Question about PR card receival.

[Fiery]

Hi everyone,
i'm going to have my landing tomorrow, though I have already been in Canada for the past 4 years as i'm currently a student. I heard that it takes around 30 days to get my initial PR card. Is there anyway to speed up this process? Because i already booked my flight on 19 Jan as I really really want to go back and have Chinese New Year Eve with my family and friends (Feb 03) . Is it illegal if I leave Canada and ask my friend or my lawyer to Fedex it to me? Will the process be faster if I land in Windsor and in Niagara (as I heard that Detroit office may process it faster). My friend got the card in 2 weeks. However, it is Holiday time, i wonder if this will make the process slower? :'( :'(

Thank you so much.
Fiery

 

[steaky]

No, it's not illegal. You can ask your friends to mail/fedex the initial PR card to you. Many people do that.

 

[Rinnerz]

1) There is no way to speed up the PR card issuing process. It's ready when it's ready, which normally seems to be after about 30 business days. When you land, the immigration officer will probably tell you when you can expect to receive it.

2) Like steaky said above, it's not illegal to have your PR card mailed out to you later. Just make sure to use a reliable courier to reduce the chances of it getting "lost" on its way to you.

3) I'm not sure how your friend got his/her PR card so fast, as the normal processing time is (at best) 30 business days. But regarding your comment about Detroit: where you land does not matter and will not affect your PR card processing speed at all. All PR cards are actually made and issued from Sydney, Nova Scotia. So once you have landed, your PR card will be mailed to your Canadian address from there.

4) It's feasible that the holidays could delay this further, but I doubt there's any way to know for sure just how much of a delay they might cause--if any.

 

[ChristyandRob]

Hi there,

I don't know if this helps, but when you land, they put a temporary PR 'card' in your passport. For me, they stapled an A4-ish sized form (basically, my copy of the landing form). I was told I could use this as evidence of my status until my PR card arrived. I landed on 01 October and I think it took 6 weeks exactly for the card to arrive. In the meantime, I used the temporary form for everything from applying for a health care card to evidence of my status when setting up my new business with my other half.

Check with Immigration, but I'm fairly sure you can also use this to re-enter the country. Then you can just pick up your official PR card in the post when you arrive back, rather than getting it couriered to you in the US.

Good luck

 

[Rinnerz]

Check with Immigration, but I'm fairly sure you can also use this to re-enter the country. Then you can just pick up your official PR card in the post when you arrive back, rather than getting it couriered to you in the US.

Actually, not quite. What's stapled into your passport is partial evidence of your PR status, but it alone will not necessarily get you back into Canada. Without his PR card, if he is not visa-exempt he'll need to apply at a Canadian visa office in whatever country he is for a "travel document" (this is what they're called). Depending on the visa office, he may need an interview before they'll issue him one. And of course, he'll also need his passport with the PR visa in it and his Confirmation of Permanent Residence as well. There'd likely also be a fee involved, and how long it would take them to issue the travel document would depend on the visa office.

As an example, this page shows what he'd need if he needed a travel document from Buffalo's office while in the States. The guide specifically states that the PR visa and COPR are not valid documents for re-entering Canada, and that you'd also need to meet the residency requirements for permanent residence for them to even issue a travel document.

So, it'd actually be simpler to just have someone he trusts courier the PR card to him so that he has it when he's ready to return to Canada. This is what most people seem to do.