Like
Reactions: armoured

FeelTheBern

Star Member
Nov 15, 2020
76
21
USA
Category........
FSW
Visa Office......
Ottawa
NOC Code......
0125
AOR Received.
21-12-2020
Med's Request
22-03-2022
Med's Done....
01-04-2022
Passport Req..
14-04-2022
VISA ISSUED...
12-05-2022
A few queries regarding soft landing by air:

1. Destination city in my COPR is Toronto. Can I still fly to another city (such as Calgary / Vancouver) for soft landing?
2. Is it compulsory to carry the GTC / GTF list?
3. Do I need to carry CAD if I travel from the US? Or, the US credit / debit cards work fine in Canada?
4. Do we need COVID antigen test results for flying to Canada or only for the return journey to the US?
5. Please share the document checklist for US-Canada and Canada-US flights (if anyone has traveled recently)
 

FeelTheBern

Star Member
Nov 15, 2020
76
21
USA
Category........
FSW
Visa Office......
Ottawa
NOC Code......
0125
AOR Received.
21-12-2020
Med's Request
22-03-2022
Med's Done....
01-04-2022
Passport Req..
14-04-2022
VISA ISSUED...
12-05-2022
I recently completed my soft landing in Calgary. I took a flight to Calgary and returned to the US using AVR as I had an expired visa. The overall landing process was smooth barring a long waiting time in the queue for SIN walk-in (I didn't book any appointments earlier).

Checklist:
1. COPR
2. Passport with single-entry PR visa
3. COVID vaccination certificate
4. ArriveCan receipt
5. GTC and GTF lists

Key points:
  • Neither Canada nor the US requires COVID test results for air travel any longer
  • Keep at least a buffer day in your itinerary for SIN. It took me ~4 hours to get my SIN at the Service Canada center in Calgary Downtown since it was a walk-in. Please note that most Service Canada centers don't allow walk-in for SIN. Call the SIN helpline # beforehand to understand which centers in your city provide walk-in services
  • Upon arrival, your COPR document will be stamped indicating your PR status activation date. They will also put an entry stamp on the passport and mark the single-entry PR visa as cancelled
  • The CBSA officer at Calgary airport asked me an address for sending the PR card and I gave my friend's address which is from a different province. I didn't explicitly mention that it's my friend address though. The officer told me that the PR card will be mailed within 2-3 months. I used the same address for my GTC/GTF lists as well as SIN
  • The CBSA officer advised me that I'm free to return to the US (it seemed he was quite familiar with the soft landing practice :p). He also told me that I can travel to Canada through land borders using the stamped COPR document before I receive the PR card
All the best for your soft landing and PR journey! :)
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: armoured

cybertruck

Hero Member
Jan 6, 2020
528
119
I recently completed my soft landing in Calgary. I took a flight to Calgary and returned to the US using AVR as I had an expired visa. The overall landing process was smooth barring a long waiting time in the queue for SIN walk-in (I didn't book any appointments earlier).

Checklist:
1. COPR
2. Passport with single-entry PR visa
3. COVID vaccination certificate
4. ArriveCan receipt
5. GTC and GTF lists

Key points:
  • Neither Canada nor the US requires COVID test results for air travel any longer
  • Keep at least a buffer day in your itinerary for SIN. It took me ~4 hours to get my SIN at the Service Canada center in Calgary Downtown since it was a walk-in. Please note that most Service Canada centers don't allow walk-in for SIN. Call the SIN helpline # beforehand to understand which centers in your city provide walk-in services
  • Upon arrival, your COPR document will be stamped indicating your PR status activation date. They will also put an entry stamp on the passport and mark the single-entry PR visa as cancelled
  • The CBSA officer at Calgary airport asked me an address for sending the PR card and I gave my friend's address which is from a different province. I didn't explicitly mention that it's my friend address though. The officer told me that the PR card will be mailed within 2-3 months. I used the same address for my GTC/GTF lists as well as SIN
  • The CBSA officer advised me that I'm free to return to the US (it seemed he was quite familiar with the soft landing practice :p). He also told me that I can travel to Canada through land borders using the stamped COPR document before I receive the PR card
All the best for your soft landing and PR journey! :)

Hello there,

Forgive me asking but what is a GTC / GTF list ?