Scoobsta

HI Guys, please can you confirm whether you have to enter canada before the first anniversary of your medical when you get your visa?? ... im a bit perplexed why this has to happen? :scared: :scared:

Andrew Miller

You must land in Canada before expiration of your PR visa or it is gone. PR visa will be valid for up to 12 months from medicals, or less if your passport expires sooner.

Why? because medicals are valid for 12 months only.

Why you ask? Don't you want to move to Canada ASAP? Isn't that why you applied in the first place?

acer rose

Are you really curious?

I cannot answer for the OP, but personally although I would LOVE to move to Canada ASAP (when I get a visa), with the uncertainties of the the application process and the official recommendation that no irreversible steps are taken before the visa is issued, the practicalities of moving can take months to organise. For example (admittedly specifically for the UK), the process of selling a house can take up to 5 months, even after a buyer has been found (which can itself take 12+ months), employment notice periods can be up to 3 months, children have examinations to sit, etc.

Life would be much easier for applicants to rearrange if there was more certainty over exactly how long the official process is going to take. Waiting between 18 months and 4 years for a decision is a big uncertainty to plan your move around or put your life on hold for.

Andrew Miller

Nothing prevents you from landing and then going back to UK to do all what you mentioned.

balaq8

Yes, you are right. Nothing prevents us from Landing other than huge amount of money involved for Air ticket and other travel expenses!

Andrew Miller

Don't complain to me please. The law says that if you won't land before visa expires it will be gone, brutal but simple. And 12 months from medicals is plenty of time to arrange everything for the move, hundreds of thousands of new immigrants manage to do it every year without any problems.

Kazphillips

What would happen if you don't get your visa before the meds expire?

Andrew Miller

You will get request for new medicals.

In some rare cases applicants who continuously resided in US or Canada since first medicals may have their medicals extended by 2 - 3 months in Buffalo.

juliusmaximus

You defenatly got a point there, Acer.

JAJ

The expense of such a trip is small compared to the overall cost of uprooting yourselves from the UK and establishing a new life in Canada. I'd suggest you budget for it in your planning, if it's not required and you can settle in Canada on first landing, consider it a bonus.



Jeremy

Andrew Miller

to balaq8

Jeremy made good point here - immigration is not cheap, it is changing your life completely and you must be able to afford it. The total cost of giving up what you have where you live and then cost of months (if not years) of adapting to new country will exceed many, many times what the minimum amount of settlement fund is required. If you think that just by coming to Canada your financial situation will improve immediately then you are for a shock of your life my friend. Most of the time first generation of immigrants struggle for long time and their kids (second generation) are those who will make it.

If such tiny amount as cost of plane ticket is so huge in the budget you have then please reconsider your plans as you may simply not being able to afford moving here or anywhere for that matter.

acer rose

Glad to hear it confirmed by an expert.

Believe me, I want to be able to "settle" in my new home as quickly as possible, but circumstances dictate that I will probably have to land, then go back for a year or so to "tie up the loose ends", so I hope that option is still available when I am actually in a position to land.

I also hope the answer I gave to your question gave you a little insight into why some people may not move to Canada immediately on receipt of the visa.

Andrew Miller

It just doesn't make much sense, sorry. Why apply if you are not ready to make the move? Start process when you know that you can afford it and are ready to do so. Otherwise you are taking processing resources and visa from annual visa quotas that may be allocated to those who are ready to move once they get visas, not years later.

acer rose

What makes you think money is always the issue? Perhaps you are confusing me with another poster? We are in the fortunate position of having sufficient funds to support ourselves (and have had since making our application) should we want to flee the country and leave behind the house, jobs, possessions etc without a backward glance, but having once organised a house move whilst out of the country, it is not something I am prepared to go through again. As my original post pointed out, it is the arrangement of the practicalities of moving home that take the time and "personal touch".

I believe that many people in the past have cautioned against taking irreverisble actions before a decision is made. After all, points requirements can go up, assessment criteria can change, skills can be no longer required long after our application was sent in. We just might not get in!

Perhaps we are overly cautious, but until we are granted the visa, it is difficult to justify having the entire family living out of boxes in temporary accommodation for 1-3 years on the off-chance that tomorrow the envelope might drop through the letter box and we might be allowed to live in Canada. Good luck to those who are in temporary accommodation, be it with understanding family members or in a B&B, and even more kudos to those who are waiting in Canada on temporary work visas. My sympathy to those who, like us, are just waiting for the decision to be made by the Canadian authorities before taking the necessary next steps.

JAJ

Andrew's was responding to someone else who complained about the cost of landing in Canada and returning home to tie up the "loose ends"



Jeremy