Advice for using CoPR

[Cbi24]

I was just approved to be a permanent resident last week. I am an American and my wife (sponser) is Canadian. I applied outland to make it faster (sent in February 2015), but am currently in Canada with my wife as a visitor. I have the CoPR in my possession. My question is...should I return to the USA and cross back over the border to officially use my CoPR or should I call the CIC to schedule an appointment from within Canada. The approval notice I received states "if you are already residing in Canada as a temporary resident you can call CIC to schedule an appointment at an office near your place of residence."
I guess I don't know if they would consider me a temporary resident right now and let me go to a nearby office, or if I should just leave the country and return.

I tried to call CIC today with the question but due to heavy call volumes they couldn't connect me to someone, not even put me on hold.

Any thoughts?

 

[OhCanadiana]

I was just approved to be a permanent resident last week. I am an American and my wife (sponser) is Canadian. I applied outland to make it faster (sent in February 2015), but am currently in Canada with my wife as a visitor. I have the CoPR in my possession. My question is...should I return to the USA and cross back over the border to officially use my CoPR or should I call the CIC to schedule an appointment from within Canada. The approval notice I received states "if you are already residing in Canada as a temporary resident you can call CIC to schedule an appointment at an office near your place of residence."
I guess I don't know if they would consider me a temporary resident right now and let me go to a nearby office, or if I should just leave the country and return.

I tried to call CIC today with the question but due to heavy call volumes they couldn't connect me to someone, not even put me on hold.

Any thoughts?

You may do either. If you're near the border, 'flagpoling' is likely your fastest option.

 

[Ponga]

Congratulations!

Since you're an American, the easiest thing to do is drive across the border and then return to Canada to officially `Land' as a new permanent resident. Just make sure that the border crossing that you choose offers immigration services (most do, but not all of them).


Some people opt to `flag pole' to land, which is almost the same thing. They arrive at the U.S. side of the border and state that they want to land, at which time the CBP officer gives them an administrative refusal document (basically turning them around, without the person 'actually' entering the U.S.). In your case, there's really no need to go through that `hoop'.

If you have anything that you want to retrieve from your `home' in the U.S., you'll need to have a B4 Goods to Follow document prepared BEFORE you land. Otherwise, you'll be dinged with duties and taxes when you do bring the items across the border. If you need to import your vehicle(s), it becomes even more fun!

 

[Sheps]

I second the flagpole that Ponga described. Depending on your location, you may not have the option to make an appointment to land or it might be fairly heavily booked, if you flagpole, even if you wait in border traffic for a few hours, you might get PR sooner then the landing interview (and you can also do it on your own timeline instead of someone else's)