Dear all,
Finally, finally, it's my turn to write something about my landing experience.
First of all, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to all you guys who answered my questions, shared your stories, and encouraged me to face horrible waiting during the past 13 months since I submitted my initial application to NS through I got my PPR.
I landed at Pearson Int'l Airport (YYZ) on the 29th of December, 2010. Due to reading the experience shared by those experts, I had a big envelop containing all my landing stuff, i.e., passport, 2 pieces of photos, landing paper, my friend's address and phone number, money, and Canadian custom declaration form which I filled out in the flight. In fact, photos are not necessary for your landing, but I had them in my pocket just in case. I landed at YYZ Terminal 3. Unlike what others said, I was being "welcomed" only once.
I went to the custom at first. The officer was very nice and friendly. He asked me if I took any fresh food/meat/vegetable, etc. with me. After got my "No" answer, he started looking at my passport and landing paper without any other questions any more. Then I gave him the address of my friend, he smiled at me. He stamped admission date at my passport, crossed out the immigration visa, confirmed with me about the amount of money I took for landing, had me sign my name and initial at the landing paper, passed me the last page of the landing paper, and finally, "welcomed" me. That's all. Then he instructed me to my second station, "Immigration Center" (or something like that. Sorry, I already forget the name
) When I got that center, a lady wrote something on her note book and gave me a bunch of prints including the introduction of language training center, career development center, SIN application center, etc., plus a handbag which is really useful. I like that bag. To save my time, I didn't bring much stuff with me, so I only had a carry-on suitcase and didn't need to check-in/out my bags. So, I didn't spend any time to wait for my bags at YYZ. The third station and the last one was to declare my money at a counter which is very close to the exit gate. I took USD 9000 and EUR 2000 in cash with me as I don't want to pay for bank wire transfer. The officer at that station asked me to show him my money. I gave him the money and he didn't count. Then he filled out a form and put the amount exactly same as the one presented on my landing paper. After that, I met my friend at the gate, left YYZ, really "stepped" into Canada.
My friend drove me directly from YYZ to a drive testing center. We waited in a line for 71 minutes which I was told later by the officer who dealt with my license application. I got the full G license by exchanging through my US license. The total cost is CAD 75.
On the next day, I went to apply for SIN, which was really smooth, too. After that, I went to a bank to deposit my USD9000 and EUR2000. LOL
On the last day of 2010, I left Canada and flew directly to US to visit my friend. I'm going to completely move to Canada in the spring, most possibly, in March.
Although I only spent three nights at Toronto, I love that place. I'm so happy that I filed my application and finally I made it.
I'm going to end up my landing "story" and may all of you a great, great, great new year of 2011!
Love-U-Canada!
