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Receiving PR Card after first landing vs. alternative options

fsadadi

Newbie
Jun 22, 2017
3
0
Hello all,

My husband and I are due to have our landing sometime before Feb 2020, and we prefer to go before winter starts as we are not accustomed to that level of cold. We have around 5 weeks off from work for the 2019 calendar year, but we keep reading online that the average timeline is about 2 months to receive the PR card.

Our options are either:
1- do the landing in September (to avoid the extreme winter cold), and take unpaid leave on top of the 5 weeks if our managers allow,

2- do the landing in December ~ January to use next year quota of annual leave days (it would be 8 weeks paid leave total)

3- do the landing in September and leave before receiving the PR cards and have a friend or family member mail them to us abroad

4- do the landing in September and leave before receiving the PR cards, but come back in Spring (April/May 2020 for example) using a document issued from a local visa center where we are currently living. BTW - what is that document called?

Thank you to anyone who reads through the options and offers their opinion and advice!

Farah

ETA: I just checked the official CIC website and the calculator for processing time says that a 1st time PR card needs 13 days only! And it says that timeline was updated on May 5 2019. Could that be true?
 
Last edited:

Bs65

VIP Member
Mar 22, 2016
13,190
2,419
All above assumes you have a Canadian address for the card to mailed to in the first instance. Whilst the processing time quoted is as of today still shown as 13 days this is not a committed turnaround time so should not plan accordingly based on that.

Personally I would go with option 1 and 3, address the cards to yourselves at your friends or family members address and have them courier them to you in your home country. Option 1 just to get your landing out of the way get your SIN and bank account sorted, health card not an option on a soft landing but completing the landing you have a couple years to come back and still meet your residency obligation

Option 4 could be a back up plan to obtain a PRTD to enable travel without a PR card. straight forward for new immigrants.

Note that you are going to have to face the cold sometime as just a fact of life In Canada, colder some cities/provinces than others of course
 

canuck78

VIP Member
Jun 18, 2017
53,022
12,783
The PR are processing time may increase in the future. You alway have to option of a PRTD or sending PR card to a friend’s address.
 

kooltest22

Star Member
Jul 22, 2013
65
0
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Regarding Option 3 - I thought the PR card cannot be sent over mail. Are you people sure about this?
Also, does anyone know if it is okay for a one to carry someone else's PR card out of the country and hand it over to them?
Is there a possibility of running into trouble when they travel to Canada with PR card? I tried to find this on the CIC website, but couldn't get much info. Any credible sources?
 

canuck78

VIP Member
Jun 18, 2017
53,022
12,783
Regarding Option 3 - I thought the PR card cannot be sent over mail. Are you people sure about this?
Also, does anyone know if it is okay for a one to carry someone else's PR card out of the country and hand it over to them?
Is there a possibility of running into trouble when they travel to Canada with PR card? I tried to find this on the CIC website, but couldn't get much info. Any credible sources?
Yes many friends or family courier PR cards to the person in their home country. Don’t use regular mail and if you don’t have reliable courier companies in your home country don’t do it but it is very common .