Warning on the PR visa date
 

To anyone planning on landing soon,

Please be aware that the Canadian date system is different from the American date system, and sometimes the people entering the visa dates get confused and mix up the day and month.

My PR visa was issued in November 2002 and should have been valid until November 1 2003. However, the visa showed the date of issue as 11/12/2002, and expiry date as 11/1/2003.

For someone in America this looks perfectly fine, but in Canada that expiry date is really Jan 11, 2003. I landed in December 2002 so I had no problem. My wife attempted to land last week and was told that her visa had expired and could not enter the country.

We are still struggling to sort this nightmare out. So please check and double-check your dates, you might save yourself many sleepless nights.

Trevor

I always think writing dates that way is ridiculous becuase of the confusion it causes. How much more simple would it be to put Nov/01/03! No confusion then!

Re: Warning on the PR visa date
 

Where on earth was she coming from - ??? 11/1/2003 means 1st November 2003 ALL over Canada...the date system is EXACTLY the same as the US. Sorry, but I think there is far more to her refusal than that.

I am sorry to disagree with you. I am in Canada and I would ALWAYS read 1/11/03 as 1st November, 2003. To me January 11th is 11/01 not 01/11!!

Just from the responses so far, it's easy to see that a numerical date can be confusing.

What I find absolutely ridiculous is that somethings as important as a visa expiry date would be written in a way that is open to interpretation.

Trust me, there was nothing more to her refusal. Everything, and I do mean everything, was in order. I've retained an immigration lawyer to try and take care of it...we'll see what happens.

You sometimes have to wonder if these people are on some kind of a power trip.

I have an absolutely true story that happened to me. When I worked for lawyers we had a client from the former Yugoslavia who had come to Canada as a refugee and therefore had no passport. She had a good job in Regina and wanted to go to Florida for a family reunion. She took the BUS to Calgary to the US Embassy to apply for a vacation visa. She stood in line and when she got to the desk the lady took her application very grumpily and said "NO" and went on to the next person.

Or something very similar to that.

When they lady came back to Regina I got on the phone. I had to agree to pay for the telephone call to even get to talk to a real person. This woman was very nice. She more or less told me that if the person behind the desk was in a bad mood - had a row with her husband before she came to work etc. she would turn visas down.

I asked the client exactly what happened and she told me the lady issuing visas was having a big argument with the person in line before her!!

Maybe your wife had the same problem!! I hope you get it sorted out - that is totally ridiculous.