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How long to get through immigration?

How long to get through immigration?

Old Apr 23rd 2011, 7:48 pm
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Default How long to get through immigration?

Hi All

I am going to be arriving in to Vancouver in July and wondered how long to allow to get through immigration.

I have two children, 1 aged 5 and 1 who will be 1 on arrival and the thought of being there for hours whilst we complete paperwork is filling me with dread.

Any ideas on time or a guide to what actually happens when you arrive would be great.

Many Thanks
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Old Apr 23rd 2011, 8:11 pm
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Default Re: How long to get through immigration?

Originally Posted by Laura_Wilson
Hi All

I am going to be arriving in to Vancouver in July and wondered how long to allow to get through immigration.

I have two children, 1 aged 5 and 1 who will be 1 on arrival and the thought of being there for hours whilst we complete paperwork is filling me with dread.

Any ideas on time or a guide to what actually happens when you arrive would be great.

Many Thanks
We landed at the Blaine border crossing last week, and it took about 15 minutes. All the best...
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Old Apr 23rd 2011, 8:28 pm
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Default Re: How long to get through immigration?

Originally Posted by Laura_Wilson
Hi All

I am going to be arriving in to Vancouver in July and wondered how long to allow to get through immigration.

I have two children, 1 aged 5 and 1 who will be 1 on arrival and the thought of being there for hours whilst we complete paperwork is filling me with dread.

Any ideas on time or a guide to what actually happens when you arrive would be great.

Many Thanks
How long it will take will depend on how busy it is (duh!) - sometimes the queues to just get into the country can take an hour or more if you are very unlucky. Usually YVR is much quicker than that though.

The process itself was pretty quick when we did it; like jericho, I think it took us about 15 mins.
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Old Apr 23rd 2011, 11:15 pm
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Default Re: How long to get through immigration?

Originally Posted by Laura_Wilson
Hi All

I am going to be arriving in to Vancouver in July and wondered how long to allow to get through immigration.

I have two children, 1 aged 5 and 1 who will be 1 on arrival and the thought of being there for hours whilst we complete paperwork is filling me with dread.

Any ideas on time or a guide to what actually happens when you arrive would be great.

Many Thanks
Yeah what they said^^ depends how many flights come in at the same time as yours. We landed at YVR and queued for about 45mins the actual Visa process was done within 10 mins. Best advise is to get to the immigration hall ASAP (probably not the easiest thing to do with children). There are chairs away form the actual line up so one of you can queue and the other can sit with the kids and be called up when you get to the front of the line (if theres someone else travelling with you). Theres vending machines in there but thats about it.
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Old Apr 24th 2011, 12:51 am
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Default Re: How long to get through immigration?

Originally Posted by stacey.cook1
Yeah what they said^^ depends how many flights come in at the same time as yours. We landed at YVR and queued for about 45mins the actual Visa process was done within 10 mins. Best advise is to get to the immigration hall ASAP (probably not the easiest thing to do with children). There are chairs away form the actual line up so one of you can queue and the other can sit with the kids and be called up when you get to the front of the line (if theres someone else travelling with you). Theres vending machines in there but thats about it.
Make sure your Goods documents (accompanying; to follow) are all typed out for the lovely, smiley immigration dude and you should be through in no time.
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Old Apr 24th 2011, 1:10 am
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Default Re: How long to get through immigration?

Originally Posted by Laura_Wilson
Hi All

I am going to be arriving in to Vancouver in July and wondered how long to allow to get through immigration.

I have two children, 1 aged 5 and 1 who will be 1 on arrival and the thought of being there for hours whilst we complete paperwork is filling me with dread.

Any ideas on time or a guide to what actually happens when you arrive would be great.

Many Thanks
Book seats near the front of the plane. Sorted
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Old Apr 24th 2011, 1:22 am
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Default Re: How long to get through immigration?

As per above - we waited 5mins and paperwork done in 15mins. whilst completing the paperwork over a 100 people turned up - the immigration officer told us three planes from the far east had landed.

have seats at the front of the plane and get to immigrations asap, you cant control the amount of other planes landing at similar times.
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Old Apr 24th 2011, 9:49 am
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Default Re: How long to get through immigration?

We landed in Vancouver in Oct and got through immigration in around 30 mins, friends of ours landed a month earlier and it took 3 hours. They landed behind a plane from China.
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Old Apr 25th 2011, 6:38 am
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Default Re: How long to get through immigration?

Originally Posted by Laura_Wilson
Hi All

I am going to be arriving in to Vancouver in July and wondered how long to allow to get through immigration.

I have two children, 1 aged 5 and 1 who will be 1 on arrival and the thought of being there for hours whilst we complete paperwork is filling me with dread.

Any ideas on time or a guide to what actually happens when you arrive would be great.

Many Thanks
Some airlines prioritise children getting on and off, might be worth checking?. Otherwise from what I've read its down to makng sure you are prepared as possible and keeping your fingers crossed!!, we fly in June with a two year old, I'll let you know how we get on.

Good luck

Juliet c
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Old Apr 25th 2011, 8:54 am
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Default Re: How long to get through immigration?

We landed in Halifax in March with a 4 year old and 1 year old in tow. I queued for passport control while the wife stayed sat with the kids (although the sitting lasted 2 minutes then they ran and ran - after 6 hours on a flight who can blame them!) ... took about 35 mins to get through the queue and then about 20 mins in immigration & customs. All very pleasant and I guess it's all down to how busy your landing airport is at the time and where you find yourself in the queue ... Good luck with it all

Last edited by chobert; Apr 25th 2011 at 8:55 am. Reason: ...
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