Will arrive Canada in end of June be considered "too early"?
- Thread starter toki09
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It will be up to CBSA. You'll want to show that you have extra funds to support an early arrival and cover your living expenses without working.
Thanks for your reply. Does that means as long as I have enough money I would be fine? I never deal with CBSA before, don’t know how strict they’re in the Covid time.
None of us here can tell you that. It will be up to CBSA (this was true before COVID as well).
I wouldnt advice to do that especially during covid and even before. You dont need record in your file incase they deemed its too early and you failed to provide good reasons why you arriving 3months before your studies. You may provide proof of funds but again the question is why now? No one can tell you what will happen, its up to CBSA to decise
Up to border officer but you have no justifiable reason to enter Canada 3 months before your program begins.
I did it. It really is up to the officer.
If I were to do it at the moment, I'd start by having housing secured (I rented a condo when I did it), and I'd mention to the officer that it was necessary to start the lease 3 months early in order to secure housing and ensure I had a place when the semester started. I'd point out that the 14 day quarantine means that I won't be able to start getting settled for several weeks, and that it's difficult to carry two different houses in two different countries.
The officer is going to be looking for two main things - insufficient assets, and illegal work. In my case, I was telecommuting to the US (which meant that it wasn't considered "work"), which solved both problems. As an alternative, I'd want to have sufficient funds or income (stocks, rental properties that are owned, etc.) to cover the extra month and a half.
Thank you so much for the response, these tips are very helpful. Would you mind telling me when you did it? Is it pre-pandemic or during pandemic? I am a full-time intel student in the U.S. who just graduated, so basically if Canadian denied me (and my cat) we can’t return to the States again either, will they consider this fact too. For the finical support, I have two year living expenses under my bank account, I believe it would works? Again, thank you for your post.
Are you a US citizen? The standard of scrutiny that US citizens, EU, and other '1st world' countries receive is a lot lower than the majority of student applicants
that makes total sense. If 2 months before study it might be ok but 3-4 months you provided very logical reasons. In some cases, CBSA wouldn't even care.
in other cases, they want to hear legit reasons.
man if you are US citizen why would you even care to explain it to them. people that third world country citizens they get hard time
2014.
They would, and there are agreements about that. The problem gets to be that with the lack of status in the US, you wouldn't be in a good position.
On the other hand, it is a very, very good reason to come three months early. It doesn't undermine your case in the same way that someone coming just for fun would.
It's a gamble. Nobody can tell you what the agent will do. The agent can let you in, he can turn you around and you then have to leave.
If it were me in your position, I'd try it before the end of my US status, and be prepared to buy an expensive plane ticket if I get turned around. I wouldn't be too worried about the denial, as it doesn't make you look bad in the same way that smuggling or violating the law does. That's based on my personal risk profile, though. I'm a gambler who deals with risk by having plan A through plan J.
The safest option would be to fly home and return, but that comes with expense. Only you can decide if the risk of rejection and needing to explain on future applications is worth the risk of having to lease a place for a few extra months while you fly back to your country of nationality.
Two years is fine.
Because he's coming from the US. I've interacted with those border agents over 500 times.