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disp.31089

Star Member
Jun 6, 2017
93
77
Category........
FSW
I got the same letter just today. Does anyone have an answer to this? Do you also need to get state and local records?
Nope. That's what I got back as well - standard text for everyone I suppose.
You don't need to get state records, unless your visa officer specifically asks you to.
 

disp.31089

Star Member
Jun 6, 2017
93
77
Category........
FSW
Hi, How were you able to change your visa office from Ottawa to NYC to send your passport? According to the PPR email, I am supposed to send my passport to Ottawa.
So sorry for the late response.
I sent a mail to the email address on the PPR email requesting for a change to NYC visa office.
Reason - Don't want to send passport via mail and want to drop it off at the VAC by hand.
 

moose17

Hero Member
Jun 30, 2017
277
227
What did you all do for cell phones when visiting Canada? I'm not impressed that Verizon raised their rates for using your plan abroad to $5/day/phone for Canada and Mexico (it was $2/day/phone back in 2016 when I used the feature in Mexico). I'm not sure if I should eat that cost, use Google Voice, or get a prepaid SIM card through a Canadian network. To complicate things more, I already have a Canadian number forwarding to my US number (via Flynumber) that I've given to potential employers and landlords. I can change the forwarding to another number instantly but don't want to overly complicate things and miss an important call.

Right now I'm expecting we'll have the long weekend trip in December and then possibly a full week or close to it in January for locking in a rental. Ideally the next trip up after that would be for moving or job interviews.
 

canada_eagle

Hero Member
Nov 17, 2016
208
58
What did you all do for cell phones when visiting Canada? I'm not impressed that Verizon raised their rates for using your plan abroad to $5/day/phone for Canada and Mexico (it was $2/day/phone back in 2016 when I used the feature in Mexico). I'm not sure if I should eat that cost, use Google Voice, or get a prepaid SIM card through a Canadian network. To complicate things more, I already have a Canadian number forwarding to my US number that I've given to potential employers and landlords. I can change the forwarding to another number instantly but don't want to overly complicate things and miss an important call.

Right now I'm expecting we'll have the long weekend trip in December and then possibly a full week or close to it in January. Ideally the next trip up would be for moving or job interviews.
I used my T-mobile line which worked great since I got unlimited call/text, 5GB of LTE (and unlimited throttled data). The only problem was calling the call center to update my PR card address. I needed a local number and went and got a prepaid call/text no data plan line.
 

sinabagh

Newbie
Nov 24, 2017
7
1
Post a breakdown of your point calculations?
I figured it out. It was because I didn't list any work experience that matched exactly my primary occupation code. I created a new profile this time categorizing 2 of my work experience in a way that they exactly matched my primary occupation category. This time I got the "you are eligible" message as soon as I submitted the profile. I got my points calculated (exactly as I calculated myself) and was entered to the pool.
Thanks to everyone who replied to my inquiry.
 
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tjsecondtry

Hero Member
May 11, 2017
798
1,749
The verizon plan I have has enough data on a family plan to have free Canada calling. It's worked on all of our visits.

The most recent visit ended this morning. I found a studio apart to rent for 6 months, dealing directly with an owner.

I did not like the process with realtors, which takes a lot of time that a person visiting from another country doesn't have. I found the owner that reviewed information I emailed on Saturday, drove up Sunday, met him, and signed the lease. Got home this afternoon.

I might have gotten a nicer place if I worked with a realtor, but I'm pretty sure I would have wound up paying significantly more. When my lease is up, I will already be local, which should make the second time around much easier.
 
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Ang&Guille

Member
Nov 28, 2017
17
2
Hi Guys! I am new here. My wife and I just received the letter asking us to send our passports, photos for them to stamp the visa we require to do the landing. (We are from Colombia). The specifications for the photos are very detailed, any experience and advice on where to get them from?
Would CVS, Walgreens, Sam's club works? We are located in Minneapolis if someone knows a good place!
Thanks!
 

dora115

Star Member
Jul 7, 2017
156
75
Hi Guys! I am new here. My wife and I just received the letter asking us to send our passports, photos for them to stamp the visa we require to do the landing. (We are from Colombia). The specifications for the photos are very detailed, any experience and advice on where to get them from?
Would CVS, Walgreens, Sam's club works? We are located in Minneapolis if someone knows a good place!
Thanks!
Walgreens will do it, they have an option to select country in their system, ask them for passport photo for Canada it has same dimensions as PR, they will not understand if you ask for PR photo. They will also stamp at the back of photo. They don't have a cutter for the photo, so you need to cut it.
 

moose17

Hero Member
Jun 30, 2017
277
227
Thanks for the phone tips! I totally forgot about Verizon's calls to Canada option and it didn't show up on the main international page when I was looking last night. I don't have the data for it to be free but it's only $5/line/month instead, and we can get away with just my phone for now. I'm going to call to activate it so I can ask what happens if I call a Canadian number while in Canada since the main description is just about calling from the US.

@Ang&Guille , we used Walgreens but weren't impressed. They make the background white digitally which is technically against CIC's guidelines, so we had them use brightness adjustments instead to make it closer to white (since it's manipulation but what any digital camera will automatically do to some extent) and the photos are so washed out. They did work to get us our COPRs but I'll be shocked if we don't have to retake them for our actual PR cards. What I would do is check out your local department store photo studio options along with their specials and coupons. With coupons, JC Penny wouldn't have been much more expensive than Walgreens and the photos would have been done right the first time (most likely). Lucky for us, we don't really need the PR cards right away so we may just wait to request them until we've moved, and then if we need new photos we can get them done there.
 

JERiv

Star Member
Jul 4, 2017
71
61
Texas
Hi Guys! I am new here. My wife and I just received the letter asking us to send our passports, photos for them to stamp the visa we require to do the landing. (We are from Colombia). The specifications for the photos are very detailed, any experience and advice on where to get them from?
Would CVS, Walgreens, Sam's club works? We are located in Minneapolis if someone knows a good place!
Thanks!
It depends. Some places will work with you to get them done properly (i.e. my BIL had Costco folks help him out on his). However, for us, after bad experiences in Walgreens for just regular passport photos, we went with a local passport place that I found on Yelp. I just double-checked on their website that they did "Canadian Passport" photos. More expensive than a normal passport pic, but they knew exactly what they were doing.
 

canada_eagle

Hero Member
Nov 17, 2016
208
58
Hi Guys! I am new here. My wife and I just received the letter asking us to send our passports, photos for them to stamp the visa we require to do the landing. (We are from Colombia). The specifications for the photos are very detailed, any experience and advice on where to get them from?
Would CVS, Walgreens, Sam's club works? We are located in Minneapolis if someone knows a good place!
Thanks!
I am from the south suburbs and used walgreens. Their machine has a option for Canada passport photo.
 

trumprefugee

Champion Member
Jun 6, 2017
1,616
3,186
Ottawa, ON
Category........
PNP
Visa Office......
Ottawa
NOC Code......
2172
App. Filed.......
06-01-2018
Nomination.....
19-12-2017
AOR Received.
07-01-2018
IELTS Request
24-06-2017
Med's Done....
05-01-2018
Passport Req..
09-03-2018
VISA ISSUED...
02-04-2018
LANDED..........
28-05-2018
The verizon plan I have has enough data on a family plan to have free Canada calling. It's worked on all of our visits.

The most recent visit ended this morning. I found a studio apart to rent for 6 months, dealing directly with an owner.

I did not like the process with realtors, which takes a lot of time that a person visiting from another country doesn't have. I found the owner that reviewed information I emailed on Saturday, drove up Sunday, met him, and signed the lease. Got home this afternoon.

I might have gotten a nicer place if I worked with a realtor, but I'm pretty sure I would have wound up paying significantly more. When my lease is up, I will already be local, which should make the second time around much easier.
Congrats on finding a place. Where did you find this owner? Is it a basement apartment? How much is the rent, if you don't mind sharing?
 

mgnlky

Champion Member
Jan 22, 2016
1,558
275
Vancouver
Category........
FSW
Visa Office......
Ottawa
NOC Code......
1122
Pre-Assessed..
Yes
App. Filed.......
22-12-2016
AOR Received.
22-12-2016
Med's Done....
04-11-2016
Passport Req..
22-3-2017
LANDED..........
04-09-2017
I used the ATT prepaid 40$ plan. Still using in Canada. Roaming is free.
Its cheap compared to the plans in Canada.
I use an ATT post-paid unlimited everything plan. It works the same in Canada as it does the States and has worked fine for 2 months. I'm tempted to keep it until my work forces me to get a local number.