Hello All,
I would like to thank this forum and everyone who shared their soft landing experiences recently under COVID restrictions. Encouraged by reading these experiences, we successfully completed our soft-landing at Peace Arch by land on March 12, 2021.
Application timeline history:
We received our COPRs and PRVs before March 18, 2020 with an expiry of August 2020. We decided not to travel then due to the risks involved because of COVID. We informed IRCC about the same in June 2020 with a webform and they got back to us saying we should contact them when we are ready to travel. We did not raise any ready-to-travel webforms or contact IRCC in any way since then. In Feb 2021, IRCC reached out to us with a 7 pointer email asking us if we were still interested in immigrating to Canada and willing to travel soon. We replied yes to that email and received an AL within a few days with a validity of 60 days. IRCC also extended our medical exam validity.
We traveled from Bay Area via I-5 in our own car. I did not export the car from US since we were planning to make a U-turn immediately, I did carry the car title and registration with me (although they did not ask for both). We reached the Peace Arch border at 10pm on Friday night (Mar 12).
Landing experience:
Documents carried : Passports with expired PRVs, expired COPRs, ALs, 2 copies of BSF 186a (GTF), last 3 months bank statements for proof of funds, negative test reports for covid test taken within 72 hours of reaching the border, recent photographs for PR card, car title and registration.
The first officer at the booth asked us why we were there. When we told him we were there for landing, he asked us if we were moving permanently that day, we said we wanted to make a U-turn and return immediately after completing the formalities. He took our passports, expired COPRs and ALs. He also asked us for negative covid test reports and particularly checked the reports for our name, type of test, date of test and result. He then asked us some general questions like where we were travelling from, where would we be going after taking the U-turn, when we planned to move permanently, why we couldn't move permanently that day, if we had any accompanying goods etc. He was very polite, he seemed convinced with our answers and did not press for more details. He asked us to drive ahead, pull over by the stop sign and wait in the car for another officer to guide us.
A second officer came to our car and directed us into the building for further formalities. She asked us why we weren't moving permanently that day, we explained we had to make an unexpected trip to India in 3 weeks (which is true) and that we wanted to complete the formalities now. She then asked us why we couldn't wait to come back from India and then permanently move, we explained we got an AL which expires before we can make it back from India. She was convinced with our answers and asked us for our documents (passports, expired COPRs, ALs, GTF and bank statements). She mentioned that since our COPRs were expired, she needed to print out the new COPRs (which were already updated on our CIC account when the AL was issued). She made us sign and initial the newly printed COPR. She then asked us for a Canadian address where the PR cards could be sent. We gave her our friend's address (she had no issues with this, in fact she wanted to make sure that we were comfortable with our friends signing for and receiving our PR cards). She said our PR cards would arrive in 4-6 weeks at the said address. We mentioned to her that we also had more recent photographs if she needed them, she said that that is not needed since she can use the photo from the original COPR but if we liked our more recent photographs better, she would be happy to use them instead
She then proceeded to stamp all pages of our BSF 186a form, she also filled out the BSF 186 form for us (she used our friends Canadian address on it, crossed out the section for listing goods and wrote see attached documents, listed our car in the conveyances column and checked the Settler box). She attached the BSF 186 and BSF 186a together and had me sign the BSF 186 form. She also handed us a vehicle import form for our perusal. She mentioned that nothing needs to be done about it for now, but when we move permanently, we will need to fill it out and so we should be familiar with it. She did mention that on taking a U-turn back to the US, if for any reason we were denied entry into US and were made to come back into Canada, she couldn't deny us entry at that point because now we are landed permanent residents, but we should be aware that we will have to quarantine for 14 days after entering Canada in that case. After all this, she guided us out and showed us the way to make a U-turn back to US.
Additional Information:
1. We had listed our car in the GTF list, she took this information to fill up the BSF 186 form for conveyances.
2. We had looked up a few hotels in Langley beforehand and were prepared to make impromptu bookings at the border had they not allowed us to make a U-turn. I had downloaded the ArriveCAN app but did not fill it out in advance. But they did not ask us anything about our quarantine plans since they were fine with us making the U-turn.
3. Surprisingly she said we can use our copy of the COPR to re-enter Canada by land or air until our PR cards arrive. I was under the impression that we need a PRTD for travelling by air in the absence of PR cards.
Experience at the US border after U-turn:
The officer at the booth asked for our passports. My husband had a valid H1B stamp while my H1B stamp was expired. He took a look at my I-797 approval notice and asked us to park by the secondary inspection. A second officer came to our car, took our passports and my I-797 approval notice (with attached unexpired I-94). He came back in 20 min with our documents and said we were good to go. My passport had a new paper I-94 with admission stamp, nothing on my husband's passport.
Overall, a very smooth process at both sides of the border. Hope this post helps others who are in a similar situation like ours.
I would like to thank this forum and everyone who shared their soft landing experiences recently under COVID restrictions. Encouraged by reading these experiences, we successfully completed our soft-landing at Peace Arch by land on March 12, 2021.
Application timeline history:
We received our COPRs and PRVs before March 18, 2020 with an expiry of August 2020. We decided not to travel then due to the risks involved because of COVID. We informed IRCC about the same in June 2020 with a webform and they got back to us saying we should contact them when we are ready to travel. We did not raise any ready-to-travel webforms or contact IRCC in any way since then. In Feb 2021, IRCC reached out to us with a 7 pointer email asking us if we were still interested in immigrating to Canada and willing to travel soon. We replied yes to that email and received an AL within a few days with a validity of 60 days. IRCC also extended our medical exam validity.
We traveled from Bay Area via I-5 in our own car. I did not export the car from US since we were planning to make a U-turn immediately, I did carry the car title and registration with me (although they did not ask for both). We reached the Peace Arch border at 10pm on Friday night (Mar 12).
Landing experience:
Documents carried : Passports with expired PRVs, expired COPRs, ALs, 2 copies of BSF 186a (GTF), last 3 months bank statements for proof of funds, negative test reports for covid test taken within 72 hours of reaching the border, recent photographs for PR card, car title and registration.
The first officer at the booth asked us why we were there. When we told him we were there for landing, he asked us if we were moving permanently that day, we said we wanted to make a U-turn and return immediately after completing the formalities. He took our passports, expired COPRs and ALs. He also asked us for negative covid test reports and particularly checked the reports for our name, type of test, date of test and result. He then asked us some general questions like where we were travelling from, where would we be going after taking the U-turn, when we planned to move permanently, why we couldn't move permanently that day, if we had any accompanying goods etc. He was very polite, he seemed convinced with our answers and did not press for more details. He asked us to drive ahead, pull over by the stop sign and wait in the car for another officer to guide us.
A second officer came to our car and directed us into the building for further formalities. She asked us why we weren't moving permanently that day, we explained we had to make an unexpected trip to India in 3 weeks (which is true) and that we wanted to complete the formalities now. She then asked us why we couldn't wait to come back from India and then permanently move, we explained we got an AL which expires before we can make it back from India. She was convinced with our answers and asked us for our documents (passports, expired COPRs, ALs, GTF and bank statements). She mentioned that since our COPRs were expired, she needed to print out the new COPRs (which were already updated on our CIC account when the AL was issued). She made us sign and initial the newly printed COPR. She then asked us for a Canadian address where the PR cards could be sent. We gave her our friend's address (she had no issues with this, in fact she wanted to make sure that we were comfortable with our friends signing for and receiving our PR cards). She said our PR cards would arrive in 4-6 weeks at the said address. We mentioned to her that we also had more recent photographs if she needed them, she said that that is not needed since she can use the photo from the original COPR but if we liked our more recent photographs better, she would be happy to use them instead
She then proceeded to stamp all pages of our BSF 186a form, she also filled out the BSF 186 form for us (she used our friends Canadian address on it, crossed out the section for listing goods and wrote see attached documents, listed our car in the conveyances column and checked the Settler box). She attached the BSF 186 and BSF 186a together and had me sign the BSF 186 form. She also handed us a vehicle import form for our perusal. She mentioned that nothing needs to be done about it for now, but when we move permanently, we will need to fill it out and so we should be familiar with it. She did mention that on taking a U-turn back to the US, if for any reason we were denied entry into US and were made to come back into Canada, she couldn't deny us entry at that point because now we are landed permanent residents, but we should be aware that we will have to quarantine for 14 days after entering Canada in that case. After all this, she guided us out and showed us the way to make a U-turn back to US. Additional Information:
1. We had listed our car in the GTF list, she took this information to fill up the BSF 186 form for conveyances.
2. We had looked up a few hotels in Langley beforehand and were prepared to make impromptu bookings at the border had they not allowed us to make a U-turn. I had downloaded the ArriveCAN app but did not fill it out in advance. But they did not ask us anything about our quarantine plans since they were fine with us making the U-turn.
3. Surprisingly she said we can use our copy of the COPR to re-enter Canada by land or air until our PR cards arrive. I was under the impression that we need a PRTD for travelling by air in the absence of PR cards.
Experience at the US border after U-turn:
The officer at the booth asked for our passports. My husband had a valid H1B stamp while my H1B stamp was expired. He took a look at my I-797 approval notice and asked us to park by the secondary inspection. A second officer came to our car, took our passports and my I-797 approval notice (with attached unexpired I-94). He came back in 20 min with our documents and said we were good to go. My passport had a new paper I-94 with admission stamp, nothing on my husband's passport.
Overall, a very smooth process at both sides of the border. Hope this post helps others who are in a similar situation like ours.
