Hello,
Firstly, I would like to thank you all for answering our questions regarding the whole PR process.
Secondly, I thought it would be good to share our experience so far and hope it will be helpful to people who are looking to apply or are in the process of applying.
I am a Canadian citizen applied for a spouse sponsorship for my husband who is British (and we both currently live in London, UK). We submitted our application early December 2015 and by mid- December 2015 we got a letter from CIC asking us to submit a missing document (which we did very promptly). By the end of February 2016, I got a letter confirming my eligibility as a sponsor. From then on, we kept checking our application status using client id (which was provided with my sponsor approval letter). Finally, mid-September 2016 the status changed online to 'Decision Made' and we received a letter confirming my husband's PR by late-September. We were asked to make his official landing before mid-November and so off we went last week for few days to get his document stamped.
It is perfectly normal to go to Canada for few days to get your PR status active and return to organise your move properly. In our case, we are looking into moving officially by April 2017.
The overall process was were quick and smooth (maybe because it was not a busy period).
At the immigration desk, we let the officer know the purpose of our visit (i.e. PR landing), so he did some marking on the customs declaration card (a big 'Z' to be precise) and asked us to go through an entrance before we went to collect our bags etc. The lady officer at the desk was chirpy and very helpful - she asked to see our passports and my husbands letter of PR confirmation (2 copies). Within 5-7 minutes she stamped the copies and officially welcomed him to Canada. We were then asked to pick up a welcome package (with lots of useful information to prepare for the move) and then were sent to get my husband's Social Insurance Number (took us 5 minutes to get it).
We then collected our luggage and on our way out we let the officer know that we were here for PR etc. He asked us to go through a separate room. This is where you would need to show 'list of goods accompanying' and 'goods to follow'. We only had 'goods to follow' list (2 copies each - 'returning resident' and 'settler). If you have goods accompanying you then be prepared for thorough inspection of your bags. We got our copies stamped (one copy stays with the officer and the other was returned to us for our records) and were free to leave. From what the officer told us, when we return to settle permanently, we will be asked to provide the list of goods which will then be marked by an officer before we leave the airport etc. (seems pretty straightforward).
Overall, the experience was quick and smooth and now we are looking forward to our move to Canada, eh!
Firstly, I would like to thank you all for answering our questions regarding the whole PR process.
Secondly, I thought it would be good to share our experience so far and hope it will be helpful to people who are looking to apply or are in the process of applying.
I am a Canadian citizen applied for a spouse sponsorship for my husband who is British (and we both currently live in London, UK). We submitted our application early December 2015 and by mid- December 2015 we got a letter from CIC asking us to submit a missing document (which we did very promptly). By the end of February 2016, I got a letter confirming my eligibility as a sponsor. From then on, we kept checking our application status using client id (which was provided with my sponsor approval letter). Finally, mid-September 2016 the status changed online to 'Decision Made' and we received a letter confirming my husband's PR by late-September. We were asked to make his official landing before mid-November and so off we went last week for few days to get his document stamped.
It is perfectly normal to go to Canada for few days to get your PR status active and return to organise your move properly. In our case, we are looking into moving officially by April 2017.
The overall process was were quick and smooth (maybe because it was not a busy period).
At the immigration desk, we let the officer know the purpose of our visit (i.e. PR landing), so he did some marking on the customs declaration card (a big 'Z' to be precise) and asked us to go through an entrance before we went to collect our bags etc. The lady officer at the desk was chirpy and very helpful - she asked to see our passports and my husbands letter of PR confirmation (2 copies). Within 5-7 minutes she stamped the copies and officially welcomed him to Canada. We were then asked to pick up a welcome package (with lots of useful information to prepare for the move) and then were sent to get my husband's Social Insurance Number (took us 5 minutes to get it).
We then collected our luggage and on our way out we let the officer know that we were here for PR etc. He asked us to go through a separate room. This is where you would need to show 'list of goods accompanying' and 'goods to follow'. We only had 'goods to follow' list (2 copies each - 'returning resident' and 'settler). If you have goods accompanying you then be prepared for thorough inspection of your bags. We got our copies stamped (one copy stays with the officer and the other was returned to us for our records) and were free to leave. From what the officer told us, when we return to settle permanently, we will be asked to provide the list of goods which will then be marked by an officer before we leave the airport etc. (seems pretty straightforward).
Overall, the experience was quick and smooth and now we are looking forward to our move to Canada, eh!
