For anyone who might be in our position and been through this, we are both (applicant and sponsor) living together OUTSIDE of Canada and would like to land together. I know that spouses fall under the exemption for landing, for family reunification, but if we are both traveling together, can we fly and land without issue?
I suppose there will be some details on this in the landing instructions sent back with the passport but.... any insight from people here who have been through it would be great.
We have our documents in hand and not yet travelled, so similar situation. But I've been following posts from others so reasonably confident about what I know.
So yes, no problem for family reunification travelling together - lots of cases here - and it does not matter that you are already 'united' abroad. Do check with airline in advance of travelling to be certain, but there should be no question given spousal visa - bring a copy of marriage certificate with translation just in case. In fact as far as I'm aware, neither CBSA nor airline staff are inquiring specifically about the 'reunification' aspect - they just want to see proof of marriage/immediate family relationship to a Canadian citizen or PR; they may ask for an address but it does not seem that they inquire in detail about whether the PR/citizen is already physically in Canada (no-one should rely on this impression however).
The remaining issues are just covid and travel issues - especially isolation, hotel quarantine, and pre-departure covid test. Landing procedures from immigration perspective (once in Canada) are basically unchanged - you'll advise on arrival that you are arriving and be sent to secondary at port of entry where they'll do the formalities. I understand easier to apply for SIN (needed for work) on arrival and only takes ten or fifteen additional minutes.
One thing I'd warn is that since getting the PR card may take some months, better to not plan travel until after you get that. (It's possible without but an extra complication)
I warn that some info in the instructions sent may be somewhat out of date - certainly not all details about covid measures in there - you'll just have to follow on the internet as policies change.