- Apr 8, 2011
- 5
- Visa Office......
- Buffalo
- NOC Code......
- 3152
- App. Filed.......
- 04-07-2011
- Doc's Request.
- sent with application
- Nomination.....
- no
- AOR Received.
- 07-09-2011
- IELTS Request
- sent with application
- File Transfer...
- It didn't say...
- Med's Request
- 09-12-2013
- Med's Done....
- 02-01-2014
- Interview........
- Waived
- Passport Req..
- 10-02-2014
- VISA ISSUED...
- 13-02-2014
- LANDED..........
- 30-05-2014
Hi all!!! We finally landed here in British Columbia, Canada on May 30, 2014! We were overwhelmed with joy since we waited for this for almost three years. We were truly blessed so we wanted to share our experiences with all of you. I hope this account will be helpful to some. So here were the series of events:
U.S. border experience:
My wife and I lived in Washington state and so we brought our car with us and most of our belongings and drove to the Canada border. Also, we brought our beloved Shih tzu with us. It took about 2 hours to reach the Blaine/Pacific Highway border.
From the U.S. border, we parked at the “truck parking” as per the email reply/instructions they sent us. It was a confusing set-up since the office was across the street and there were some type of barricade in the middle of the street. Just imagine us in a highway with our dog crossing the not-so-pedestrian-friendly street to the Border patrol office (It was a pretty hilarious scene).
We asked one of the U.S. border patrol officers who was assisting the cars exiting and he told us to just park across the street (not really a parking area). So we went back and got our car. When we finally managed to park, I (with our dog) waited outside for my wife since she has to go inside the office to process the vehicle export. I waited for about 20 mins, and one U.S. border patrol officer approached me and asked me arrogantly what I was doing there. I told him that I was waiting for my wife. The officer then replied and asked me why it was taking so long for the export process to finish to which I replied that there were four people ahead of her. It seemed to me that they don't want me to linger in front of the office so I asked if I can just wait inside the car and he agreed. I found that the U.S. officers were grumpy. My wife then told me that it only took about 2 minutes for her to have the vehicle title stamped.
Canada border experience:
When we reached the Canada border, we told the lady officer (in a “toll-booth” like set-up) that we will be doing our landing formalities, she then asked us what items we were bringing. We then replied with general items like clothing, electronics, housewares, kitchen supplies etc. We also gave her our passports and COPRs. She then asked us if we were carrying any firearms or deadly weapons to which we replied, “No.” When she asked if we had a pepper spray, my wife replied, “Yes.” (my wife always bring one on her purse
).
She also asked us how much money we were bringing, we told her we had more than $10,000 in cash. Once we answered all her questions, she directed us to park in a particular lane and to enter the office to complete our landing procedure. We were also asked to leave our dog inside the car or the kennel outside the building. Before she said goodbye to us, she then smiled and sincerely welcomed us to Canada (she said it enthusiastically). This really made us feel welcomed and joyful. It was a huge difference from what we saw at the U.S border. We then entered the office leaving our dog inside the car (with windows rolled down). One lady gave us the Vehicle import form and asked us to fill it out which we did. When it was finally our turn, we handed our passports to another lady officer together with the lists of goods to bring and to follow. We also submitted the e677 form since we were carrying more than $10K in cash. It was a pretty smooth process which involved signing the paper and putting our initials on the COPRs. The officer didn't even ask us for any other forms like the permanent resident forms, jewelry appraisal, jewelry pictures, our dog's vaccination certificate, other valuable items etc.
For the PR card, she just asked us our Canada mailing address and didn't ask for extra photos. They didn't even peek into the car and check everything. The only question they asked us was the question that was written in the COPR form (i.e criminal records/history, etc). It was too funny because while the officer was checking on all our papers, we heard over their radio communication that “the dog inside the car” (referring to our dog) was making a lot of noise. We expected this to happen since our dog has anxiety issues, he does not want to be left alone. The officer told us to bring the dog inside the office since he's on a leash. She even pet our dog once inside. We found out that the officer was not only a pet lover but owns the same breed as our dog.
Once, it was all over, the officer took the goods to bring, goods to follow and the e677 forms. She then gave us a copy of the goods to bring (with stamp on it), goods to follow and the COPR. My wife asked why the goods to follow form wasn't stamped and she replied that it was not necessary. Instead, she just placed her signature and location of the border to the goods to follow form. Finally, she gave us her warmest welcome to Canada. We were finally relieved to went through it all without any adversaries. It took us a total of an hour for everything.
Experience afterwards:
We finally reached our hotel which was not too far from the border and since we had some time, we decided to get our SIN at the nearest Service Canada location, which was located in Surrey. Again, we went through the process with ease. We just gave our COPRs & passports, they asked us if we used any other names etc. and we finally had our number. They don't send out any wallet-sized card anymore, it was just a regular print out paper.
So far, our experience had been nothing but great. It seemed like the environment was just like Washington state but so far the people that we have met and provided services to us were much more courteous and jolly than people from the US.
We were looking forward to start our new life and I wish all of you to reach all your desired destinations and aspirations. My apologies for this long post. Cheers and good luck to you all!
UPDATE: Apartment hunting
Please note that in British Columbia, particularly in Vancouver and lower mainland areas, it's hard to rent for an apartment that allow pets. Most of the apartments here are not pet friendly at all. We're kind of disappointed and it's very frustrating for us since we are still looking for one. We really thought that they're pet friendly here, at least for most of the apartments. I would suggest that you go to the neighborhood yourself and check it out rather than just relying online.
Thanks for reading. Good luck!
U.S. border experience:
My wife and I lived in Washington state and so we brought our car with us and most of our belongings and drove to the Canada border. Also, we brought our beloved Shih tzu with us. It took about 2 hours to reach the Blaine/Pacific Highway border.
From the U.S. border, we parked at the “truck parking” as per the email reply/instructions they sent us. It was a confusing set-up since the office was across the street and there were some type of barricade in the middle of the street. Just imagine us in a highway with our dog crossing the not-so-pedestrian-friendly street to the Border patrol office (It was a pretty hilarious scene).
We asked one of the U.S. border patrol officers who was assisting the cars exiting and he told us to just park across the street (not really a parking area). So we went back and got our car. When we finally managed to park, I (with our dog) waited outside for my wife since she has to go inside the office to process the vehicle export. I waited for about 20 mins, and one U.S. border patrol officer approached me and asked me arrogantly what I was doing there. I told him that I was waiting for my wife. The officer then replied and asked me why it was taking so long for the export process to finish to which I replied that there were four people ahead of her. It seemed to me that they don't want me to linger in front of the office so I asked if I can just wait inside the car and he agreed. I found that the U.S. officers were grumpy. My wife then told me that it only took about 2 minutes for her to have the vehicle title stamped.
Canada border experience:
When we reached the Canada border, we told the lady officer (in a “toll-booth” like set-up) that we will be doing our landing formalities, she then asked us what items we were bringing. We then replied with general items like clothing, electronics, housewares, kitchen supplies etc. We also gave her our passports and COPRs. She then asked us if we were carrying any firearms or deadly weapons to which we replied, “No.” When she asked if we had a pepper spray, my wife replied, “Yes.” (my wife always bring one on her purse
). She also asked us how much money we were bringing, we told her we had more than $10,000 in cash. Once we answered all her questions, she directed us to park in a particular lane and to enter the office to complete our landing procedure. We were also asked to leave our dog inside the car or the kennel outside the building. Before she said goodbye to us, she then smiled and sincerely welcomed us to Canada (she said it enthusiastically). This really made us feel welcomed and joyful. It was a huge difference from what we saw at the U.S border. We then entered the office leaving our dog inside the car (with windows rolled down). One lady gave us the Vehicle import form and asked us to fill it out which we did. When it was finally our turn, we handed our passports to another lady officer together with the lists of goods to bring and to follow. We also submitted the e677 form since we were carrying more than $10K in cash. It was a pretty smooth process which involved signing the paper and putting our initials on the COPRs. The officer didn't even ask us for any other forms like the permanent resident forms, jewelry appraisal, jewelry pictures, our dog's vaccination certificate, other valuable items etc.
For the PR card, she just asked us our Canada mailing address and didn't ask for extra photos. They didn't even peek into the car and check everything. The only question they asked us was the question that was written in the COPR form (i.e criminal records/history, etc). It was too funny because while the officer was checking on all our papers, we heard over their radio communication that “the dog inside the car” (referring to our dog) was making a lot of noise. We expected this to happen since our dog has anxiety issues, he does not want to be left alone.
The officer told us to bring the dog inside the office since he's on a leash. She even pet our dog once inside. We found out that the officer was not only a pet lover but owns the same breed as our dog. Once, it was all over, the officer took the goods to bring, goods to follow and the e677 forms. She then gave us a copy of the goods to bring (with stamp on it), goods to follow and the COPR. My wife asked why the goods to follow form wasn't stamped and she replied that it was not necessary. Instead, she just placed her signature and location of the border to the goods to follow form. Finally, she gave us her warmest welcome to Canada. We were finally relieved to went through it all without any adversaries. It took us a total of an hour for everything.
Experience afterwards:
We finally reached our hotel which was not too far from the border and since we had some time, we decided to get our SIN at the nearest Service Canada location, which was located in Surrey. Again, we went through the process with ease. We just gave our COPRs & passports, they asked us if we used any other names etc. and we finally had our number. They don't send out any wallet-sized card anymore, it was just a regular print out paper.
So far, our experience had been nothing but great. It seemed like the environment was just like Washington state but so far the people that we have met and provided services to us were much more courteous and jolly than people from the US.
We were looking forward to start our new life and I wish all of you to reach all your desired destinations and aspirations. My apologies for this long post. Cheers and good luck to you all!
UPDATE: Apartment hunting
Please note that in British Columbia, particularly in Vancouver and lower mainland areas, it's hard to rent for an apartment that allow pets. Most of the apartments here are not pet friendly at all. We're kind of disappointed and it's very frustrating for us since we are still looking for one. We really thought that they're pet friendly here, at least for most of the apartments.
I would suggest that you go to the neighborhood yourself and check it out rather than just relying online. Thanks for reading.
Good luck!
