Timing of Landing.

[steve_kat]

Hi Can anyone tell me once a spousal PR has been approved, how much of a window is there to actually land or activate it?

Thanks
Steve

 

[Bcboundboy]

Normally one year from your medical exam.

 

[Hurlabrick]

Hi Can anyone tell me once a spousal PR has been approved, how much of a window is there to actually land or activate it?

Thanks
Steve

They will tell you on your COPR when you get it. But yes, normally 1 year from the date of the medical or possibly longer at the complete discretion of the visa office.

 

[profiler]

Hi Can anyone tell me once a spousal PR has been approved, how much of a window is there to actually land or activate it?

Thanks
Steve

Hi Steve,
I will assume that you are applying outland. Inland, they have a landing interview where they get their COPR. For outland, the landing 'window' will directly depend on the medical expiry. The medical must be valid for a person to claim the PR.

 

[steve_kat]

Hi Steve,
I will assume that you are applying outland. Inland, they have a landing interview where they get their COPR. For outland, the landing 'window' will directly depend on the medical expiry. The medical must be valid for a person to claim the PR.

Yes, we are applying outland. What is the usual timing of the medical during the approval process? I am trying to assess when to put our house on the market in the U.S.

Thanks

 

[Bcboundboy]

If you haven't applied yet, you'll be doing it new-style, where the medical is requested at some point during the process. Not enough experience from it yet to say when and how long.

 

[Hurlabrick]

If you haven't applied yet, you'll be doing it new-style, where the medical is requested at some point during the process. Not enough experience from it yet to say when and how long.

Spot on!!!

Under the old process, you had to get the medical(s) done BEFORE submitting the pack and given that medical were technically valid for one year and London could take nearly that long overall to approval, there were some 'tight' timescales between COPR issue and COPR expiry!

The 'new' process was only introduced on 15th December 2016. Under the new process, you should only go for the medicals AFTER submitting the pack and then ONLY when requested to do so by CIC (probably to circumvent the tight timescales problem created under the old system mentioned above). No one yet has any information on how soon after submission the medical will be requested as no one has got that far yet (at least not as reported onto the tracking spreadsheets), but I suppose it will be sometime after sponsor approval and then dependant on the Visa Office they sent it on to for PA assessment (e.g. London has a slower overall time than Ottawa etc.).

In terms of when to put your house on the market, you would be best to look more at the overall processing times by visa office as this will give you some guide - these may not change too much old process or new - at least probably not immediately. On AVERAGE, for Ottawa about 3/4 months overall from submission, for London about 10 / 11 months overall from submission - my own took 6 months for London from receipt at Mississagua to issue of CoPR.

 

[Hurlabrick]

I am trying to assess when to put our house on the market in the U.S.

Do you realise that you do not have to physically move lock, stock and barrel to Canada before the CoPR expiry date?

What you DO have to do is to land in Canada with your CoPR and activate your PR with CBSA at the border (aka 'soft landing' or 'flagpole' etc.). CBSA can then 'press the button' on your PR card and mail that to an address is Canada (a friends address will do) - that should arrive on average 6 - 8 weeks later (according to current PR card processing timescales.

You can then return to the US to finalise the sale of your house etc. then actually 'land for the purposes of establishing a residence' at a later date (when you would need your goods accompanying / good to follow lists etc.).

Of course there are then rules for how long you have to be resident in Canada to retain PR status (2 years in any 5 year period), but as long as you 'land for residence' within a year or two or activating your PR and stay in Canada, then no problem.

We plan to do precisely this, with a 'landing for PR / soft landing' trip in April, then return to the UK and once we have sold the house, land to establish a residence - hopefully during the summer.