julius smith

Hello, all. At long last, we have just been granted immigration visas for settlement in Canada---woo hoo!!!
My question is, if anyone of you knowledgeable people out there can help at all:
1) our visas are valid for one year from now, in which time we must uproot from the UK and land in Canada. But I still have to sell my house etc which will take a little time, so is there anything stopping us from going there now, getting our passports stamped to show we have arrived, and then fly back in order to sort the house sale out etc, before flying back again at a later date, all within the year we are allowed obviously?

mickj

If by settlement you mean permanenet residence, then once you come into the country to "land" as it were, you can't live again until you have got you PR card in hand, if you don't have this, you might not be allowed back into the country.

There are also other residence rquirements you must fulfill as a PR, otherwise you loose your PR. Here is a link to what the card looks like, and other things you should know as a PR:


http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...hreadid=227998

crazydaisy

If you're lucky you can get your card in 4 weeks which is how long ours took. You will need a forwarding address for this - I'm not sure how it works if you're staying in say a hotel. If you did have to leave before the PR cards are through we were advised by immigration that you could use your landing papers to get back in but you may want to double check this to avoid hassle later!

Another alternative is to get a travel document which details can be found here but there will be a fee. http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pr-card/index.html

Addendum - just been looking at the link above in the travel doucment section and it does say that landing documents are not sufficient so I guess the immigration officer needs to go on a refreshment course!

julius smith

Hi, there again! Yes, I agree with all that you are saying, but I think you are talking about someone who has already been resident in Canada for the mandatory 3 yrs or so. What I wanted to know was, we will be going to Canada for the first time with "landing papers". I understand that once we have been sorted out by the immigration officers upon landing there for the first time as immigrants, we can come back to the UK to finalise selling of property etc, and then get back to Canada before our visas expire next year?

mikejw

hi
i presume you can come over to Canada but not 'land'.Sort out accomodation etc,fly back to the U.K. as long as you land within the year from your medical and activate your PR status.

Alternative is to 'land',wait for your card before returning to the U.K.,but you must be resident in Canada for,i think it's about 3 out of the next 5 years

iaink

You are confusing Permanent Resident Status(need two years residence out of five to maintain) with Citizenship(which has the three year out of four requirement before you can apply).

The paper landing visa (IMM form) is good only for the first time you land in canada, which IIRC you have to do within a year of issue.

Once you arrive at the port of entry, canadian immigration officials will process the paperwork, stamp the form etc, and then it becomes basically unusable to reenter the country again on a commercial carrier. As part of the processing they will take pictures etc for the "PR card", a wallet size ID card, with security features, that identifies you as a landed PR. This is what takes 4 weeks to arrive, and requires a mailing address within canada for them to send it to. All future landings in canada require you to present the PR card to establish your status.

So the short answer is once you land you have to wait for your PR card to arrive before leaving, or else risk not being able to get back in again. Exception could be if you want to drive to the US, where you do not need the PR card to get back in , the IMM form and passport is still sufficient.

All commercial carriers require you to have the PR card, although there is still some confusion if you are from a country on the visa waiver list, which the UK is.

The advice I have seen here regarding traveling without the pr card under the visa waiver program, is basically DONT. Get the travel document if you cant wait for the PR card to arrive.

Not sure how helpfull this is!

Iain

Iain Mc

Just out of interest can you only "land" at an international airport or do land border crossings have the necessary?

For example, say.... you had your immigration papers, got the boat to New York and then drove up to Toronto.

?

Cheers, Iain

iaink

Any manned border. I "landed" at the 1000 Island bridge (Landsdowne) nr Kingston.

Iain

Corky

I am going to Britian in June on holiday, I have sent my application away for my PR card. Today I called to see how long I was going to have to wait for it. She told me 12 weeks as they are only processing the ones for February! So what do I do....she told me to print of the form from the website for a travel Document and send it away to London and hopefully they will send me a travel visa to get back into Canada, she also told me it was up to them whether I got one or not....I may have to go inperson to get it. Also she told me they do not mail the PR card to your home it is sent to a place and you recieve a letter telling you where to pick it up...so even if it comes while I am away no one else can get it to send to me. So my best bet is to get this travel document!

mikejw

So is it possible once you have received your visas to 'visit' Canada or do you have to 'land' on your next trip there.

We were planning once we got our visas to go over straight away to find a house and all being well return and 'land' when the house sale went through,6-10 weeks later.

I've heard definates on both sides and don't want to be in the situation where we go over there and have to land and rent for however many weeks.

JAJ

This whole PR Card business appears to be a good incentive for people to get on with applying for Canadian citizenship as soon as eligible - I doubt Canadian citizens would tolerate this kind of processing time for Canadian passports.

The following page might be helpful:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pr-card/urgent-cases.html

If CIC say your application is in their pile of 'unopened mail' then maybe consider submitting a new application.

Your federal MP should be able to assist if CIC are not helpful when dealing with them direct.

As to whether PRs from visa-waiver countries can board flights to Canada with just their passports (and then present themselves to Immigration as returning PRs on arrival in Canada) I would have thought some clarity should have developed on this by now as to whether airlines are allowing it.

It's certainly *best* to have the PR Card or Travel Document but this option might be needed in an emergency.

When I tried to check Air Canada's website, it wasn't responding.

Jeremy

stepnek

We are in a curious situation because my Canadian wife is sponsoring myself and my three dependent children. We now have our immigration visa's and plan to land in August. However recently our baby was born who is entitled to Canadian citizenship because of his Mum. To get his citizenship card takes around 12 months and for us to get his Canadian passport requires proof of citizenship so it's a bit of a vicious circle really.

Anyway the High Commision have told us that they will issue us with a temporary passport for him so it should all be okay but it makes you think that there must be an easier way.

Corky

Nothing is easy in this world! Why do the Canadian Government always screw things up! I am not able to get my PR card before I go to UK, it will not be ready. So I will have to send away for an emergency travel Document.....which costs another $50.00 and I also have to send my passport with it. So I said no way, they want me to go to Canadian High Commission in London and Line up and Maybe just may be, I may be able to get a travel Document...plus filling out all there silly papers. I am kind of wondering how it will be to just try it with out the Travel Document....I may end up having to stay in UK longer than expected and have to buy another ticket home...Gees...I should just cancel the flight! I am also getting told off for not becoming a Canadian Citizen yrs ago....Oh live and learn!

mickj

If everything was easy in this world, there won't be forums like these. Have you noticed how everything cost $50 to get done, driver's licence renewal here is $50, and at the same time, everything expires in 5yrs.

Why can't the licence and the passport all have longer expiry dates like the ones in blighty and other countries. What i don't get, is where all that money is spent. Look at the 401, you can drives for miles, and don't see a street light with halogen lights, that really get my goat, no wonder you get so many accidents every now and then.

I won't be surprised if you have to renew your citizenship card if you weren't born in canada, every 5yrs at a cost of...you guessed it $50 !