Soft Landing experience 09/30 @ Rainbow Bridge, USA
- I am on H1b and my wife is on H4, both of our visas(H1,H4) are expired and we have valid I797
- We have a 1 yr old baby who is US citizen.
- We gave Covid test on Sep 28,2021 at CVS and received results on Sep 29,2021.
- Filled details in ArriveCAN app on Sep 29,2021 and got the receipt.
- We planned to complete Soft landing on Sep 30,2021 early morning and reached rainbow bridge at 8.30 AM.
List of documents carried:
- COPR
- Covid Test Results(baby excluded)
- Covid vaccination cards (baby excluded)
- GTA and GTF list
- Passports (Old & new)
- Car Title
- ArriveCAN digital receipt
- I-797 approvals (Current & old)
Canada Landing process:
Officer1: Purpose of Travel
Me: To complete PR landing process and provided Passports and COPR
Officer1: are you fully vaccinated and do you have vaccine cards.
Me: yes, provided Vaccine cards
Officer1: did you take Covid test
Me: yes, provided Covid test results
Officer1: Where are you coming from
Me: Pennsylvania
Officer1: we are not doing landing today
Me: i called CBSA and they said they are doing it TUE,WED,THUR from 8AM to midnight
Officer1: where are you coming from again
Me: Pennsylvania
Officer1: So you didn’t travel from Canada to USA and coming back to Canada
Me: No, i am not doing flagpoling
Officer1: then we will allow your landing
Officer1: are you moving permanently today
Me: we are planning to move permanently in 3 or 4 months, our COPR is expiring next month so we want to complete the PR landing today
Officer1: what do you have with you
Me: Luggage and baby items
Officer1: are you carrying alcohol, tobacco or firearms
Me: no
Officer1: are you going into Canada, how long are you staying
Me: will apply for SIN and leave in the evening to USA
Officer1: Gave yellow slip and returned documents, asked to park behind the building
Me: we parked in parking spot behind the building and Officer2 approached us
Officer2: are you moving in permanently today.
Me: we are planning to move in 3 or 4 months, as our COPR is expiring next month we want to complete the PR landing today
Officer2: do you want to import your car
Me: i am not doing it today
Officer2: took our COPR, Passports and asked us to wait in the car
Me: we waited in the car for 20 minutes and Officer3 approached us with COPR documents
Officer3: could you and wife step out of car and sign the COPR documents
Me: i signed for myself and baby’s COPR, wife signed her COPR
Officer3: do you have address where we can send your PR card
Me: provided the address which i printed on paper (friends address)
Officer3: wait in the car, another officer will come and get your GTF list
Me: we waited for another 10 minutes
Officer3: approached car and mentioned that we are now permanent residents of canada and congratulated us
Officer3: you need to maintain residency 2 out of 5 years in canada
Officer3: you will receive your PR card in 2 to 3 months to the address you provided
Me: thank you (note: i checked the wait times for PR card and it is 140 days, i didnt mention this to officer anyways)
Me: we waited for another 5 min in the car
Officer4: do you have your GTF list.
Me: provided GTA and GTF list and photographs of jewelry
Officer4: will items in GTA stay in Canada
Me: we are planning to leave today and we will take them back
Officer4: then they should be present in GTF list
Me: i can add them now if required
Officer4: wait in the car and let me get documentation
Me: we waited for another 15 min
Officer4: got BSF186 form and asked me to fill it with Goods to accompany list
Officer4: are you going to import your car in later date
Me: yes i will
Officer4: fill in the car details(make, model,VIN) also in BSF186 form
Me: completed and signed the BSF186 form and returned to Officer
Officer4: i will attach your GTF list to this form(BSF186) and will copy your Jewelry photographs (Note: i got only 1 copy of jewelry)
Officer4: wait in the car while i get it done
Me: we waited for another 15 min
Officer4: came back with stamped BSF186 form with attached GTF list and Jewelry photographs (Note: GTF and Jewelry are not stamped)
Officer4: i am attaching your GTF to this form, so you can get your items in GTF as duty free
Officer4: you don’t have to get your jewelry all at a time. you can get it as you want and we will strike them accordingly
Me: OK
Officer4: any other questions
Me: is there a way to track the PR card status
Officer4: not sure, but you will get it to the address provided
Me: last question, which way to niagara falls
Officer4: take the road to the right, have a nice day.
Me: thank you
Note: Niagara falls from Canada side is beautiful 
Return to USA process (Using AVR):
We reached rainbow bridge at 4PM on the same day
Officer: purpose of visit
Me: I work in United states, and provided passports, i94/ i797(myself & wife)
Officer: purpose of visit to canada
Me: to validate Canada Permanent residence
Officer: Oh Canada
Me: yes
Officer: looked at documents for a minute
Officer: good night and returned the documents
Me: thank you (Note: process at US border is quick, took only 2 minutes, no stamp on passport, didn’t get new i94)
PR card Linking:
On Sept30th, i linked PR card application to online account for Myself, Wife and child
Note: had some issues for few times to link PR card, but we were able to successfully link our PR cards (trick is to give place of birth exactly as mentioned in your passport)
Hope this post helps future applicants for PR landing. Good luck 
