I'll keep this simple and to the point.
I stayed in a Detroit suburb with family and drove to the Tunnel (set the tunnel as Destination in Google Maps). In case you're anxious, there are YouTube videos of what the Tunnel looks like (road signs are clear saying "Canada"). So, you can't go wrong here.
I arrived at the main immigration booth where I let the agent know that I am a new PR arriving for the first time. He asked a few preliminary questions and redirected me to park to the right. Once there, we had a few agents chilling out (presumably on a break) who directed us inside to the "Immigration Center".
This place is like any other government office you might have been to. Reminded me of a post office with the only exception of the agents all wearing uniforms.
The experience is going to differ from this point on based on your case time, you arrive at etc.
We arrived 10 mins before noon on a Friday. I chose this to avoid a rush and also to have time enough to finish signing up for SIN (I learnt that it is pronounced as the word 'sin' and not as an acronym), a bank account, and explore the town a bit.
There was one person ahead of us in the queue. When the agent received us, he asked some standard questions and started processing immediately. I was there with my wife and our 4 month old. Likely because of the infant accompanying us, we were told to take a seat while the agent entered everything into the system (or probably because he was new to the system). We just sat there for like 45 mins while this was being done. When we were called, we were told of our rights and obligations, to sign the CoPR. Then we were given our copy of the CoPR and the Passport. The agent made sure to let us know that we had to hand over a copy of the Goods to Follow to the transporter since we were moving and shipping our possessions at a later time. We had gone prepared with 2 copies of Goods Accompanying and Goods to Follow.
The experience was very pleasant with some funny remarks from the agent about my child's photo etc.
When we exited the complex, we took a right and went to City Hall to get SIN. The Tourist Information center is right across the City Hall parking lot (paid).
We got the SIN (45 mins process) for all 3 of us and went to get a bank account at Scotiabank but that didn't pan out.
We went to the Sculpture park and McDonalds before returning via the Ambassador Bridge. I felt that the US agent was a bit cold when I showed him my passport with a H1B stamping (I understand that this was mostly my perception). When asked I told him about the PR (should have kept my mouth shut) and he got very confused.
Hope this helps. Let me know if you'd like to know more about the experience or about Windsor (from what I saw).
P.S: Written on my phone. Excuse typos.
I stayed in a Detroit suburb with family and drove to the Tunnel (set the tunnel as Destination in Google Maps). In case you're anxious, there are YouTube videos of what the Tunnel looks like (road signs are clear saying "Canada"). So, you can't go wrong here.
I arrived at the main immigration booth where I let the agent know that I am a new PR arriving for the first time. He asked a few preliminary questions and redirected me to park to the right. Once there, we had a few agents chilling out (presumably on a break) who directed us inside to the "Immigration Center".
This place is like any other government office you might have been to. Reminded me of a post office with the only exception of the agents all wearing uniforms.
The experience is going to differ from this point on based on your case time, you arrive at etc.
We arrived 10 mins before noon on a Friday. I chose this to avoid a rush and also to have time enough to finish signing up for SIN (I learnt that it is pronounced as the word 'sin' and not as an acronym), a bank account, and explore the town a bit.
There was one person ahead of us in the queue. When the agent received us, he asked some standard questions and started processing immediately. I was there with my wife and our 4 month old. Likely because of the infant accompanying us, we were told to take a seat while the agent entered everything into the system (or probably because he was new to the system). We just sat there for like 45 mins while this was being done. When we were called, we were told of our rights and obligations, to sign the CoPR. Then we were given our copy of the CoPR and the Passport. The agent made sure to let us know that we had to hand over a copy of the Goods to Follow to the transporter since we were moving and shipping our possessions at a later time. We had gone prepared with 2 copies of Goods Accompanying and Goods to Follow.
The experience was very pleasant with some funny remarks from the agent about my child's photo etc.
When we exited the complex, we took a right and went to City Hall to get SIN. The Tourist Information center is right across the City Hall parking lot (paid).
We got the SIN (45 mins process) for all 3 of us and went to get a bank account at Scotiabank but that didn't pan out.
We went to the Sculpture park and McDonalds before returning via the Ambassador Bridge. I felt that the US agent was a bit cold when I showed him my passport with a H1B stamping (I understand that this was mostly my perception). When asked I told him about the PR (should have kept my mouth shut) and he got very confused.
Hope this helps. Let me know if you'd like to know more about the experience or about Windsor (from what I saw).
P.S: Written on my phone. Excuse typos.
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