US-based applicants, let's connect here

[JERiv]

Hello, my US emigrants! I am happy and relieved to announce that I finally received PPR on Friday, March 9 at 10:01 pm Ottawa time! So now I am preparing the post PPR docs and have some questions.

1) Does anyone have recommendations on carriers to use for the Self-Addressed pre-paid envelope? I am leaning toward FedEx but wanted to hear from other US residents who have gone through this. Also, is the COPR just a piece of paper? What weight/size should one prepay for? I'm a US citizen so I am not sending my passport.

2) Can anyone recommend a place in New York (preferably Manhattan) that will do the photos right? I need to get new photos, as my previous ones are more than 6 months old, and I had them done at CVS (drugstore chain in the northeast) and have only 1 left. I found this one from a web search that sounds experienced at doing Canada PR photos:
http://www.doicamera.com/passport.html
Does anyone have any thoughts?

Congratulations!!!

1) We used FedEx. It was easy enough. Just setup the account online so they can charge to it once it gets sent back. It's great seeing the tracker activate, though. Still, it's nerve wracking knowing so much hangs on, yes, a freaking piece of paper. We guarded those papers like they were gold once we got them.

2) You can look up places that do Canada passport pics in yelp (and other search tools) as well. Hopefully there's a lot of them in NY (there's only one good one here in Austin). And like @moose17 says, you may have them rejected anyway, so one good thing to do (which I wish I'd known about) is to just go take new pics when you do your landing in Canada. They kind of know their stuff much better over there on what the requirements are, and how to do them properly. That way you have extras if (when?) they deny them.

Godspeed!!

 

[trumprefugee]

Thanks for your messages, @moose17 and @JERiv ! I got my pics done at that Doi Camera place yesterday, and it was quick and painless.
http://www.doicamera.com/passport.html
The pics seem to match the specs, so hopefully they will be accepted.

I got online quote of $61.78 with UPS and $56 something with FedEx (actually I couldn't even get that far with my online account - it kept giving me an error not accepting my credit card!) so I went into a FedEx store yesterday. But DHL online gives $42.36 Canadian quote so far.

Did anyone send the post PPR docs via USPS? It seems that would be only around $5 something, so I think I will do that for sending my docs (but the self addressed return envelope is going to be the expensive one)

 

[jannie.shaylah]

Has anyone electronically applied for FBI PCC? Will it be accepted or should I apply by mail only?

 

[canada_eagle]

Has anyone electronically applied for FBI PCC? Will it be accepted or should I apply by mail only?

Channeler is fine for US Citizens and Green card holders, if that is what you are asking.

 

[appar]

Has anyone electronically applied for FBI PCC? Will it be accepted or should I apply by mail only?

You have to apply online and send the fingerprints by mail. That's how it works. You get the result in 5 days.

 

[kynno]

@moose17 If you don't mind me asking, how much total did it cost to export and import your car into Canada? I'm just trying to figure out a ball park to see if doing that will make sense for me?

@trumprefugee I personally used FedEx because I have a certain hatred for UPS. That being said, my packet had some excessive delays with FedEx both shipping it to Canada and back to the States. As for USPS, I can't remember what it was that I found but I wouldn't recommend using them at all for this.

 

[moose17]

@moose17 If you don't mind me asking, how much total did it cost to export and import your car into Canada? I'm just trying to figure out a ball park to see if doing that will make sense for me?

It was $333.35 for the RIV fee and $158ish I think for the safety inspection (I've heard that can be cheaper at some mechanics but we had no energy to shop around and went with Canadian Tire). I also paid $75 for a broker to get the ITN number needed for exporting from the US but that can be done for free if you're a citizen (and possibly US PR) and are comfortable with extra steps and forms. There's also a broker that costs $35 but reviews seemed iffier. Then there will be a cost to registering the car but that would be the case even if we bought here I assume. As newcomers we're not supposed to owe any taxes as long as we have the vehicle on our goods accompanying or goods to follow lists. So far that's been the case but I'll breathe easier if that holds when we register it, which we plan to do Monday.

Additionally, if your car needs modifications there will be costs there. Thankfully ours was good to go. We'll just have to drill holes in the front bumper for that licence plate once we have it. The RIV site points to some of those issues, and Mazda stated that the biggest ones were compliant in its recall clearance letter. Finally, we had to get a new car seat tested to Canadian standards ($80 for a model that's just over $40 in the US, yuck), but that's also something that would happen whether we kept our US car or not.

 

[jannie.shaylah]

You have to apply online and send the fingerprints by mail. That's how it works. You get the result in 5 days.

No I mean on CIC website they have not mentioned that method to get PCC. There is only mail application details which takes 15 weeks to get report

 

[appar]

No I mean on CIC website they have not mentioned that method to get PCC. There is only mail application details which takes 15 weeks to get report

Maybe they haven't updated their website since the eDO system began only last month. Many people have gotten their PCCs using that its not a problem. Processing is much faster..

 

[jannie.shaylah]

Can anyone let me know experience of getting PCC from Indian Consulate NY? I mean how many days it take to get PCC for passport issued in India? Also will they keep passport with them till I get PCC or I just need to show on the day I apply?

 

[moose17]

One thing I've noticed here is I occasionally need to use a VPN to finish up some US business. The main one is my health provider network's website wouldn't load the billing stuff unless I VPNed to the US. I've been using Tunnelbear. I actually took advantage of a great sale they had on unlimited data subscriptions a few weeks ago so I can use it for watching some shows but they do a certain amount free that would cover those random needs if the same happens to anyone here.

 

[Mrs. Kow]

Has anyone been able to get a Canadian phone number while still in the US? I'm getting ready to do a job search and would like to have a local phone number that employers can call back without having to make an international call. I'm trying to figure out the best way to do it.

 

[jannie.shaylah]

Has anyone been able to get a Canadian phone number while still in the US? I'm getting ready to do a job search and would like to have a local phone number that employers can call back without having to make an international call. I'm trying to figure out the best way to do it.

In Canada and USA almost all the providers support free calling so you don't need to worry and country code is also similar so use your US cell number and it would be fine. If you get Canadian number than you might be outside of Canada and they will charge you more

 

[moose17]

Has anyone been able to get a Canadian phone number while still in the US? I'm getting ready to do a job search and would like to have a local phone number that employers can call back without having to make an international call. I'm trying to figure out the best way to do it.

We got numbers through Flynumber so we could have local numbers on our resumes and to simplify calling for anyone who might not have international coverage. The numbers forward to any number, so we set them to our US numbers and then switched them to our permanent Canadian numbers as soon as we got them upon moving here in case anyone with the Flynumbers tried to reach us. We'll probably keep them 6 months more or so. It was pretty simple and cheap to set them up and very worth it for us.

 

[trumprefugee]

Has anyone been able to get a Canadian phone number while still in the US? I'm getting ready to do a job search and would like to have a local phone number that employers can call back without having to make an international call. I'm trying to figure out the best way to do it.

I have a free Canadian number through textnow. It's an app you can download that gives you a free Canadian number as long as you send at least one text every 30 days (or you will lose the number, but they give you warning so you can make sure to send the required text to keep the number active). You can also call Canada and the US for free with the app.