Entering Canada without LANDING

[csiiwyj]

On several forums, it is confirmed that a visa-exempt passport holder can enter Canada as a visitor, although he or she was issued CoPR, by telling CBSA officer that the travel purpose is for a short visit and he or she will land on a future date. We are in the similar suitation. My wife is Chinese, and she had been issued a 10 year multiple entry visitor visa and a worker visa before the CoPR and one time entry immigrant visa was issued, and the previous visas are still valid. Can she enter Canada as a visitor for a week before she land officially a month or more later?

Does anyone have experience? Any inputs are appreciated and welcome.

 

[Buletruck]

If she has her COPR and immigration visa her previous visa's have been cancelled. She can still land and exit but she'll need a travel document from the embassy in China to come back as I doubt she'll get a PR card in a week.

 

[bellaluna]

On several forums, it is confirmed that a visa-exempt passport holder can enter Canada as a visitor, although he or she was issued CoPR, by telling CBSA officer that the travel purpose is for a short visit and he or she will land on a future date. We are in the similar suitation. My wife is Chinese, and she had been issued a 10 year multiple entry visitor visa and a worker visa before the CoPR and one time entry immigrant visa was issued, and the previous visas are still valid. Can she enter Canada as a visitor for a week before she land officially a month or more later?

Does anyone have experience? Any inputs are appreciated and welcome.

Ignore the previous post. I have yet to hear an actual experience on this forum, but your intention should be accepted: your wife can inform the officer that she does not intend to land yet.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Ignore the previous post. I have yet to hear an actual experience on this forum, but your intention should be accepted: your wife can inform the officer that she does not intend to land yet.

For visa-exempt applicants, this is fine. However, OP's wife is not visa-exempt.

As Buletruck said, her multiple-entry TRV was cancelled when she was issued the PR visa, which is single entry only. If she travels to Canada on that visa, it will be used and done. She will no longer be in possession of a valid visa with which to travel to Canada again to actually land.

 

[bellaluna]

If your argument is that TRVs are voided upon issuance of COPR and PR visa, well, my multiple entry TRV will expire in 5 years and it was never canceled, even upon landing: only the PR visa was canceled upon landing as it was single-entry.

And here is one recent example of a landed PR actually using a TRV to board a plane and reenter Canada as a PR without a PR card and with no consequence.

http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/urgenthave-to-leave-canada-for-two-weeks-dont-have-a-pr-card-indian-passport-t434665.15.html

AFAIK, PR status is only activated when crossing a POE and signing the COPR in front of an officer. The visa is more for boarding carriers and showing privilege of entry to Canada. At this point, she can still use which visa she likes before the expiry date.

OP, if you're still confused, just have your wife ask the CBSA officer in a polite way. She has perfectly valid visas, and I'm pretty sure they would be happy to give her her options in a helpful and friendly manner.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

If your argument is that TRVs are voided upon issuance of COPR and PR visa, well, my multiple entry TRV will expire in 5 years and it was never canceled, even upon landing: only the PR visa was canceled upon landing as it was single-entry.

AFAIK, PR status is only activated when crossing a POE and signing the COPR in front of an officer. The visa is more for boarding carriers and showing privilege of entry to Canada. At this point, she can still use which visa she likes before the expiry date.

TRVs are cancelled upon issuance of the PR visa. A person is not supposed to hold multiple visas. However, they are not always struck through and so don't physically appear as cancelled except in the system.

It is very possible that she may be able to do this. However, it is also possible that when she comes asking to enter as just a visitor, CBSA will strike through her multiple entry visa because it has been cancelled and strike through her PR visa because it's single entry.

 

[bellaluna]

Here is a discussion I dug up, with actual, real-life experiences. I should have done this at the very start.

http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/immigration-puzzle-pr-visa-cruise-to-alaska-canadian-and-us-trvs-t239157.0.html

It's fine to do what OP intends, even as non-visa-exempt.

Posting on behalf of a work colleague of mine. Hoping the brains here can confirm there's a way out of this problem.

Problem: His non-visa exempt parents recently received their approved PR visas and were planning on landing next week. They also hold valid multiple visitor visas for both Canada and the US. They are scheduled to go on a cruise to Alaska a week after they land (starting and ending in Vancouver). If they land next week - they obviously won't have their PR cards before the cruise leaves and the landing will invalidate their Canadian visitor visas. They also can't get Travel Documents from within Canada - which means the cruise won't let them board because they will hold no document that allows them to re-enter Canada. (I don't think the cruise will let them onboard with the CORP alone - but maybe I'm wrong?)

Question: Can they solve this problem by doing the following?

1) Fly to Canada next week but don't land. Enter Canada as tourists instead using their multiple entry TRVs. Tell immigration they plan to land at a later date.
2) Go on the cruise using their Canadian and US multiple entry tourist visas.
3) Once they are back in Canada after the cruise, flagpole to land (I know this bit is possible).

Thoughts? Possible? Not possible?

And a huge thanks in advance from my incredibly stressed out colleague who has just realized their vacation may not be doable.

Sounds a little familiar to what my wife did. Basically we had a trip planned to Europe. She got her COPR before the trip but we decided we wanted to land after the trip. But our flights were roundtrip departing and arriving back in Toronto. So my wife (who was still in the US at the time) flew up to Toronto a few days before the flight to Europe. Even though she had her COPR, she didn't land but entered as a visitor using her visa-exempt US passport. She didn't mention COPR and the CBSA officer never asked. Then we went on our trip and when we returned back to Canada, she officially landed.

The only difference here is that my wife has a visa-exempt passport. But your friend's parents have multi-entry tourist visas so they can enter both countries anyway. And of course after their trip, they would enter Canada again as tourists and flag-pole. But the key thing that I know is possible is that you can still choose to enter Canada as a visitor (as long as you have a visa to do so) even if you have COPR already.

I also called CIC to confirm if this is ok before my wife came up. They said that is fine, not everyone is ready to officially land right away and choose to delay it but still want to visit Canada for personal and logistical reasons before hand.

BTW: In case anyone is interested, my colleague did end up doing this and it worked fine. He was incredibly thankful.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Here is a discussion I dug up, with actual, real-life experiences. I should have done this at the very start.

It's fine to do what OP intends, even as non-visa-exempt.

Two experiences where people where able to do it does not mean that you can guarantee OP's wife will be fine to do the same.

 

[bellaluna]

I don't discount that.

So, OP, it's best if you call CIC or CBSA yourself rather than relying on anonymous strangers on the internet.

 

[Beltex]

I may receive COPR before I depart for a planned solo visit to Canada, I would however prefer to land at a later date with the rest of my family.

I have an ETA, can I travel on that until I officially land?

 

[mayple]

I may receive COPR before I depart for a planned solo visit to Canada, I would however prefer to land at a later date with the rest of my family.

I have an ETA, can I travel on that until I officially land?

Any update on this query? were you able to successfully travel with an eTA prior to receiving the COPR documents?