COPR Traveling - Advice Please!

[quakingaspen]

Hi guys! I hope you're all have a great week and ready for the weekend.

I have a somewhat perplexing problem, and I'm not sure what my best course of action is. I hope to be landing in about a week (at the end of April). I have been hoping to travel back to the States to visit my family in the middle of June. My husband and I live in Ontario, and I will be traveling to Utah/Idaho/Wyoming/Montana to visit my family. It would take too much time and money to travel there by car, so I would rather fly.

However, I'm not at all certain that I'll have my PR card by the middle of June. And, to the best of my understanding, you cannot travel on a commercial carrier with just a COPR. So that would remove flying in and out of Toronto.

I could drive to one of the airports in New York, but I'm concerned about running into trouble if I haven't yet imported/exported my car. Although, I suppose that leaving my car at the airport for the required 72 hours (or in this case, a week) would be easy if I did that.

I could wait to land until I come back from visiting my family, and land in the airport in Toronto... but my husband is anxious for me to get registered for OHIP, and I am anxious to get a SIN number and start applying for jobs.

I could postpone my trip, but that might cause problems with the aforementioned job search, and I need to refill a prescription while I'm visiting my family.

I could get a travel document, but I'd REALLY rather avoid the hastle of more paperwork, another $50 fee, and more passport photographs.

Can I travel as a US citizen, like I would before I applied for PR? Or would this cause hastles.

I'm really at a loss. I'd appreciate any insight or advice you guys have!

 

[AllisonVSC]

Does your partner have a car which you could drive down to NY? That would solve both issues (crossing by land and not yet importing your car). If you drive your car you could stop at the export office on the way down. If you have previously submitted the title they might actually let you export it at that time. Then you could import it when you cross coming home.

I landed near the end of 2009. I did not import/export my car until months later even though it was already in Canada. I drove across the border with it once (I was coming home to Toronto from my brother's funeral) and the border guard had no problem with me driving the car in without importing (I did not have my forms with me). Since then it seems a few people have had trouble with some of the requirements.

 

[rjessome]

Hi guys! I hope you're all have a great week and ready for the weekend.

I have a somewhat perplexing problem, and I'm not sure what my best course of action is. I hope to be landing in about a week (at the end of April). I have been hoping to travel back to the States to visit my family in the middle of June. My husband and I live in Ontario, and I will be traveling to Utah/Idaho/Wyoming/Montana to visit my family. It would take too much time and money to travel there by car, so I would rather fly.

However, I'm not at all certain that I'll have my PR card by the middle of June. And, to the best of my understanding, you cannot travel on a commercial carrier with just a COPR. So that would remove flying in and out of Toronto.

I could drive to one of the airports in New York, but I'm concerned about running into trouble if I haven't yet imported/exported my car. Although, I suppose that leaving my car at the airport for the required 72 hours (or in this case, a week) would be easy if I did that.

I could wait to land until I come back from visiting my family, and land in the airport in Toronto... but my husband is anxious for me to get registered for OHIP, and I am anxious to get a SIN number and start applying for jobs.

I could postpone my trip, but that might cause problems with the aforementioned job search, and I need to refill a prescription while I'm visiting my family.

I could get a travel document, but I'd REALLY rather avoid the hastle of more paperwork, another $50 fee, and more passport photographs.

Can I travel as a US citizen, like I would before I applied for PR? Or would this cause hastles.

I'm really at a loss. I'd appreciate any insight or advice you guys have!

Because you are a US citizen and visa exempt, you can still continue to travel across the border after landing as a PR without your PR card if you don't have it yet. Take your COPR with you and indentify yourself as a PR at the POE to the CBSA officer. Tell them you haven't received your PR card yet. You can't get a travel document because US citizens don't need them being visa exempt.

 

[quakingaspen]

Great. Thanks for the advice, guys! That helps a lot.