Suggestions Required for Newcomer

[ssnedian]

Hi everyone,

I have recently got Canadian PR and I need to do first entry by August. My wife is pregnant and her due date is also mid of August. The problem is I cannot leave my current job due to Bond for one more year. I dont have family and friends in Canada as well. However, I can take two months leave from office. What should I do?

1. Go to Calgary with family in April, register my wife in hospital. I myself come back in two weeks and family keeps staying there. In this situation, I need to wait for the PR card to enter Canada again. Is it enough time for PR card processing, to enter Canada back in July? Is it safe for family to stay there alone?

2. Go to Calgary with family in July and stay there with family until delivery. Wife will be 8 months pregnant at that time. Risk is airlines may deny travel.

Your valuable comments are very important for me.

Thanks alot,

 

[Lammawitch]

I would choose your option 1.

Moving to a new country is very stressful at the best of times, moving in April gives your wife time to settle in a bit. In addition to the risk of not being able to fly late in pregnancy, I can't imagine how stressful it would be to arrive in a strange place & immediately give birth in a strange system!

Yes it is safe. Do you have other children (you mention "family")? What country are you coming from? Do you/your wife have friends or relatives already in Calgary who will be able to help her and keep her company? If not there are various services & community organisations for newcomers.

Highly unlikely that you will receive your PR card within 2 weeks, but your wife would be able to mail it to you once it arrives.

Good luck!!

 

[steaky]

Either options, you don't need to wait for PR card delivery. You can just fly and return to your place of origin to continue work. Airlines only requires the PR card for returning to Canada (not the other way around). You can tell your wife to courier the PR card to your overseas address for you to return to Canada.

Bottom line, choose a safe area in Calgary for family to stay there alone. I heard NE is not safe. If you have not yet secure a place to live in Calgary prior to landing, you might want to check the following:

1) rentfaster.ca
2) other posters such as canadaforall which currently has some rooms available in SW for rent (for details look at his post in the housing forum).

 

[ssnedian]

Thanks alot for your valuable comments.

Yes I do have one son 3.5 years old. I am coming from Pakistan. I dont have friends and family in Calgary. What services and Community organizations can help me?

Also, the only issue I suspect is if I don't get PR card in time (in max two months), how would I enter Canada again? I originally planned to land in mid of May. But now I am planning to land earlier in April to be at safer side.

Can you also suggest some website/procedure to get registered at hospital.

Regards,

Badar

 

[Lammawitch]

Register for health care:
http://www.health.alberta.ca/AHCIP/moving-to-Alberta.html

Register with a family doctor:
http://www.albertahealthservices.ca/services.asp?pid=saf&rid=1090471

A very small selection of resources for newcomers:
http://www.centrefornewcomers.ca/index.shtml

http://www.ciwa-online.com

http://immigrantservicescalgary.ca/how-can-we-help/newcomer-support

(For more, Google is your friend... ).

As Steaky said, see housing forum here too.

 

[steaky]

Also, the only issue I suspect is if I don't get PR card in time (in max two months), how would I enter Canada again?

I don't know whether you can receive your PR card in two months, based on experience of posters in this forum On the safe side, you should count on your wife to courier the PR card to you once she had received in the mail. If you had returned to work and need to travel to Canada without a valid PR card, you can always apply a PRTD at the nearest Canadian embassy.