Spouse coming to Canada as visitor, questions about what she is bringing!

[OrangeMapleIsHome]

Hi everyone,

My wife(US citizen) is coming to Canada as a visitor and I have some questions about what she would like to bring into Canada at this time. We are driving her car up from Texas in July, and she needs to bring her two dogs and a bird so that they can stay at our house here in Canada. Her car she also wants to leave here, and when she does need to leave Canada she will fly back to the US. Other than that, she is only bringing what she needs to stay as a visitor in Canada.

We were both wondering if bringing the pets and the vehicle would pose any issues at the border ie. "Why are you bringing all of these animals and your car all the way from Texas if you're only staying as a visitor?". If the vehicle is staying because she has two cars and wants to leave me one of them in Canada for me to get to work, and the pets have to stay with me because her new apartment in the US doesn't allow pets, should be fine right? We're scared of getting stuck at the border for some reason we didn't predict, after a 32 hour drive..we know about the requirements for bringing each of our pets into the country, the vaccines required etc. and I somewhat understand what is required to bring the vehicle into Canada if the intent of the owner is to keep it in Canada.

I also forgot to mention we are going on 10 months waiting for a decision to be made on her application for permanent residency, we applied outland 10 months ago, got bio/fingerprint/medical about 3 months ago, got pre-arrival services around a month ago..we saw the wait time go up to 23 months. We want to be together for some of that time at least, that is why we are doing this, and we did not like the idea of putting our cockatiel and two pugs in the cargo if we flew instead of driving :/

Thanks for any advice you have, it is so appreciated!

 

[scylla]

Hi everyone,

My wife(US citizen) is coming to Canada as a visitor and I have some questions about what she would like to bring into Canada at this time. We are driving her car up from Texas in July, and she needs to bring her two dogs and a bird so that they can stay at our house here in Canada. Her car she also wants to leave here, and when she does need to leave Canada she will fly back to the US. Other than that, she is only bringing what she needs to stay as a visitor in Canada.

We were both wondering if bringing the pets and the vehicle would pose any issues at the border ie. "Why are you bringing all of these animals and your car all the way from Texas if you're only staying as a visitor?". If the vehicle is staying because she has two cars and wants to leave me one of them in Canada for me to get to work, and the pets have to stay with me because her new apartment in the US doesn't allow pets, should be fine right? We're scared of getting stuck at the border for some reason we didn't predict, after a 32 hour drive..we know about the requirements for bringing each of our pets into the country, the vaccines required etc. and I somewhat understand what is required to bring the vehicle into Canada if the intent of the owner is to keep it in Canada.

I also forgot to mention we are going on 10 months waiting for a decision to be made on her application for permanent residency, we applied outland 10 months ago, got bio/fingerprint/medical about 3 months ago, got pre-arrival services around a month ago..we saw the wait time go up to 23 months. We want to be together for some of that time at least, that is why we are doing this, and we did not like the idea of putting our cockatiel and two pugs in the cargo if we flew instead of driving :/

Thanks for any advice you have, it is so appreciated!

If the car is being left in Canada, it needs to be imported. Have you looked into how that will work, especially given she is not a PR yet? You need to understand these details fully (not just somewhat). This is really important and you need to research and understand this thoroughly before starting the drive.

Otherwise, what happens at the border is really up to the CBSA officer you encounter. My thinking is that you should be fine provided you've made all of the right arrangements in advance for the car to be imported.

 

[armoured]

My own impression is that if she's coming to visit and has a return ticket, she should not have much problem with the pets and other sundries. (I don't know about the car situation at all)

I'd suggest just telling the truth and making it clear that she's moving later, but that the pets are really 'joint ownership' and you're just moving them now to make it easier for them.

Do check into pet vaccinations and specifics of importing them though.

we applied outland 10 months ago, got bio/fingerprint/medical about 3 months ago, got pre-arrival services around a month ago..we saw the wait time go up to 23 months.

For a spousal app for a US citizen, and the pre-arrival services already received, hopefully will be fairly soon. Ignore the 23 months figure, that's a backward looking one covering the worst of the pandemic. No guarantee of course.

 

[canuck78]

As long as the rest of the belongings she is bringing would make sense for anyone entering as a visitor. If your spouse has not ties to the US like a home or employment that can be an issue but that is up to CBSA agent.

 

[OrangeMapleIsHome]

My own impression is that if she's coming to visit and has a return ticket, she should not have much problem with the pets and other sundries. (I don't know about the car situation at all)

I'd suggest just telling the truth and making it clear that she's moving later, but that the pets are really 'joint ownership' and you're just moving them now to make it easier for them.

Do check into pet vaccinations and specifics of importing them though.



For a spousal app for a US citizen, and the pre-arrival services already received, hopefully will be fairly soon. Ignore the 23 months figure, that's a backward looking one covering the worst of the pandemic. No guarantee of course.

Thank you for this information!!