We got our stamped passport and CoPR documents by June 3rd week. My wife and I (primary applicant) crossed Canada border at Windsor, ON by road from Michigan at 2:35 pm on August 02. We had two copies of the goods to be followed list (in Excel) printed out, separated into 12 categories with subtotal at the end of each. We also had two copies of color photos of jewelry grouped into different subgroups. After parking the car outside office, at the end of Windsor tunnel, officer in parking area gave us a yellow slip and told us to go inside the CBSA building. There were no other applicants inside, to our luck ! One officer took our CoPR documents and another officer took our goods to be followed list. Officer marked us as 'Settler' in the bsf186 form (though we were doing a soft landing) and went through our goods to follow list. He was impressed with the detailed and organized list, went through every page of it, stamped on each page and gave it back to us. He kept one copy of the list and also a copy of the color photos of jewelry. He gave the other copy of photos of jewelry back to us without stamping. We asked if we can get it stamped that as well to which he replied that he has put a note in the system about how many sheets I submitted for the photos. He said no need to submit the bsf186a (goods to follow official form) since the excel sheet printouts and photos I submitted were more than enough.
One clue to all future applicants planning to do soft landing. List the replacement value of each item. Not resale value. I put resale value following stupid advice of a few people on this forum. It will help you much in claiming money back if you ship items by some moving company and your shipment gets lost. Also, imagine the items you planning to buy in the future, before permanently moving to Canada and include them in the goods to follow list. Once officer stamps the list, you can't add anything to it.
I gave my cousin's address in Canada for the PR cards to be sent. I was told it will take 2 weeks for processing and up to another 6 weeks for delivery. Gave us the stamped copy of CoPR document and canceled the temporary immigrant visa on passport. We were told that the stamped CoPR document lets us travel by road to Canada from USA. Whole process took about 20 minutes.
After that, we thanked the officers, said goodbye and went out to our parked car. Gave back the yellow slip which the officer at parking area gave us before. Then we went to Service Canada Centre to get our SIN. We drove like 0.5 km and parked near the city building, on a small street. Went inside building at 3:15 pm and a friendly middle aged lady received us and took care of our SIN application. We both got paper printout of SIN at 3:40 pm. She greeted 'Welcome to Canada'. We thanked her and went out. We knew that we were not eligible to get health cards since we were not living in Canada. So, we didn't go to the Service Ontario office. I recommend don't waste time to go there, if you are doing a soft landing since you need to be living in Ontario for 6 months to qualify.
Drove to Alexander park after getting our SIN and stood near the Detroit river. Looked at Detroit from Canada and took a few photos there. Then we went to Devonshire mall. Went to BWW there and had food. Then did some shopping at the mall. Drove back to USA via Ambassador bridge by 7 pm. Told officer at the border that we went to Canada for immigration. He didn't ask many questions. But said he does not have a stamp to issue I-94 and said if we need it, we would have to wait 20 minutes in the building. Since we already waited 40 minutes in the line, I said no need. We just drove back home.
On August 17, I linked my PR card application to the CIC profile. When I checked today, it still says 'Application submitted'. Hopefully, it will be approved this week itself. We are planning to permanently move to Canad only in 2020. So, we have plenty of time for planning.
Hope this helps the future PR candidates. Comment below if you have any questions. Thank you.
One clue to all future applicants planning to do soft landing. List the replacement value of each item. Not resale value. I put resale value following stupid advice of a few people on this forum. It will help you much in claiming money back if you ship items by some moving company and your shipment gets lost. Also, imagine the items you planning to buy in the future, before permanently moving to Canada and include them in the goods to follow list. Once officer stamps the list, you can't add anything to it.
I gave my cousin's address in Canada for the PR cards to be sent. I was told it will take 2 weeks for processing and up to another 6 weeks for delivery. Gave us the stamped copy of CoPR document and canceled the temporary immigrant visa on passport. We were told that the stamped CoPR document lets us travel by road to Canada from USA. Whole process took about 20 minutes.
After that, we thanked the officers, said goodbye and went out to our parked car. Gave back the yellow slip which the officer at parking area gave us before. Then we went to Service Canada Centre to get our SIN. We drove like 0.5 km and parked near the city building, on a small street. Went inside building at 3:15 pm and a friendly middle aged lady received us and took care of our SIN application. We both got paper printout of SIN at 3:40 pm. She greeted 'Welcome to Canada'. We thanked her and went out. We knew that we were not eligible to get health cards since we were not living in Canada. So, we didn't go to the Service Ontario office. I recommend don't waste time to go there, if you are doing a soft landing since you need to be living in Ontario for 6 months to qualify.
Drove to Alexander park after getting our SIN and stood near the Detroit river. Looked at Detroit from Canada and took a few photos there. Then we went to Devonshire mall. Went to BWW there and had food. Then did some shopping at the mall. Drove back to USA via Ambassador bridge by 7 pm. Told officer at the border that we went to Canada for immigration. He didn't ask many questions. But said he does not have a stamp to issue I-94 and said if we need it, we would have to wait 20 minutes in the building. Since we already waited 40 minutes in the line, I said no need. We just drove back home.
On August 17, I linked my PR card application to the CIC profile. When I checked today, it still says 'Application submitted'. Hopefully, it will be approved this week itself. We are planning to permanently move to Canad only in 2020. So, we have plenty of time for planning.
Hope this helps the future PR candidates. Comment below if you have any questions. Thank you.
