Hello Guys,
My family and I finally landed in Calgary on Friday, 2nd of August. We transitted to Calgary through Frankfurt on Air-Canada flight. Flight and cabin crew were wonderful. I just want to thank Jesus for bringing to pass that which my heart has always desired.
We landed in Calgary international at 12:15pm, and straight through to immigration, it was a long line but processing is done pretty quickly, it got to our turn, immigration officer asked us, if were visiting, we told her we were landing as permanent residents today, she asked for our passports/visas and she looked at the COPR, she cancelled the visas, she also went through our landing cards, asked what kind of food we brought and how much money we were carrying and if we had goods to follow (GTFs) she wrote everything on the landing card and said "Welcome to Canada", I told her I have always wanted to hear those words. She directed us to another desk to go to process the landing papers(COPR). At this desk, the IO asked me to sign for the kids since I was the the principal applicant. He stamped the COPR after all COPRs were filled and wished us best of luck. He directed us to customs, who looked through the information on the landing cards, young customs lady asked if the money we had ($12,000) was in the possession of one person and that is not what they want, coincidentally, my wife had $4k, while I had $8k, she signed off on the card as okay. She now asked for our goods to follow list, i had prepared two copies of this list, she asked me to value them, attached another form, stamped the forms and asked me to endorse the forms and we were done with landing. We picked up two trolleys, picked up our bags and headed out to arrivals.
A point to note, while On board the plane, landing cards were distributed to all passengers. The landing card requires information on your address in Canada, the money you are bringing and if you have any agricultural products you are bringing to Canada. Please don't try to hide anything, answer the questions truthfully, please tick yes on the card. One guy didn't admit what he was bringing something in and he got pulled aside, the customs were very upset that he tried to conceal it, I am not sure if it was money or produce but he didn't find it easy. There is a $400 fine for not declaring food items and that goes on your record, you don't want to start your new life that way, trust me.
It's a holiday weekend here (Heritage Day)so we haven't been able to do social insurance, Alberta healthcare registration and open a bank account, we intend to do that tomorrow. I will let you know how that goes.
We are in Calgary for landing and will spend only 3 weeks, we intend to be back finally in the next 12 -18 months, God wiling.
To my friends still waiting for PRV, it is worth the wait, don't despair and don't agonize, just prepare with getting information and doing certifications. So far I am told, it's experience, certifications before educational degree. I will be sitting for the PMP exams in the next few months.
