First of all, please refer to http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/my-timeline-from-singapore-t7982.0.html for my timeline in Singapore.
As mentioned in the above post, I was going to get my COPR in person at Canadian High Commission (CHC), Singapore. What I was hoping for was to get it ASAP as I had to travel on a Thursday afternoon for a very important meeting and I went to CHC on a Monday morning. After a short wait for my number to be called, I handed over the documents to the counter lady and inquired when I will be able to collect the COPR. To my horror, the answer was about 2 weeks!!! So I told her of my need to travel and then she asked me to wait as she had to call her supervisor. The supervisor called me into one of the interview rooms and explained to me that they give lowest priority to processing Singapore residents, hence the 2 week wait. The reason is that many others from nearby countries where they don't have Canadian representation come to CHC, Singapore for various applications and they get processed faster as they have to stay in hotels etc.
So I appealed to her that even though I am a Singaporean, I too live overseas presently due to my business requirements and the need to get the passports back by Wednesday. Well at the end, after some negotiations, she agreed to have my documents ready by Thursday morning. Then she went through my thick application file and found out that the photographs that I have submitted 4 long years ago at the time of our application is no longer acceptable. So I had to take a cab back home and find 2 sets of photos for 4 of us and take them back before CHC closes for the day. After much drama and thanks to modern technology (involving changing background on a photo), I made it back and they accepted the photos.
The COPR was ready on Thursday morning as promised and finally I had the official documents in my hand. I made my business trip as planned and my thanks to the CHC staff for their help. The lessons for anyone in the same situation as me is always to have some current photos ready and allow some time for the preparation of COPR. (May be it is just Singapore as I have heard that some Canadian missions do the COPR in 0ne day).
Before I ask the questions, here is our situation and what we are planning to do. My younger son is a student in Arizona and elder son is a student in Toronto. My wife has been living in Arizona with the younger son as he was a minor until recently. We have a car under my wife’s name and we are going to drive it with a hitched U-haul trailer to Niagara Falls where my elder son will meet us at the US side of the border and we will do the landing at one of the Niagara area border crossing points. The first question is whether there are any apparent problems with the above scenario?
We are going to keep the car under US registry for a while, so it will be on GTF list. There has been some excellent posts in this forum and elsewhere about moving a car from US to Canada, but I will appreciate any updates or recent experiences on this regard.
The next question is I am planning to return the U-haul trailer to the US side U-haul outlet a couple of days later as the fees to return it in Toronto is nearly 3 times. Will I encounter any problems driving back to Canada without a PR card? I know that you do need it for using public transport but will I need it for driving in own car? I will have all the entry documents including customs list with me when I do the trip to return the trailer.
I will also appreciate any tips on renting and pulling a U-haul trailer as I have never done it before. We don’t have enough stuff fill up a truck.
Sorry for the long post. I just wanted to talk about my experience at CHC and give a clear picture of our situation. Thank you for reading and in advance for your replies.
As mentioned in the above post, I was going to get my COPR in person at Canadian High Commission (CHC), Singapore. What I was hoping for was to get it ASAP as I had to travel on a Thursday afternoon for a very important meeting and I went to CHC on a Monday morning. After a short wait for my number to be called, I handed over the documents to the counter lady and inquired when I will be able to collect the COPR. To my horror, the answer was about 2 weeks!!! So I told her of my need to travel and then she asked me to wait as she had to call her supervisor. The supervisor called me into one of the interview rooms and explained to me that they give lowest priority to processing Singapore residents, hence the 2 week wait. The reason is that many others from nearby countries where they don't have Canadian representation come to CHC, Singapore for various applications and they get processed faster as they have to stay in hotels etc.
So I appealed to her that even though I am a Singaporean, I too live overseas presently due to my business requirements and the need to get the passports back by Wednesday. Well at the end, after some negotiations, she agreed to have my documents ready by Thursday morning. Then she went through my thick application file and found out that the photographs that I have submitted 4 long years ago at the time of our application is no longer acceptable. So I had to take a cab back home and find 2 sets of photos for 4 of us and take them back before CHC closes for the day. After much drama and thanks to modern technology (involving changing background on a photo), I made it back and they accepted the photos.
The COPR was ready on Thursday morning as promised and finally I had the official documents in my hand. I made my business trip as planned and my thanks to the CHC staff for their help. The lessons for anyone in the same situation as me is always to have some current photos ready and allow some time for the preparation of COPR. (May be it is just Singapore as I have heard that some Canadian missions do the COPR in 0ne day).
Before I ask the questions, here is our situation and what we are planning to do. My younger son is a student in Arizona and elder son is a student in Toronto. My wife has been living in Arizona with the younger son as he was a minor until recently. We have a car under my wife’s name and we are going to drive it with a hitched U-haul trailer to Niagara Falls where my elder son will meet us at the US side of the border and we will do the landing at one of the Niagara area border crossing points. The first question is whether there are any apparent problems with the above scenario?
We are going to keep the car under US registry for a while, so it will be on GTF list. There has been some excellent posts in this forum and elsewhere about moving a car from US to Canada, but I will appreciate any updates or recent experiences on this regard.
The next question is I am planning to return the U-haul trailer to the US side U-haul outlet a couple of days later as the fees to return it in Toronto is nearly 3 times. Will I encounter any problems driving back to Canada without a PR card? I know that you do need it for using public transport but will I need it for driving in own car? I will have all the entry documents including customs list with me when I do the trip to return the trailer.
I will also appreciate any tips on renting and pulling a U-haul trailer as I have never done it before. We don’t have enough stuff fill up a truck.
Sorry for the long post. I just wanted to talk about my experience at CHC and give a clear picture of our situation. Thank you for reading and in advance for your replies.