Hi everyone,

I wondered whether anyone had travelled over to Canada six months prior to receiving their PR visa? Our attorney had advised that our visa will be formalised on August 7 2009 and we wanted to come over six months prior to that to travel around, see family etc. I understand from the websites that it is the discretion of the immgration officer at the airport as to how long we are able to stay. Is this the case? Has anyone done this?

Any information greatly appreciated!

Ally

anytime any visitor comes into canada it is always at the discretion of the customs people.

seems a lot are granted 6mths straight up. however some things that can influence that from what i understand, is how many times you have been here before etc.

example-i have a friend from usa. her last visit a couple of years ago they realy questioned her as each year she was popping over the border for 6 mths. they realy went through a lot with her............. ( she has since died , so hence no further info on what happened next)

i dont' think i would be too concerned tho if i was you. i had been granted 6 mths on each of my 3 visits here.

Thanks for your answer, I really appreciate the feedback and sorry to hear about your friend. I think we're going to go but book a return flight for the end of the six months so the immigration officer can see we will leave if need be.

Ally

I came as a tourist 4 months before my visa was issued and just had a long vacation.

your attorney must be quite good if s/he can predict the future that clearly, did you get the time as well?... i mean there are so many variables with that whole immigration thing in general (and nobody tell me that the current changes don't affect old applications at all timewise) i personally wouldn't count on that.
one indication that you get nearer to your sw-visa (i'm assuming that you applied prior to september 2006) would be an update lettre (some on here call it 90-day lettre, because they have 90 days to submit the updates) and medical request. but there can be still more than 6 months between medicals and ppr.

Hi, well we are pretty much reliant on what our attorney is telling us.

We employed an attorney in Montreal and they advised us at the beginning that it would take about two years. When I spoke to them last week they advised us that it would be "formalised" in August 2009.

We have sold our house and business and are in rented accommodation and wanted to have a few months travelling around prior to starting a job over there and this is the timescale the attorney is suggesting.

I agree it is a bit "how long is a piece of string" but we are ready to go and if the worst happens I guess we come back to the UK for a bit. Hopefully it will be easier to get employment and a work visa if we are over there though?

I though PR was taking over 5 years, and that the new changes should speed it up for certain people, and slow it down for others????????

Dream on, without a AEO, I doubt it but stranger things have happened.

Did you say Montréal? Are you coming via Québec? In that case August 2009 is perfectly reasonable (PR via Québec takes about 12-18 months).

Hi thanks for your comments, its encouraging to hear. Our attorney is in Montreal, has submitted our papers and we have advised that we will relocate to anywhere in Canada to start with.