Thread for outland Buffalo applicants!

[adetia9]

That's what I was wondering as well. I am reading on up CIC's website, but it's so unclear. All their fancy wording is a bit difficult to understand. It says you need a travel doc if you are traveling by plane, train, boat or bus...so does that mean if I cross by car or foot that I don't need one?

Same thing, I live 10 minutes from Washington/BC border..I could land today if I wanted to, but I won't have a PR card in time for my trip. (Which we have already paid for..) It's $50 to apply, but I really don't feel like dealing with yet ANOTHER application through CIC and MORE waiting..lol

What they told me when I landed is that the COPR cert they put in your passport is fine for landings by car, as in you are driving yourself over the border. If you were traveling COMMERCIALLY (i.e. train, plane, boat or bus), you MUST have your travel certificate/PR card.

 

[TreeLover]

Congrats Treelover on landing! Sounds like it was a quick, but interesting experience. I have a quick question if you don't mind me asking. Was the car you imported a newer one? We will be importing 2 cars when we come over. One is a 2008, the other 2009. I'm just trying to estimate how much of a fee I'll have to pay at the border. Did you do anything ahead of landing to expedite the import process? Congratulations again. I can't wait to get to Canada myself!

Puzzle,

My car was a 2007. I don't think there is any duties on cars that people who are immigrating import. I'm not positive though. My car is North American made and I'm not sure if that makes a difference or not. I paid just the RIV fee and that was $218 and it seems to be about the same amount for everyone. Maybe some others can pipe in that have imported cars. One thing they told me was that I could not sell the car in Canada, UNLESS I later paid the duties and taxes owed (that are waived right now). So it's tax-free to import IF you never want to sell it ever again. I don't want to sell it right now, so I'm not worrying about it. But if you are thinking of selling any of your cars anytime soon after landing, I'd inquire about that before you import them.

The only thing I did before importing the car was to export it from the USA first, which you have to start the process 72 hours before you want to actually export it. So, you send them a fax or email with a form filled out with info and a copy of the title for the car and then you have to wait 72 hours before you will do the actual export and you need to take the car into Canada right after you export it. You should go to the riv.ca website and look for the border office you want to cross, and then call them for information.

Also, I went to a dealer for my car and asked them for a printout on my VIN # to show there are no open recalls on the car. The actual importing part at the border took about 5 min. They did ask to see the printout. After that I went to the RIV office to pay the $218 fee (just inside the border). You can also do that part on the phone or online too. Hope that helps.

 

[puzzle69]

That helps a lot Treelover! Thanks for the info. I did not know about the contacting the RIV office 72 hours prior to landing. I appreciate the advice. Best of luck settling in Canada!

 

[karla718]

How did they tell you? Email? Snail mail? Ecas??....

Sorry, I missed this @ritchierd. I received an email. The status on Ecas is still the same as always...Buffalo received our package on January 19. Boo.

 

[Rinnerz]

Fantastic news despite how down we've been lately and the lack of info on our CAIPS notes...

WE GOT OUR PPR! XD Heading up to Buffalo in 1.5 weeks to finalize. So happy! XD

Time to update your profile dates!

 

[imstillwaiting]

Just thought I would update everyone, my husband FINALLY received the PPR letter via snail mail yesterday. It was dated 8-Apr-2011, postmarked 12-Apr-2011. I don't understand why it took 9 days to get to Toronto from Fort Erie, but it's finally here. He plans to land next week. Will post an update after he lands.

 

[Tiggilicious]

Just thought I would update everyone, my husband FINALLY received the PPR letter via snail mail yesterday. It was dated 8-Apr-2011, postmarked 12-Apr-2011. I don't understand why it took 9 days to get to Toronto from Fort Erie, but it's finally here. He plans to land next week. Will post an update after he lands.

All that matters is you got it Congratulations!!!

 

[kelKel]

I called CanadaPost... Saturday is not a counted as a business day, so my tracker was not updated. I actually didn't get an update until Wednesday when my passport had arrived home! : I had the same route as you..Richmond, and so on. But nothing on my return. I have my visa finally I was so excited I had my boyfriend take a picture of me with it...I was gonna post it but then realized all my info is viewable on my visa lol Prob not good to post online!

As for landing, somebody was asking earlier about it because they're planning a trip to Vegas..my visa expires August 5, 2011 it also says that my visa was issued March 30, 2011. I got my PPR on March 21, and mailed in my passport and it was recieved April 6th...so I don't know what CIC's definition of visa issuance is..

I have about 5 months to land. I am not sure if this is the case for all visas... (Maybe that's when my medical expires?? Which seems weird because technically it should have expired Feb 2011) I was also reading a paper that was sent with my Passport, I would need a travel document to go back to the USA if I don't have a PR card yet...so I had to cancel my trip for this weekend ;(

I will probably wait to land until after my camping trip to Oregon in Mid May (which will mark mine and my partner's 3 year anniversary.) Sucks but I don't feel like applying for a temporary travel document...Does anybody have any experience with a travel document prior to receiving a PR card?

Hi Guys in regards to us people that are from visa waiver countries I'm pretty sure a travel document is not needed even when flying. Once you have landed and have your COPR you're are fine. This is meant for people that require a visa to enter Canada, everyone else can travel on the strength of there passport and landing papers. This is based on personal experience.

We just returned from a trip last night. My bfs PR card was in the mail when we returned home but didn't have it for our trip. Getting on the plane in Grand Cayman they asked if he lived in Canada and we said he did and showed the landing paper, no problems. In Canada we showed his paper, again no problem no questions whatsoever. Before we left I also contacted Air Canada and read the info on the website. It states people from visa waiver countries do not need a valid PR card for travel.

Thought this may be of help to any people worried about travelling before they recieve their card. Just note is you're not visa exempt you 100% need a travel doc to board the plane. I'm not really sure why they don't make this more clear.

 

[quakingaspen]

Thanks, Kelkel! That makes me feel a lot better. I guess we'll give it a try, and fly out of Toronto!

 

[kelKel]

Thanks, Kelkel! That makes me feel a lot better. I guess we'll give it a try, and fly out of Toronto!

No problem!

 

[hbwpg]

This is getting frustrating!

Is anyone else experiencing the same lag?

We applied September/10, with an AOR Nov30/10 asking for an RCMP background check for my spouse within 90 days. We sent it, but it hasn't been updated on ECAS.

As of now our ECAS just states "in process, meds received." which doesn't mean too much, since we did the meds in July of 2010.

Since then we haven't heard a thing. The letter we received in Nov/10 stated that they expect to complete the processing without an interview, so we're not sure what the hold up is. It also requested that we pay the ROPR fee, but we haven't received any notice of it being approved, which to my understanding is generally sent with that request.

Does anyone have any tips? We've sent emails to Buffalo but have yet to hear anything, and that was over a month ago.

 

[ebby]

Hi,
I got a PPR on Apr 20 2011. I have an "official passport". Now after getting the passport request I applied to my embassy for a "regular passport" as you can't have a immigrant visa issued on an offical passport. what should I do now? Send only my new regular passport for Immigrant visa issuance or send it along with my previous official passport? is there a problem in that? FYI they didn't take my official passport away because my 1-94 and US non-resident visa is on that passport. Also should I update them about the change before I send the passport for visa issuance?
Thanks

 

[chess101]

This is getting frustrating!

Is anyone else experiencing the same lag?

We applied September/10, with an AOR Nov30/10 asking for an RCMP background check for my spouse within 90 days. We sent it, but it hasn't been updated on ECAS.

As of now our ECAS just states "in process, meds received." which doesn't mean too much, since we did the meds in July of 2010.

Since then we haven't heard a thing. The letter we received in Nov/10 stated that they expect to complete the processing without an interview, so we're not sure what the hold up is. It also requested that we pay the ROPR fee, but we haven't received any notice of it being approved, which to my understanding is generally sent with that request.

Does anyone have any tips? We've sent emails to Buffalo but have yet to hear anything, and that was over a month ago.

Similar to us, we applied aug.20 got a request for additional background check, sent it and paid ROPRF since then nothing. I emailed them in the middle of march all I got back was no further info is needed from you. All you can do is order your CAIPS notes, which I did last month but I'm still waiting for them. It might tell you when your Bring Foreward date is
I'll keep you posted if I get any news Good Luck

 

[puzzle69]

I've noticed a few applicants have had the RCMP request a backround check and fingerprints. I'm assuming it's because they are already living in Canada, or they have lived in Canada in the past. I lived and worked in Ontario for a year in 1991. Is there a chance the RCMP would request a background check if it was 20 years ago? If so, would it be a long process? Just trying to anticipate any possible hurdles in the progress of my application.

 

[Rinnerz]

I've noticed a few applicants have had the RCMP request a backround check and fingerprints. I'm assuming it's because they are already living in Canada, or they have lived in Canada in the past. I lived and worked in Ontario for a year in 1991. Is there a chance the RCMP would request a background check if it was 20 years ago? If so, would it be a long process? Just trying to anticipate any possible hurdles in the progress of my application.

Requests for RCMP checks are rare. This is because if you have lived in Canada long enough to need one, the visa office will have an RCMP name check done on you themselves. If a name check/search in RCMP's database comes up with any actual hits, then they may request an RCMP fingerprint check from you. Otherwise, they won't. (This has been stated several times elsewhere on these forums, so I'm mostly just repeating what I've read here .)

If they do need you to do an RCMP check, obviously it will cause some delays, as you can see from the Buffalo spreadsheet. But getting the RCMP check itself can be fairly simple, especially if you're in Canada already. In Canada, you can get your fingerprints taken and submitted electronically to RCMP, which cuts the processing time down to 2-3 business days usually. If you submit paper/ink fingerprints instead (because you're outside Canada, for example), you'll have to wait much longer -- sometimes as long as 12 to 16 weeks. (Source: http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/cr-cj/time-temp-eng.htm). You can get them done either at a police station or at an authorized third party security service such as Commissionaires.

How much the actual fingerprinting would cost you probably depends on where you have it done. Hope that helps.