hey all,
finally landed yesterday and just wanted to share my experience. i drove down from vancouver, bc with my almost-mother-in-law to blaine, wa to run some errands, then we got to the peace arch crossing, drove up and the guard in the booth asked what we were doing. my m-i-l had done some grocery shopping and picked up pkgs at her u.s. mailbox so she said, "i have to declare purchases and she is here to land as a permanent resident." the guard looked at our passports and wrote on a slip, gave it to us and directed us to park and go inside.
there were maybe 3 people waiting in the office and just a few employees there. i was quickly called up by a border guard who was scottish - i am part scottish, and my name is a rather obscure scottish spelling of a traditional name. so it felt serendipitous. she rather forwardly took my folder with all my paperwork and started going through it. i had a ton of paperwork, SIN applications, printouts from this forum etc. she pulled out what she needed and said, "alright, i need about 5 minutes to work on your forms, go sit over there and i'll call you back." in 5 or 8 minutes she called me back, had me sign some forms, the COPR, the B-4 and B-4a items bringing and bringing later forms, and that was it. she said that it would take 6-8 weeks to receive my pr card, and not to worry if it even took longer than that. she stapled my copy of the COPR into my passport and explained i could cross the border with that. she suggested checking with an airline first if i were to fly out of the country as some airlines don't always let you board with just a COPR. as we walked away she realized she forgot to give me the packet of info "Information For Permanent Residents" which includes info on applying for a SIN # so she handed it to me.
then we headed out to the car and came on home!
the only thing i wish i had understood more about was the goods to follow list. for some reason i thought from the research i did that you only had 1 year to import those items. found out at the desk its forever. if i had a better understanding, i would have included everything i could think of and put higher price estimates. i keep kicking myself that i didn't understand it more.
so thrilled to be done with this process, wishing you all a speedy conclusion as well!
