I am back home after landing in Vancouver, getting my SIN, staying 3 weeks and now facing a very empty fridge. Someone- I forget who- asked me, before I left, to post a message in this thread to say how it all went. In my case the only problem was created by an Air Canada hostess who told me that my partner and I should complete the same customs form since we lived at the same UK address. Wrong advice, the outcome of which was that my partner had to attend the landing process with me so as not to deprive me of the form when I completed the landing process. Because I had anticipated some delay as a consequence of the landing process I had booked a seat on a later connecting flight than hers. I caught mine, she missed hers because of the delay caused by the landing process, there was no seat for her on my later flight so she had to kick her heels in the airport for an additional 2 hours and arrived exhausted. So if anyone is flying with a spouse or partner, dont listen to advice to share the same form! The landing experience was completely straightforward. Apart from waiting time, the process took only 5 minutes or thereabouts. All I was asked for was the COPR and my passport. The immigration officer could not have been nicer. After he had finished I asked where I had to go to hand over the customs forms I had ready to hand in. He said he would deal with them himself on behalf of customs, but he said that the items I was importing there and then were peanuts (or words to that effect) and that I had a year in which to hand in the goods imported later form. All in all an absolutely painless experience but one which left me wondering what on earth was the point of it! Getting the SIN a few days later was an equally painless experience. I thought at one time that since I am long since retired and have no intention of working in Canada I would not need a SIN but apparently everyone needs one in order to pay income tax! I think the only unpleasant experience in Canada was seeing my accountant and being told that the rent for our house in Canada, which has been let for the last 16 years, and has been declared in the UK where we have been living throughout that time, should have been declared in Canada and that we will have to make our peace with Canadian revenue. That means researching my records for the last 16 years.Life is never straightforward!
so sorry to hear that.
