PR notification and expiration?

[Blueeyes294]

I am an American and my husband is Canadian. How will we be notified that my Permanent Residency Application has been approved? Will we receive paperwork by snail mail that I should carry along with my passport?

How long after we are notified do we have for me to "land" with all my household furnishings and inventory? Is there an expiration date? I read somewhere that one must land within 1 year of medical exam but my exam was in March of 2013 and we are expecting notification any day now (they recently requested copies of my passport and payment of PR fee). So I will only have one month to move? Or can I take the medical exam again? And why, since spouses cannot be turned down for medical reasons?

Thanks so much for your help.

 

[Rob_TO]

Re: PR notification and experiration?

When you are approved, your status will change on ecas system to "Decision Made". Then a few weeks after you get COPR documents in the mail, which you actually use to do the first landing as PR at the Canadian border.

Yes usually the COPR documents have an expiry date that match to exactly 1 year from when medicals were done. Some people have received COPR with only weeks to land, some with days, and some receive a COPR that is already expired so have to arrange for a new one. If you can't land by the expiry date, then it could be a delay of several months to get new COPR documents arranged with new expiry date.

In some cases CIC will make you do a new medical if your current one is expired, and in other cases they simply extend the medical validity date. This is entirely up to the visa officer.

Technically a spouse can be refused under medical reasons, if they have a contagious illness (such as tuberculosis).

 

[Blueeyes294]

How do we contact a visa officer?

Is this the officer that worked on our application?

 

[Rob_TO]

How do we contact a visa officer?

Is this the officer that worked on our application?

There isn't really any reason to contact them, until you actually receive your COPR and see the expiry date they've put on it.
If they want you to do new medicals, then they will contact you.

 

[Blueeyes294]

I checked the website and it says decision made so now I wait for the mail. And I HOPE that the date is more towards springs as I do not want to move to Nova Scotia while winter is still upon us. The expiration date will be on the paperwork I get in the mail?

 

[Eowyn]

You can "land" before you make the permanent move. My husband landed in November then almost immediately returned to the UK so we can tie up loose ends here before making the permanent move in a couple months time. You don't even need to provide your B4 at that time. Just explain what your plan is and they shouldn't give you a hard time.

 

[zardoz]

Didn't we already have this topic 2 weeks ago? http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/timeframe-to-move-t185558.0.html