Landing at the border interview?

[CMLR]

I will be going back into the US for a few days and doing my landing when I come back through. We are laving tomorrow and coming back Sunday, yes, it is the long weekend but we hope by leaving a day early and coming back a day early we will not have as much traffic. My question may seem silly but do we, my husband is traveling with me, just go through the normal line for customs and then tell them I need to land? We will have about a dozen boxes of my things as well as our one year old dog and a new puppy with us. We know they need proof of the rabies shots which we will have with us as well. I am not too concerned with the stuff I will bring with me as none of it is really worth much but I was trying to figure out how they know you want to land. Thank you.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

You tell the primary officer that you are landing as a PR. They will direct you where to park and go into secondary to complete your landing.

 

[CMLR]

Thanks Canuk, that sort of what I thought but I was not totally sure and my husband has stressed about this entire process. I will be so happy when it is all done.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Thanks Canuk, that sort of what I thought but I was not totally sure and my husband has stressed about this entire process. I will be so happy when it is all done.

You're done the complicated part . Landing is a simple process, so tell him there is no need to stress. If the border isn't busy and there isn't a line up, you could be driving out as a PR in less than half an hour.

 

[a0]

Landing is a simple process, (...)

So, there's nothing that can go wrong?
I was wondering if anyone has ever heard of any cases when someone coming to land as a PR was refused to do so? (airport or border crossing)

 

[DuberBlue]

So, there's nothing that can go wrong?
I was wondering if anyone has ever heard of any cases when someone coming to land as a PR was refused to do so? (airport or border crossing)

As with anything, you can never say "nothing"....but in truth, the only real way you could be refused your PR with your CoPR in hand, is if you have a recent criminal conviction, or you give them reason to suspect that you deliberately lied anywhere on your application.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

So, there's nothing that can go wrong?
I was wondering if anyone has ever heard of any cases when someone coming to land as a PR was refused to do so? (airport or border crossing)

The only case I've seen was not too long ago. The Canadian sponsor was doing a Master's degree in the US and had no intention of returning to Canada for a few years. When CBSA found this out during the landing, they refused to land the applicant and told them to reapply when they were ready to actually come to Canada.

 

[CMLR]

Landed yesterday! all went very smoothly. Only asked me the questions on the COPR form nothing else. Funny thing, as he was finishing up his talk about my rights and letting me go he rolled his eye as he gave me a Canadian Flag. My husband and I both wanted to laugh at that....

 

[Serabeth]

Hijacking this thread for landing questions!

I'm landing in two days via airport and wanted to have all of my paperwork in order ahead of time. My husband found this old thread with landing tips but some of it is stressing us out. It tells us that there are several forms required to have prepared, including a PR Card application with specific photos which I don't have right now. Some of the things it says to have ready are not mentioned in the letter I received with my COPR so I don't know if I should worry about it or not.

Can anyone who has landed somewhat recently give me a break down of what I should actually have prepared and what I should expect when I land at Pearson International? Thanks!

 

[keesio]

Landing is one of the easiest parts of this whole process. My wife landed in Pearson Terminal 1. You go to the CBSA officer and tell him you would like to do your official landing and present him with your passport and COPR. He will direct you to the secondary area where you wait in line again to get called so you can do your landing. You give the officer your COPR and passport. The officer will ask you some really basic questions which all you have to do is answer honestly (questions like "have you been convicted of a crime recently", "do you feel healthy", "was there any change in your family status", etc). Then the officer will ask you for your address in Canada - this is important since this is the address your PR card is mailed to and pay attention that the officer writes it down correctly (the officer who did my wife's landing wrote down the wrong postal code so I pointed it out and he corrected it). Then the officer will have you initial in a few places and both you and the officer will sign both copies and he'll keep the copy with the photo on it and you keep the other. Then the officer will welcome you to Canada. Where my wife landed, there was a SIN kiosk across the room and the officer told my wife to go there and present her passport and her copy of COPR so she can get a SIN number right then and there. So she did and got her SIN number minutes after her landing. Then as you leave the area, some employee there gave my wife some booklets on Canada and a little bag to welcome her to Canada. Then we went to baggage claim, got our bags and went to customs where the customs agent asked her if she had over 10K in cash or anything else to declare. We provided a completed B4 form but the agent didn't seem too interested in it and said we didn't need one. But it is still a good idea to have a completed B4 form when your land anyway IMHO. After we left customs, that was it.

So 90 minutes after getting off the plane, my wife was a PR and we were leaving the airport. Of the 90 minutes, 12 minutes was the actual landing + getting a SIN number + customers, while the other 78 minutes was waiting in various lines.

 

[Abuelita]

I am also hijacking this thread for landing questions. Thanks a lot for this info!! We are stresses out because we are not totally clear on some issues. My husband will be moving back to Canada at the same time that I will be landing. We don't know in we should separate our belongings and declare them in separate B4 forms. We know we have to have a B4 form for the items that will be present with us at the time of crossing, and another for the ones being shipped/moved--but, can we travel by land together and use a single B4 form? We also want to take our car, which adds a layer of complexity because we have to coordinate the exportation/importation process of the vehicle, with the moving of our belongings. Any advice is very welcome!! Thanks in advance!

 

[DuberBlue]

The B4 isn't really worth getting worked up over It's just a list of things that a CBSA officer will look at and realize "ok, this person is moving here so this stuff isn't stuff that's being declared for Customs". There's a pretty good chance that they won't even give it more than a glance when you land. It would probably still be a good idea to keep a separate set for you and your husband (in case you come back separately next time).

I haven't tried importing a car so I can't really help you there unfortunately.

 

[Abuelita]

The B4 isn't really worth getting worked up over It's just a list of things that a CBSA officer will look at and realize "ok, this person is moving here so this stuff isn't stuff that's being declared for Customs". There's a pretty good chance that they won't even give it more than a glance when you land. It would probably still be a good idea to keep a separate set for you and your husband (in case you come back separately next time).

I haven't tried importing a car so I can't really help you there unfortunately.

Thanks for your advice DuberBlue!

 

[CMLR]

Serabeth, from what I have read you probably need to fill out separate forms, though I may understand this wrong. You are landing for the first time as a "settler" and your husband is returning. It seems to say that there are different requirements but again I may be wrong. I would not worry too much about listing every item you own. I think they want the more expensive things listed separately but things like pots and pans, linens, books, personal items can be listed in groups. I listed my things like... So many boxes of pots and pans, so many boxes of personal items..... Actually it may depend on which country your are coming from but me coming from the USA they did not even bother to look at my boxes in our truck. I hope tha tis somewhat helpful for you.

 

[Abuelita]

Serabeth, from what I have read you probably need to fill out separate forms, though I may understand this wrong. You are landing for the first time as a "settler" and your husband is returning. It seems to say that there are different requirements but again I may be wrong. I would not worry too much about listing every item you own. I think they want the more expensive things listed separately but things like pots and pans, linens, books, personal items can be listed in groups. I listed my things like... So many boxes of pots and pans, so many boxes of personal items..... Actually it may depend on which country your are coming from but me coming from the USA they did not even bother to look at my boxes in our truck. I hope tha tis somewhat helpful for you.

Thank you CMLR!