Any landings?

[akk]

Any landings?

Akk

[cchabert]

Check this out:

http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/nice-articlelanding-t24592.0.html

Nice article.

Cheeers!

[Lucho]

 I just landed yesterday...

[druckers]

Hi,
   Where did you land? Did you go directly to Alberta?

I just landed yesterday...

[poppyjml]

I landed last Saturday in Calgary by plane. I didn't have any problems during the landing. It took me 1 1/2 hours in the immigration just because the line was long, and some of those that came before me took a long time to finish. They just looked at my passport, COPR and asked me how much money I'm bringing and the address where I'll be staying.

Then after I was done, I took my baggages, and I presented my 2 lists of item.1 is for the Goods that I'm currently bringing in and 1 for the list of goods to follow. They then asked me to sign a couple of papers, asked me again about how much money I'm bringing in, signed my list of goods to follow, made a copy of that list, and gave me a copy. And that was it!

Then monday, I applied for SIN, alberta health insurance, and swapped my US driver's license for an Alberta DL. And I just opened a bank account yesterday.

I'm currently busy now job hunting. Hope I find a job soon!

Good Luck to all those who will be landing!

[aNewHope]

Congratulations and Good Luck, Poppyjml!

What area of Calgary are you residing in?

I landed last Saturday in Calgary by plane. I didn't have any problems during the landing. It took me 1 1/2 hours in the immigration just because the line was long, and some of those that came before me took a long time to finish. They just looked at my passport, COPR and asked me how much money I'm bringing and the address where I'll be staying.

Then after I was done, I took my baggages, and I presented my 2 lists of item.1 is for the Goods that I'm currently bringing in and 1 for the list of goods to follow. They then asked me to sign a couple of papers, asked me again about how much money I'm bringing in, signed my list of goods to follow, made a copy of that list, and gave me a copy. And that was it!

Then monday, I applied for SIN, alberta health insurance, and swapped my US driver's license for an Alberta DL. And I just opened a bank account yesterday.

I'm currently busy now job hunting. Hope I find a job soon!

Good Luck to all those who will be landing!

[poppyjml]

Thanks aNewHope! I'm in NW part

[jlacombe]

Congrats on arriving. Work search can be a difficult thing, so I recommend using several resources. For the web savvy there is the ALIS website (www.alis.alberta.ca) that provides a lot of good resources on how to look for work in Alberta. Make sure your resume is 2 pages (or less, but I'm sure as a professional that it will be hard enough to fit everything on two) and make sure it concentrates on the skills that are relevant to the position you are applying for.

For a list of services for immigrants Alberta Employment and Immigration has a list of Immigrant Serving agencies on their website: http://employment.alberta.ca/Immigration/4546.html . This lists the agencies that have contracts with the provincial government to provide services to new Canadians. I highly recommend using their services, these people are experts in helping immigrants and I find those that use these services tend to come out ahead, even if it's as simple as getting someone to review your resume.

Good luck in your settlement into Alberta. It's a great province and there is still lots of opportunity here, you just need to keep your eyes open.

[GirlOntario]

I landed last Saturday in Calgary by plane. I didn't have any problems during the landing. It took me 1 1/2 hours in the immigration just because the line was long, and some of those that came before me took a long time to finish. They just looked at my passport, COPR and asked me how much money I'm bringing and the address where I'll be staying.

Then after I was done, I took my baggages, and I presented my 2 lists of item.1 is for the Goods that I'm currently bringing in and 1 for the list of goods to follow. They then asked me to sign a couple of papers, asked me again about how much money I'm bringing in, signed my list of goods to follow, made a copy of that list, and gave me a copy. And that was it!

Then monday, I applied for SIN, alberta health insurance, and swapped my US driver's license for an Alberta DL. And I just opened a bank account yesterday.

I'm currently busy now job hunting. Hope I find a job soon!

Good Luck to all those who will be landing!

Popyjml:
Congrats! It is great that you landed. Make sure you look for the Jobs at Motels and other Airport area Hotels so immediately your financial circulation of at least 10$ an hour will get started. Get a Night Shift job (obviously it will be a stupid creepy job) but it will not bring you on street once your survival money is finished. I have learned from people that in lust and anxiety of getting Professional/Office/9AM-5PM type job people waste months and don't start washing dishes and toilet immediately. And it is too risky. 10,000 dollars wont be enough for many months especially while living in apartment. Work in Night and search jobs in Days time and sleep as well. That's how some have managed in starting. If keep waiting to be an "Oil & Gas Systems Manager" type job and keep dreaming about 70K or 90K type Technology style salaries, Within few months you will be filling applications at Dunkin Donunts. So manage your career risk and be smart. At least if searching job Monday to Friday then start working Weekends for small job. Don't take this as offence or something, I am also in immigration line. First of all in this recession time getting a good job is like impossible and second thing is that even you get the job it will be extremely hard to retain that job beyond two weeks. Canada has lot of push back type atmosphere at workplaces. One more thing to consider; This push back or back stepping is not always from Canadians or Natives who are working on those high class work places it is mostly from those b l o d d y desis who also migrated few months before you and start feeling that they are the native Canadians and has more rights than you. These are the people who make your life worst at New office Job. Canadians are also push backer for any new hire but these b l o o d d y desis makes life worst at new job because thier own sense of insecurity. They washed dishes and cleaned toliet for 3 years after landing so How can they digest this fact that PopyJml will get Professional job within few weeks or months after landing?? That is the whole psychological problem at workplaces. That's why getting a job and retaining that job BOTH are challenges. So you should keep these factors in mind and manage risk accordingly.

[canadiann]

congrat poppyjml,
you said you applied sin#. that means you don't need to wait PR card to apply for sin#?

thanks
canadiann

[poppyjml]

jlacombe, GirlOntario,  thanks a lot for the advices and all of the infos.  I will check those sites and those jobs =)

canadiann, nope you don't need the PR card when applying for SIN. Just bring your passport and COPR when applying.

[Rocking vibes]

I landed last week and it was the smoothest of the landings I have ever read.......keeping in mind the kind off complex visa situation.....I have an expired F1 on my passport with no H1B stamp at all.

I rented a car from Detroit Airport....($28 from Priceline), drove thru the Windsor tunnel, BTW I had all my docs as a backup and luggage to survive a month Just in case if I had to go for stamping in Toronto or back in my home country. OK, after crossing the moist tunnel(it runs under the Detroit river), I was stopped by the security gaurd on the Canadian side and I explained him that I was here for the landing process. He had a quick look at my passport and directed me towards the Immigration building. I was the only one in the line and the officer was very friendly and completed my paperwork, asked about how much money I was bringing in, and then told me that I don't have to fill up the form since I was not over $10000 limit(I had the form filled up already). I then gave him the goods to follow list and then he told me that my PR cards will be mailed to the Canadian address I gave him.....That's it. I asked him about the SIN office and he gave me the directions for it. After applying the SIN, I drove back thru the tunnel and the gave my passports to the US immigration officer, I told him that I was in Canada for landing and was returning back to the US, he said ok and then asked me to drive further...................I was like, should I drive to the immigration office, to get my I-94's in the passport. He said, it was no point for me to wait for 45 mins for an immigration officer to tear the bottom half of the I-797 and stick it in the passport, he asked me to do it myself. I was like WOW.....that was easy and very unlike other experiences I read...where ppl had to show AVR documentation to educated the officers and then get grilled regarding work status........I guess I just got lucky to run into a kewl officer, God bless him...................So the next step for me is to wait for my PR cards.

All the best to everyone else.....


And I also busted the myth that AINP guys cannot land elsewhere in Canada apart from Alberta, although my intentions are to settle down in Calgary once my company approves the transfer.

 
 

[kishankanhaiya]

Thanks for posting this experience. Will you have someone mail your card to the US or will you be going back to Canada to get it?

I landed last week and it was the smoothest of the landings I have ever read.......keeping in mind the kind off complex visa situation.....I have an expired F1 on my passport with no H1B stamp at all.

I rented a car from Detroit Airport....($28 from Priceline), drove thru the Windsor tunnel, BTW I had all my docs as a backup and luggage to survive a month Just in case if I had to go for stamping in Toronto or back in my home country. OK, after crossing the moist tunnel(it runs under the Detroit river), I was stopped by the security gaurd on the Canadian side and I explained him that I was here for the landing process. He had a quick look at my passport and directed me towards the Immigration building. I was the only one in the line and the officer was very friendly and completed my paperwork, asked about how much money I was bringing in, and then told me that I don't have to fill up the form since I was not over $10000 limit(I had the form filled up already). I then gave him the goods to follow list and then he told me that my PR cards will be mailed to the Canadian address I gave him.....That's it. I asked him about the SIN office and he gave me the directions for it. After applying the SIN, I drove back thru the tunnel and the gave my passports to the US immigration officer, I told him that I was in Canada for landing and was returning back to the US, he said ok and then asked me to drive further...................I was like, should I drive to the immigration office, to get my I-94's in the passport. He said, it was no point for me to wait for 45 mins for an immigration officer to tear the bottom half of the I-797 and stick it in the passport, he asked me to do it myself. I was like WOW.....that was easy and very unlike other experiences I read...where ppl had to show AVR documentation to educated the officers and then get grilled regarding work status........I guess I just got lucky to run into a kewl officer, God bless him...................So the next step for me is to wait for my PR cards.

All the best to everyone else.....


And I also busted the myth that AINP guys cannot land elsewhere in Canada apart from Alberta, although my intentions are to settle down in Calgary once my company approves the transfer.

 
 

[Rocking vibes]

I will have them mailed to me....but if I have to go and collect it myself, I can always do that too..

[kishankanhaiya]

I will have them mailed to me....but if I have to go and collect it myself, I can always do that too..

How will you go an collect it now that you are in the US?

thanks!