Canada Landing from USA - Automatic Visa Revalidation for return to US

[nag1d]

I am planning to complete my landing in Canada later this month. I am currently in the US on a H1-B and am on an extension i.e., visa has expire but I have a new I-94 valid until 2012. I am having to use the Automatic Visa Revalidation process for my return to the US after Canada Landing. I had two questions

1. Has anyone used the Automatic Visa Revalidation and completed landing recently? Can you please share information on Do's /Do Not's?
2. I am also trying to determine if it is better to cross the border by road using a rental car or by air. Is the landing process different for either of these?

Appreciate response to these questions.

 

[Shinygirl]

We are in the same situation like you. I will be waiting for the answers by experienced people, and will also wait for your update after completing the landing formality!!

 

[nag1d]

Shinygirl,

When are you planning to complete landing? Do you have any inputs on use of AVR recently?

nag1d

 

[Shinygirl]

Nag1d

We are planning to land in march/ april but i have no inputs on ARV.
My husband says that we might get our visas stamped from Canada. But I would like to know what you did and how did it all go, because you will be landing and coming back before us!!

 

[nag1d]

Shinygirl,

I considered getting our visa stamped in Canada but am inclined towards using the AVR. I will certainly post my experience once my landing is completed. Hopefully, that process and the return using AVR will be smooth.

nag1d

 

[BZ Mom]

I am planning to complete my landing in Canada later this month. I am currently in the US on a H1-B and am on an extension i.e., visa has expire but I have a new I-94 valid until 2012. I am having to use the Automatic Visa Revalidation process for my return to the US after Canada Landing. I had two questions

1. Has anyone used the Automatic Visa Revalidation and completed landing recently? Can you please share information on Do's /Do Not's?
2. I am also trying to determine if it is better to cross the border by road using a rental car or by air. Is the landing process different for either of these?

Appreciate response to these questions.

Hi,

I've read this post from the forum. This might give you the info that you need.

http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/-t57292.0.html

 

[estillo]

I used AVR for landing and couple of times for travel between Detroit/Windsor.. No issues. while Entering just show the passport with I-94 to the officer at the booth.

Good Luck

 

[nag1d]

BZ Mom and estillo,

Thank you both for the reply. Appreciate the information. Definitely increased my confidence of using AVR. I will publish my experience once I complete my landing and get back. Wish us luck

nag1d

 

[rslcanada]

Im interested with this topic....

I know everytime we exit US we need to surrender our I-94 and cant come back if the Visa is expired eventhough your I-94 is not yet expired. so you need to renew your visa before entering US and they will issue a new I-94 usually the same expiry date with your visa.... and that is exiting via air..... not sure about exiting US via land is there any border that will check docs & ask to surrender I-94?!? In order to renew working visa there shld be a co. to sponsor/renew you....am I correct?!? what do you mean by AT Visa revalidation?!?

We are planning to land via road before our medical expire & US visa will expire til Sept 2012 so theres no problem returning to US.

 

[nag1d]

Im interested with this topic....

I know everytime we exit US we need to surrender our I-94 and cant come back if the Visa is expired eventhough your I-94 is not yet expired. so you need to renew your visa before entering US and they will issue a new I-94 usually the same expiry date with your visa.... and that is exiting via air..... not sure about exiting US via land is there any border that will check docs & ask to surrender I-94?!? In order to renew working visa there shld be a co. to sponsor/renew you....am I correct?!? what do you mean by AT Visa revalidation?!?

We are planning to land via road before our medical expire & US visa will expire til Sept 2012 so theres no problem returning to US.

Automatic Visa Revalidation is a provision that applies to persons with expired nonimmigrant visas but with valid I-94s. This rule allows persons to travel out of the U.S. for thirty days or less in contiguous territory i.e., Canada and Mexico. The details of this law are available at http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/travel/id_visa/revalidation.ctt/revalidation.pdf.

While I am aware of the above law, I have not used it personally and hence my apprehension. However, based on earlier replies to this post, it appears that people have used this successfully and not had issues getting back. I will find out in a few days.

 

[rslcanada]

thanks Nag1D for the infos....

 

[nag1d]

I am planning to complete my landing in Canada later this month. I am currently in the US on a H1-B and am on an extension i.e., visa has expire but I have a new I-94 valid until 2012. I am having to use the Automatic Visa Revalidation process for my return to the US after Canada Landing. I had two questions

1. Has anyone used the Automatic Visa Revalidation and completed landing recently? Can you please share information on Do's /Do Not's?
2. I am also trying to determine if it is better to cross the border by road using a rental car or by air. Is the landing process different for either of these?

Appreciate response to these questions.

Hello All,

I completed my landing in Canada and returned to the US using the AVR rule. I wanted to share my experience. We decided to drive from Buffalo and flew to Buffalo from Houston on Thanksgiving day - 25th November with my wife and son. I rented a car at the airport and we stayed in Buffalo that night. The next morning, we drove towards the peace bridge and crossed the border.

Step 1: Check Point
The officer at the check point asked us why we were there and when I said it was to complete our landing, he asked for the CoPR documents, reviewed it and asked us to pull over ahead in one of the parking spots and go into the office for immigration.

Step 2: Immigration Officer
We were directed to the immigration officer who was very friendly. She got our documents, asked for our address in Canada and completed the landing process for the three of us. This took about about 20 minutes. Once done, she stapled a copy of the CoPR to our passports and told us that this document is very important and told us that once we receive our PR cards, we can remove the document from our passports, however need to keep that carefully until our citizenship. She asked if we had travel plans anytime soon and I said that I will need to travel back to the US to arrange for shipping my goods. To this she said that we will not be able to travel by air/train without the PR card but if we travel via road like we did during landing, we could use the CoPR copy to get in again. She then asked us to go to the customs officer.

Step 3: Customs Officer
The officer at the customs counter was also very friendly and once he looked at the documents Goods Accompanying and Goods to Follow, complemented me on being well organized. A big thanks to Qorax for it was due to his directions on this forum that helped me organize my documents well. He entered some details on the computer and then gave me back a copy of the Goods to Follow list with each page marked with their seal. He told me that I will need to carry a copy of this with me when I bring the goods during relocation. He verified if I was not bringing my car and when I confirmed that I was not, he made note of it on the form. He also told me that he does not need the Goods Accompanying list and offered to shred that for me. This process took about 10-15 minutes. Once done, he asked me to wait in line to go to the cashier and said that I did not have to pay anything and just had to show them the Goods to Follow list that had the seal.

Step 4: Cashier
The process at the cashier was very simple. We just showed the Goods to Follow list and she made some entries on the computer and gave it back to us. She said that if we bring anything that is not on the list, we could be charged customs on it.

That was the process for landing. Just to make sure I had not missed anything else, I stopped by at the immigration officer counter (the officer who processed my documents was not at the counter and so I spoke with a different officer) and asked if the process was all done and if the PR card would be sent to the address I had provided. She confirmed that I was good to go and that the card would be mailed to the address in about 6 weeks.

We got out of the building, took some pictures and took a deep breath to let the feeling sink in that we were finally permanent residents. We then started driving towards Toronto to my relatives place.

Service Canada Office

My relative took us to the local Service Canada office where we applied for the SIN cards (I had the forms filled in advance and that made the process easier). We got the SIN numbers immediately on a print out and were told that the SIN cards would come by mail in a couple of weeks. The officer there cautioned us about not misplacing the SIN card and not giving out the SIN number to everyone. She even told me that I should not share this on any forms when I apply for jobs. I need to only share it with the employer once the job offer is complete.

Service Ontario Office

The following Monday, we went to the Service Ontario office to apply for the health card. The lady at the counter told me that I was a bit early and had to bring in supporting documents for proof of residence with the application. This has to be either a bank statement mailed by the bank or a lease agreement or a utility bill. We realized that we could not apply for the Health card yet and got back

Canada Revenue Agency

My relative told me that we could apply for Child Tax Benefit for my son at the CRA office. I got the address of the nearest CRA office from the lady at the Service Ontario office and headed there. Here, I was given an application packet and told that I could either mail it or submit it there. I got the application packet home, filled it and went back the next day with copies of passport/CoPR and submitted it. I was told that it would take about 3 months to process it and would get notified by mail at the mailing address provided.

Return to the US

After spending about 6 days in Canada, we started driving back towards the Peace Bridge to get back to the US. Needless to say, I was a bit nervous when we got close to the US border. At the check point, I handed over our passports to the officer along with the extended I-94 documents for my wife and myself. No problem for my son as he had a US passport. The officer asked me the following questions -

• what citizenship do we all have?
• why had we gone to Canada?
• who do we have there and where in Canada?
• where do I work and what do I do?
• where are we headed now?

He scanned our passports as he asked us these questions. After that, he told us to have a good trip back and handed our passports and I-94 documents back. This process took no more than 2-3 minutes.

To summarize, it was a pretty straight forward process, obviously with good preparation and lots of inputs from this forum, Qorax in particular. All the best to others who are in the process of completing their landing.

 

[qorax]

@nag1d

See u soon, log-stock-&-barrel here, buddy...

 

[Shinygirl]

Thanks nag1d for sharing your experience here.

 

[karsatjaya]

Nag,

Congratulations and wish you a wonderful life in Canada.

Thanks