Travelling to Canada before my PR is approved

[pam_good]

I am British and my Husband is Canadian, he has sponsored me for PR in Canada and his sponsorship has been approved in Canada and is now 'in process' in London. My husband has moved to Canada now to look for work and me and our 2 month old son are in the UK. We have flights booked for Christmas to go to Canada, and we hoped that my Permanent Residency would be sorted out by then. I'm now starting to worry that it won't come before we head over there at Christmas. Are there any options that will allow me to enter Canada before my Permanent Residency comes in, because I won't have a return flight booked which I have a feeling may be a problem when I arrive and go through immigration at the airport. Any ideas? ???

Thanks, Pam

 

[Baloo]

I would change it to a return flight and read the visitor information at
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/index.asp

You have to convince the IO that you will leave Canada, that you have ties back to the UK and that you can support yourself while in Canada.

 

[suze_h]

I think I would get a return flight too, to save any potential hassle.

You might want to look into declaring Dual Intent when you enter the country - this is for people in your situation who have applied for residency but also want to enter the country as a visitor while they wait for residency to come through.....I can't figure out exactly how it works, but I've seen other posters talk about it so perhaps somebody else will be able to shed more light.....

http://www.cicnews.com/2000/03/dual-intent-operations-memorandum-03426.html

 

[MandiF]

Hi Pam, I also in a similar position. Canadian husband working in Canada, me in UK. I am flying out in January to be with him until PR comes through, but as I only applied in October, am not expecting the my PR to come through by then.

There are a lot of threads on here somewhere, do a search on 'visiting Canada while PR progressing' or something like that, to see all the long discussions. My decision in the end was to purchase a return flight, knowing that I won't be using it. I got it for as long as possible away i.e. flight in January, flight out end May, so that if there were any problems with me getting through Immigration, I'd at least get my 6 months visa (fingers crossed).

This is something I am quite worried about, although my husband says not to worry about it, but I would suggest that a return ticket at least shows that you are able to leave after your TRV expires, even if you don't ever use it.

Hope this helps.

 

[chandu007]

No matter what your situation is, Immigration Officer needs to be convinced that you will not over stay in Canada. A return ticket will prove this easily.