Still classified as Settler?

[danwin]

Hi Everyone,

I have been in Canada since Oct 2011 and landed as PR in April 2014. I am traveling back to the UK in March, at which time I was planning to send my belongings to to Canada.

As I have waited such a long time since landing am I still considered a settler? The description on the website is "entering Canada with the intention of establishing, for the first time, a residence for a period of not less than one year". The phrase "for the first time" worries me....

Am I able to bring my belongings to Canada? If so, will there be anything in addition to presenting the from B4 when I re-enter the country?

Any help or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

Dan

 

[steaky]

1) Yes, B4 and your shipping documents such as bill of laden.

2) You can contact CBSA whether you are still consider a settler!

 

[danwin]

Thanks, I'll give them a call

 

[david1697]

1) Yes, B4 and your shipping documents such as bill of laden.

2) You can contact CBSA whether you are still consider a settler!

There is no such a thing as bill of laden. Perhaps you meant bill of lading.

To OP:

Here is the link with comprehensive information:

http://cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications/pub/bsf5113-eng.html#s2

 

[ZingyDNA]

1) Yes, B4 and your shipping documents such as bill of laden.

2) You can contact CBSA whether you are still consider a settler!

I thought for a moment you wrote bin laden in there

 

[zardoz]

Hi Everyone,

I have been in Canada since Oct 2011 and landed as PR in April 2014. I am traveling back to the UK in March, at which time I was planning to send my belongings to to Canada.

As I have waited such a long time since landing am I still considered a settler? The description on the website is "entering Canada with the intention of establishing, for the first time, a residence for a period of not less than one year". The phrase "for the first time" worries me....

Am I able to bring my belongings to Canada? If so, will there be anything in addition to presenting the from B4 when I re-enter the country?

Any help or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

Dan

From my personal experience with CBSA, I suspect that it is extremely unlikely that they will permit you to submit a B4 under the settlement exemptions, after such a long delay. Mine was refused after only 10 months from the date of obtaining PR status. Luckily, my spouse was able to invoke the returning resident exemptions instead on the same shipment. The CBSA rebuilt our B4 from the ground up to accommodate this.

 

[david1697]

Below, in Italics, are clarifications from CBSA website (see http://cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications/pub/bsf5113-eng.html#s2).

IMHO (just my individual opinion, please feel free to disagree) newcomers could save a time, trouble and extra costs (even if exempt from customs charges under 'goods to follow' clause) during the most critical period after moving if they moved to Canada without any furniture and excess items ,practically without anything other than their handbags containing their clothes and most necessary items of convenience.

You can buy cheap furniture, dishes and etc. after you lease your first apartment, and you will not need any better/more expensive stuff until you fully settle and purchase your first house. By the time it happens, almost anything you had in past and brought with you to Canada will be outdated, or it will probably not fit the design and size of your new dwelling.
So, why bother?
Of course, OP may disagree with me.

Here is the copy-paste from CBSA, which is informative and gives clear explanation of who is considered to be Settler vs Visitor to Canada :


"It is important to know that the status of a person for customs purposes is not always the same as the person's status for immigration purposes.

For example,

Persons coming to Canada for the purposes of employment for a period exceeding 36 months (other than United States Preclearance personnel) are at first arrival considered to be Settlers to Canada even though they may be considered Temporary Residents for immigration purposes;
Persons entering Canada to become Permanent Residents without the intention of residing immediately in Canada are not considered Settlers to Canada since they do not have any intention of remaining in Canada at that time, and will live outside Canada for an undetermined period of time. Therefore, under customs legislation, these persons are considered visitors to Canada, even if they are Permanent Residents for immigration purposes."

 

[zardoz]

I know what it says. I have had this conversation with a real CBSA officer during the processing of my B4. I also know that it made absolutely NO difference to the stand that said CBSA officer adopted. I was clearly correct according to the written word but the officer did not want to know. Therefore, from personal experience, not hearsay, I offer my warning.

 

[david1697]

I know what it says. I have had this conversation with a real CBSA officer during the processing of my B4. I also know that it made absolutely NO difference to the stand that said CBSA officer adopted. I was clearly correct according to the written word but the officer did not want to know. Therefore, from personal experience, not hearsay, I offer my warning.

I think it's part of the effects of globalization. Some of it is great, but some is not so. As cultures meet and cross, those in backward cultures adopt some of the advanced things from Western cultures, to advance their economies and social interactions.
In the meantime, or so it seems to me, we in the West do the opposite and , oddly enough, a lot of people must be feeling deeply satisfied with it or there would be a scandal and these kind of things would not occur in Democratic society.

The CBSA officer, if he indeed ignored the letter of law and adopted a rigid arbitrary stand, did nothing new if you were coming from a Third World country where some Raja or Chaudhry can adopt capricious, arbitrary and even abusive stance towards 'lowly commoners'.
How does that officer feel about representing Canada? He probably doesn't give it a second thought, just feels so empowered and happy to do some wrong with impunity. Too bad for CSBA, not for immigrants, if it's not a rare occurrence.

 

[zardoz]

I am absolutely convinced that the particular CBSA officer was doing what they believed was correct. When you are in the Customs secondary inspection however, you do not argue. One person further down the hall was trying it on and was very quickly surrounded, discretely, by backup officers. He lost his argument as well. We, on the other hand, kept our cool, negotiated an equitable alternative solution and had our excess alcohol waved through with no duty. There is a time and place to fight righteous battles. The airport is not one of them.

 

[david1697]

I am absolutely convinced that the particular CBSA officer was doing what they believed was correct. When you are in the Customs secondary inspection however, you do not argue. One person further down the hall was trying it on and was very quickly surrounded, discretely, by backup officers. He lost his argument as well. We, on the other hand, kept our cool, negotiated an equitable alternative solution and had our excess alcohol waved through with no duty. There is a time to fight righteous battles. The airport is not one of them.

Who said you should have literally fought CBSA guards at airport? That would only justify any action taken against you, as actions of officer would be overlooked and you would emerge as cause of incident.As a Civilized person you can't cross certain boundaries, no matter what.

But, you surely could have called the supervising officer inside Customs secondary and follow up with keeping very detailed record: names, titles, times, conversation etc. You could even record interaction on your iphone, follow with writing him up to his superiors and all the way up the chain of command, to MP and Prime Minister if necessary.

If you have a letter of law on your side and someone acts clearly without legal grounds against you, you should never let anyone to intimidate you, no matter what their rank or status is ( I also discussed this with US Law Enforcement officer who was my teacher in one of the Legal Classes I took. He taught us about chain of command and how you must prosecute cases of misconduct if you ever find yourself in such a circumstance).

In the end, if you are absolutely correct and CBSA acts totally arbitrary , but it's still ruled against you then it's not your loss, it's loss of Canada.

 

[kumbu.bumbu]

Hi Everyone,

I have been in Canada since Oct 2011 and landed as PR in April 2014. I am traveling back to the UK in March, at which time I was planning to send my belongings to to Canada.

As I have waited such a long time since landing am I still considered a settler? The description on the website is "entering Canada with the intention of establishing, for the first time, a residence for a period of not less than one year". The phrase "for the first time" worries me....

Am I able to bring my belongings to Canada? If so, will there be anything in addition to presenting the from B4 when I re-enter the country?

Any help or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

Dan

That was the time you could have brought things without any taxes.

You could have brought anything and could have declared goods to follow.

I don't think anything can be done afterwards.

 

[david1697]

That was the time you could have brought things without any taxes.

You could have brought anything and could have declared goods to follow.

I don't think anything can be done afterwards.

I don't have vested interest in this subject.

I live in US and I throw in trash everything I have whenever I move out.

15 years ago I bought expensive furniture , large screen TV (before they had plasma TV, and those were very heavy), surround sound system with large speakers that was top of the line at the time. It included cassette player, among other things

6 years later all of it went into trash. TV and surround system were outdated. Cassette players became obsolete And furniture had scratches all over it, thanks to beautiful, cute pets we have.

So, everything went into garbage bin, not because there are taxes charged when you move within US, simply because it would be impractical to load a truck and move around states what over years becomes a junk.

We no longer waste money on costly furniture. We buy only what is practically useful and necessary for living and we dispose of nearly everything before relocating.

When we move to Canada we will carry nothing other than our most necessary goods (clothes, items of convenience and etc.), and it may well fall under $800 per person limit. So, as you see, I have no vested interest in this subject. It doesn't affect me, either way.

But what I do not understand is: why would CBSA post a rule online, stating that you are allowed to use the exemption if you are moving for the first time for more than 1 year , when if fact it has no intention to honor the said statement? How cloud this be?
Either posted statement is untrue and misleading, in which case it should be removed.
Or else CBSA officers at port of entry act against the law and arbitrarily and capriciously force people pay dues when none is due.

So, which one is it?

 

[kumbu.bumbu]

********* **********

But what I do not understand is: why would CBSA post a rule online, stating that you are allowed to use the exemption if you are moving for the first time for more than 1 year , when if fact it has no intention to honor the said statement? How cloud this be?
Either posted statement is untrue and misleading, in which case it should be removed.
Or else CBSA officers at port of entry act against the law and arbitrarily and capriciously force people pay dues when none is due.

So, which one is it?

I may be wrong here.

Exemption is allowed for
moving back to Canada to resume residence after an absence of at least one year, or after being a resident of another country for at least one year.

Who are considered Former Residents?
Former Residents of Canada are persons who are returning to Canada to resume residence in Canada after having been residents of another country for a period of not less than one year.

But if you landed and went back how could you be a former resident?

 

[zardoz]

I may be wrong here.

Exemption is allowed for
moving back to Canada to resume residence after an absence of at least one year, or after being a resident of another country for at least one year.

Who are considered Former Residents?
Former Residents of Canada are persons who are returning to Canada to resume residence in Canada after having been residents of another country for a period of not less than one year.

But if you landed and went back how could you be a former resident?

To whom is this observation addressed?