Hi All,
Sharing my landing experience at Peace bridge - Fort Erie at Buffalo. It was a very short landing, will have to return immediately after dropping off some valuable furniture at my friend's place in Toronto.
Got my passport back on 04-Oct around 10.30am in DC, immediately booked a rental car and drove to Peace Bridge at Buffalo to complete my landing procedure. Reached the Peace bridge at around 06.30pm.
Do note that the CoPR requests will be processed for PR card only on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 8:00 a.m. to midnight. If you land on a different time/day then you will be permitted into Canada, but your landing procedures wont be completed. You will have to visit a CIC office next day inland.
Follow this link for complete procedures and list of documents that you need take with you. I will list them below,
A) Officer at the entry booth
Questions asked were straight forward, (Answers in green)
1) Purpose of visit (complete my PR landing and bring some valuable furniture to a friend in Toronto)
2) Is this your car? (mine was rental)
3) Will I bring my car? (No, coz its leased in US)
4) Statutory questions such as firearms, food items etc (Disclosed that I had a Subway sandwich, it was ok)
5) Was give an yellow slip (said 1X PR) asked to leave to the office inside, after parking at a numbered spot.
B) Border security officer
1) Provide the Yellow slip, Passport, CoPR document for her validation.
2) S/he will direct you to the immigration officer, who sits right adjacent.
C) Immigration officer
1) S/he will process your application, ask a few statutory questions
2) Provide your Canadian address for PR card delivery.
3) Proof of funds and currency in-hand queries.
4) Finally stamp and pin the CoPR document onto passport.
5) S/he will also provide all the required procedures for retaining PR and applying for citizenship.
6) Then again you will be redirected to the Border security officer.
B) Border security officer
1) S/he will now take the BSF186 for currently imported items and the BSF186a for items to follow.
2) Its better to enter the serial numbers for the electronics and other items if they have one.
3) Declare all you can, its not a must that you need to import if listed there.
4) S/he will confirm the items and then upload it to the system.
5) You will be given a stamped copy of the BSF186 and BSF186a, that has to accompany each time you enter Canada.
6) You all set and good to go.
Important items to note.
1) My T-Mobile didn't have mobile data at peace bridge and I was en-route to Toronto.
I downloaded offline maps and had a standalone GPS.
2) Declare everything you have in the forms, you can import a subset of that. Its impossible to add items later.
3) It was warm in DC (31) and cold in Toronto (19) and they say its pretty warm.
4) Make sure BSF186 is printed in 14X11 paper.
5) Speed limit on Queen Elizabeth freeway is 100kph or 63mph. But many cars did upto 150kph or 93mph
6) You can complete your SIN procedure on the same day, if landed in business hours. SIN is provided at 'Service Canada' locations that is not at the border. There are many on the way to Toronto.
7) Have a letter from your bank, denoting the proof of funds. I wasnt asked for it.
8) Inform your US bank about the Canada travel to allow transactions at the ATM or on your credit card.
In the end, the procedure took about 15 mins, which included a restroom break. I unloaded all the furniture at my Friend's place and returned.
Entry into US,
I had my visa and i94 multiple entry card (given at Mexico border on a visit)
It was very weird that the US officer was very upset of me moving to Canada.
All his questions relating to why not stay in US? (I told it will take about 100yrs for my GC in US)
Finally he said ok its your call and let me go. Was very very weird.
PS: I should have stayed in Buffalo that night, but hoping to find some highway hotel. Everything was pitch dark in on the highway i129. Was super scary, ended up driving all the way back to DC.
All that best to everyone. Here's a pic at the peace bridge.
Sharing my landing experience at Peace bridge - Fort Erie at Buffalo. It was a very short landing, will have to return immediately after dropping off some valuable furniture at my friend's place in Toronto.
Got my passport back on 04-Oct around 10.30am in DC, immediately booked a rental car and drove to Peace Bridge at Buffalo to complete my landing procedure. Reached the Peace bridge at around 06.30pm.
Do note that the CoPR requests will be processed for PR card only on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 8:00 a.m. to midnight. If you land on a different time/day then you will be permitted into Canada, but your landing procedures wont be completed. You will have to visit a CIC office next day inland.
Follow this link for complete procedures and list of documents that you need take with you. I will list them below,
A) Officer at the entry booth
Questions asked were straight forward, (Answers in green)
1) Purpose of visit (complete my PR landing and bring some valuable furniture to a friend in Toronto)
2) Is this your car? (mine was rental)
3) Will I bring my car? (No, coz its leased in US)
4) Statutory questions such as firearms, food items etc (Disclosed that I had a Subway sandwich, it was ok)
5) Was give an yellow slip (said 1X PR) asked to leave to the office inside, after parking at a numbered spot.
B) Border security officer
1) Provide the Yellow slip, Passport, CoPR document for her validation.
2) S/he will direct you to the immigration officer, who sits right adjacent.
C) Immigration officer
1) S/he will process your application, ask a few statutory questions
2) Provide your Canadian address for PR card delivery.
3) Proof of funds and currency in-hand queries.
4) Finally stamp and pin the CoPR document onto passport.
5) S/he will also provide all the required procedures for retaining PR and applying for citizenship.
6) Then again you will be redirected to the Border security officer.
B) Border security officer
1) S/he will now take the BSF186 for currently imported items and the BSF186a for items to follow.
2) Its better to enter the serial numbers for the electronics and other items if they have one.
3) Declare all you can, its not a must that you need to import if listed there.
4) S/he will confirm the items and then upload it to the system.
5) You will be given a stamped copy of the BSF186 and BSF186a, that has to accompany each time you enter Canada.
6) You all set and good to go.
Important items to note.
1) My T-Mobile didn't have mobile data at peace bridge and I was en-route to Toronto.
I downloaded offline maps and had a standalone GPS.
2) Declare everything you have in the forms, you can import a subset of that. Its impossible to add items later.
3) It was warm in DC (31) and cold in Toronto (19) and they say its pretty warm.
4) Make sure BSF186 is printed in 14X11 paper.
5) Speed limit on Queen Elizabeth freeway is 100kph or 63mph. But many cars did upto 150kph or 93mph
6) You can complete your SIN procedure on the same day, if landed in business hours. SIN is provided at 'Service Canada' locations that is not at the border. There are many on the way to Toronto.
7) Have a letter from your bank, denoting the proof of funds. I wasnt asked for it.
8) Inform your US bank about the Canada travel to allow transactions at the ATM or on your credit card.
In the end, the procedure took about 15 mins, which included a restroom break. I unloaded all the furniture at my Friend's place and returned.
Entry into US,
I had my visa and i94 multiple entry card (given at Mexico border on a visit)
It was very weird that the US officer was very upset of me moving to Canada.
All his questions relating to why not stay in US? (I told it will take about 100yrs for my GC in US)
Finally he said ok its your call and let me go. Was very very weird.
PS: I should have stayed in Buffalo that night, but hoping to find some highway hotel. Everything was pitch dark in on the highway i129. Was super scary, ended up driving all the way back to DC.
All that best to everyone. Here's a pic at the peace bridge.
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