I think it's a well designed system. The fact that you have a few years to sort things out should you choose to use them is a good thing. This way the immigrant gets to move at a time more appropriate for them and is therefore more likely to make a success of the move.

The fact that many people choose to do this (I did because I wanted to finish the year I had in Thailand) shows that the system works.

I think you're missing my point. What I think is silly is having a short time period to make the move i.e. from the time the PR visa is approved until the medical expires. This seems to be forcing many people to land and then return home to sort everything out before making the real move to Canada.

As I said before, it would make more sense to give people sufficient time (after PR visa approval) to prepare for their move in the first place. People can always still land and return home if they want to - but many less people would be FORCED to do so because of expiring medicals.

You are overstating it. Most people have the visas within a couple of months of sending back medicals and will have 8-9 months to do this.

Congrats - on to the the next stage of practicalities for the move now

Thank you all for your good wishes. The two years is perfect for us - apart from the previously mentioned police pension at 30 years, it is also perfect timing in the kids' education too. We are very happy with our timescale and the flexibility this process has offered us. We weren't banking on CHC cutting 2 years off the processing time, but it works for us and many others.

When I landed in Canada I was told by the cbsa officer that members of my family who where going to use their pr visas and return to the UK before they get their pr cards will have to apply for another small pr visa when they return to Canada. I was told that I couldn't post the pr cards to my family in the UK as they would be picked in the post and destroyed. Has anybody been else been told the same ?

Can't help you on that one, would probably be worth a new thread,

Congratulations singingringingtree.

While I completely understand the rationale for landing and leaving, I think it really snuffs out the real sense of adventure of turning up in a foreign land, suitcases in hand and wondering what tomorrow will bring. Its almost twenty years since the missus and I landed (then in our mid twenties) but I remember feeling as excited as a kid at Christmas. We had six months living expenses in travelers cheques, and a plan to look for work and if nothing after three months, rent a car for the remaining three months and tour North America. We both had gainful employment within three weeks and have completed that tour albeit over a number of years but at the expense of some or other corporation

Congrats to you on the landing part, good luck and best wishes on what follows.

I agree.

Landing and leaving will always be an option as full-time residence is unlikely to ever be a condition for keeping PR status. My real point was that some people were forced to land/leave simply because in some cases the system doesn't allow enough time between PR visa approval and expiration of medicals (time that is needed to sell houses, sort out finances, etc).

Where the timeframe is not an issue, I also suspect that some people don't feel quite safe making the move until they have their PR cards in hand. This necessitates a land/leave to obtain the PR card before finally making the big move. In effect though, the PR visa is just as valid as the PR card with respect to someone's right to land and reside in Canada - again assuming timeframe is not an issue. Many of these people had enough time to prepare and so could simply have landed at the time they moved to Canada permanently.

They could, but they chose not to. Why are people bothered by this.

I'm not bothered by it. I'm just trying to understand the process and why people make the decisions they do in terms of the actual move.

It seems that some people will just feel comfortable landing, leaving and finally emigrating. This will always be an option. Some will do this out of necessity because of the fact that they feel the system hasn't given them enough time between PR visa approval and expiration of medicals. Some feel they need the security blanket of having PR cards in hand before emigrating even though they could emigrate with just the PR visa in one shot.

Others will land/emigrate at the same time (without the need for a journey back home to sort things out - or the security blanket of having PR cards in hand).

I think the part of this process that is flawed in the fact that some people (who otherwise wouldn't do so) are forced to land/leave/emigrate because they were not given enough time between PR visa approval and expiration of medicals. I'd be interested to hear the shortest timeframe anyone was given in this case.

It does seem to bother you given how patronizing your posts are on the subject. People who land, go home and then come back again do not do so because they "need the security blanket of PR cards" or don't "have a sense of adventure" (whatever that means). They do this because they have stuff that needs sorting out, stuff that cannot be sorted out until they have more solid dates. Many who emigrate will people be in their 30's and 40's and will have established lives, financial obligations, work contracts, children at school etc. Unwinding all that can take a lot of time.

Some (and I bet this is more than people will admit) will be excited about their new status and just want to activate it as soon as they can.

Those that are 'forced' into landing and coming home again will be a tiny minority. The one year from meds to land and 2/5 residency requirement is a good system and works well for the vast majority of people.

What is broken is citizenship and PR card renewal.

Has anybody else experienced this? We are planning on doing the land/leave bit in late January or early February and this is now starting to panic us a little as, like many others ned to sort stuff out. (not that we haven't been doing lots already!!)

Sorry you think my posts are patronizing. They are not meant to be.

You state that only a "tiny minority" are forced into landing and leaving to sort out their lives. Then you state that "many who emigrate" need time to sort out their lives. Is this "tiny minority" the same as the "many who emigrate"? Or are you distinguishing between these 2 groups? I would class them all as people who are forced to land/leave/emigrate - unless some have just planned poorly and taken an unreasonable amount of time to prepare for the move.

I would suggest that at least some people do indeed need the security blanket of the PR card before making the move. Why is your theory (one I agree with by the way -that some are excited about their new status and want to activate their new status asap) a valid one but mine is not?