Soft Landing/Moving to Canada

[Aravind1235]

Hi There,

I'm planning to do soft landing via flight since I'm living in Arizona. Can I do soft landing and any experiences for people who did soft landing via flight travel ?

 

[nileshmishra_canada]

Hi all,

So here is our story:

Spouse:
My wife moved to US in 2016 on H4 Visa which is stamped on her passport
In 2018 her change of status to F-1 (Visa NOT stamped on her passport) came through.
Her I-797 got approved for H-1B (Visa NOT stamped on her passport) on Oct 1st, 2020.

Myself:
I have an expired H-1B Visa (Stamped on my passport) with a valid I-797 approved extension.

The Plan:
Our COPR expires in November and we were thinking about soft landing in Canada (through Seattle/Vancouver border) and using AVR while coming back from Canada on the same day. Based on what I have read on this forum so far, we do not believe that my visa situation would cause any issue however we are not too sure about my wife's case (since she has had 2 change of status while she was in the US)

Suggestions Needed:

Has anyone here has been in a same or slightly similar situation?
Given the situation , would you advise (in a non legal form of course) us traveling to Canada?
We really don't want to lose the COPR, but also don't want to risk our jobs in case we are denied entry in the US.

Thanks for reading and looking forward to any comments. Thanks all!

 

[_canada_1]

Hi everyone, is there any issue with soft landing via flight ? I see almost everyone here has done soft landing by driving to the border. Please let me know. Thanks in advance.

 

[Aravind1235]

Hi everyone, is there any issue with soft landing via flight ? I see almost everyone here has done soft landing by driving to the border. Please let me know. Thanks in advance.

I’m in the same boat. . Looking for answers

 

[swan0206]

Hi all,

So here is our story:

Spouse:
My wife moved to US in 2016 on H4 Visa which is stamped on her passport
In 2018 her change of status to F-1 (Visa NOT stamped on her passport) came through.
Her I-797 got approved for H-1B (Visa NOT stamped on her passport) on Oct 1st, 2020.

Myself:
I have an expired H-1B Visa (Stamped on my passport) with a valid I-797 approved extension.

The Plan:
Our COPR expires in November and we were thinking about soft landing in Canada (through Seattle/Vancouver border) and using AVR while coming back from Canada on the same day. Based on what I have read on this forum so far, we do not believe that my visa situation would cause any issue however we are not too sure about my wife's case (since she has had 2 change of status while she was in the US)

Suggestions Needed:

Has anyone here has been in a same or slightly similar situation?
Given the situation , would you advise (in a non legal form of course) us traveling to Canada?
We really don't want to lose the COPR, but also don't want to risk our jobs in case we are denied entry in the US.

Thanks for reading and looking forward to any comments. Thanks all!

You can definitely do soft landing. On the US side, as you both are having all the documents required, its not an issue. In your wife's case, make sure to carry all the documents from the beginning, like all i-20s, Opt cards if any, recent paystubs, LCA , offer letter/employer letter if possible, approved i797 document and you should be good. It depends on the Cbp officer however, they wouldn't ask any of these documents sometimes but we need to be on safer side. Good luck.

 

[Kkdpns]

Hello Everyone,

I am a PNP nominee (Ontario) and I have a COPR visa valid till Feb, 2022.

Can we do a soft landing in a different city (say Vancouver) other than the province which nominated us ?

My future intention to reside will still be Ontario. Only reason why I want to do a soft landing in Vancouver is - I live in California which is close from here.

Can someone please share your experience if you have been successful in below situation.

Thanks!

 

[HiteshMiglani]

Hi All,

Wanted to check if we can do a soft landing now in Canada.. My CoPR is expiring on 12/17/2021 and planning to do a soft landing from India and come back after 1 month.
Really appreciate any help/guidance

Regards
Hitesh

 

[coolusa]

We did our landing today through Detroit- Windsor tunnel. We were able to do soft landing and take a U-turn back to USA. We had good experiences on both sides.

the only question the officer asked from the Canadian side was why were we doing a soft landing and why were we not moving permanently at this time. We told him that we wanted to land before COPR expiry and we will move in a couple of months
He applied our PR after that without any questions. He did say that there is a huge backlog for processing of PR applications

USA side, we went to secondary inspection. Officer asked why we went to Canada. He updated our I94 and sent us on our way.

Whole process took an hour each way. Total 2 hours

Hi, we are planning to do softlanding through Detroit-Windsor Tunnel next week
. Could you please give some info please.
1. me and wife are 2 dose vaccinated , but 6 year son is not. Do we need to book/show any quarantine plan location?
2. Do we need to upload our vaccine cards in Arrive CAN app?
3. Do we need to upload RTPCR test results in ARRIVE CAN app?
4. Our plan is cross the border, travel inside Canada for 1 hr and return back. This plan will work if son is un-vaccinated?
5. Below are the docs we are planning to take. Please suggest anything missing
a) Approved I797A copies of H1 and H4
b) passports with CoPR
c) proof of fund
d) employment Letter and 3 pay slips
e) PCCs (in case needed)
f) GTF letter and list
g) Goods to Carry form and letter (going to take GPS,Car Seat,Laptop, mobile phone and a small suitcase)
h) AVR rule printout (in case)
i) Old i797s
j) RT PCR test Results

6) planning to take a rented car. Do we inform the rental agency that we are crossing the border? Do we need to purchase any additional insurance Or the our comprehensive insurance is good?
7) Planning to give friends address in Canada. Will the agent ask like who is staying there and will reject PR mailing to that address? How to answer that question
Please help

 

[DixvilleNotch]

Hi @_canada_1 and @Aravind1235, any updates on your plan to soft land by air? Have you guys landed already? How did it go? I'm thinking of doing the same and could really use some insight!

 

[Kkdpns]

Hello Everyone,

I am a PNP nominee (Ontario) and I have a COPR visa valid till Feb, 2022.

Can we do a soft landing in a different city (say Vancouver) other than the province which nominated us ?

My future intention to reside will still be Ontario. Only reason why I want to do a soft landing in Vancouver is - I live in California which is close from here.

Can someone please share your experience if you have been successful in below situation.

Thanks!

Just wanted to update the group:

- I was able to complete the Soft Landing in 1st week of October by road at the US-Vancouver border without any issues.

Canada side :

- The Officer asked my purpose of visit and then asked me to hand over my Passport and COPR letter.
- He then took my documents, asked me to take a seat and came back after 15-20 mins.
- He then asked me sign my COPR , asked for a Canadain address where PR card will be mailed and congratulated me for officially becoming a Canadain PR.
- No other document like Proof of funds were asked. Just the Passport(with the stamped Visa of course) and COPR letter.
- Officer was generous enough to escort me back to the US border entry point and showed me the way back.

US side:
- CBP officer asked my purpose of visit to Canda.
- Agent at the Border then asked me to go next the CBP office building and asked me to park my car.
- Another CBP officer came out who took me inside the building.
- He asked me for my passport and original I-797. My stamped H1B visa is expired and he was well aware of the 30 days Auto revalidation policy.
- I was issued a new I-94.
- All this took around 30-45 mins as I was the only person there in line.
- I just returned back to US after that.






I

 

[Aravind1235]

Hi @_canada_1 and @Aravind1235, any updates on your plan to soft land by air? Have you guys landed already? How did it go? I'm thinking of doing the same and could really use some insight!

Yes. I did land by air on October 23rd. The immigration officer just asked if I'm moving permanently. I said no and mentioned that I'll be moving in th coming months. Gave a Canadian address for the PR card. And I spent a week in greater Toronto and again returned back to US via air. The US immigration officers didn't ask any questions.

 

[DixvilleNotch]

Yes. I did land by air on October 23rd. The immigration officer just asked if I'm moving permanently. I said no and mentioned that I'll be moving in th coming months. Gave a Canadian address for the PR card. And I spent a week in greater Toronto and again returned back to US via air. The US immigration officers didn't ask any questions.

hey, thanks for responding. appreciate it!

that's good that they allowed you to give an address for the PR card even though you mentioned it's not a permanent move. was reading some posts on the forum where officers at the land border were not issuing PR cards for soft landing.

was there any questioning around why/when you are planning to move permanently? any additional documents asked? did you have to take a covid test to board a flight to canada? and did the officer ask for a quarantine plan or where you'd be staying?

 

[Aravind1235]

hey, thanks for responding. appreciate it!

that's good that they allowed you to give an address for the PR card even though you mentioned it's not a permanent move. was reading some posts on the forum where officers at the land border were not issuing PR cards for soft landing.

was there any questioning around why/when you are planning to move permanently? any additional documents asked? did you have to take a covid test to board a flight to canada? and did the officer ask for a quarantine plan or where you'd be staying?

Yes. I did not want to say that I'm moving permanently and then later get struck with further questions. To be specific, I told that my COPR is expiring in February and I didn't want to move during peak winter So I'm coming now to prepare for my move like looking places and jobs etc. Then the officer asked for the address where we will be staying and I gave my friend's home address and I said that's th address to use to get the PR card. He got some signatures and that's it. No other documents asked apart from COPR document and passports.

I did take COVID 19 molecular test from my primary clinic a day before travel. Only the airline checked that proof while departing. No one in Canada asked for that. it's better to have your vaccination record in a digital format like QR code to show it whenever needed If you are planning to travel and stay inside Canada, it will be helpful. You need to upload the vaccination status in arriveCAN app befor travel. If you are not vaccinated then I don't know what's the process for that.

While coming back to US, I had to take a rapid test but no one including the airlines asked anything about it. But I believe right now you don't need it at all if you are fully vaccinated.

I hope I get my PR card soon. But will see. Things are too slow atm.

 

[DixvilleNotch]

Yes. I did not want to say that I'm moving permanently and then later get struck with further questions. To be specific, I told that my COPR is expiring in February and I didn't want to move during peak winter So I'm coming now to prepare for my move like looking places and jobs etc. Then the officer asked for the address where we will be staying and I gave my friend's home address and I said that's th address to use to get the PR card. He got some signatures and that's it. No other documents asked apart from COPR document and passports.

I did take COVID 19 molecular test from my primary clinic a day before travel. Only the airline checked that proof while departing. No one in Canada asked for that. it's better to have your vaccination record in a digital format like QR code to show it whenever needed If you are planning to travel and stay inside Canada, it will be helpful. You need to upload the vaccination status in arriveCAN app befor travel. If you are not vaccinated then I don't know what's the process for that.

While coming back to US, I had to take a rapid test but no one including the airlines asked anything about it. But I believe right now you don't need it at all if you are fully vaccinated.

I hope I get my PR card soon. But will see. Things are too slow atm.

thank you for clarifying! one last question: was the immigration to the US at the canadian airport? I'm hearing toronto has us cbp immigration check? Is that so? or was it after landing in the US?

 

[Aravind1235]

thank you for clarifying! one last question: was the immigration to the US at the canadian airport? I'm hearing toronto has us cbp immigration check? Is that so? or was it after landing in the US?

Yes its at the Canadian airport. Depending on which airport you are flying from but if you are flying from Toronto, the port of entry happens right there.