Hi,
Me and my spouse are currently staying in the US. We received our COPR recently. So we are planning to do a soft landing before the visa validity expires. We cannot move to Canada immediately due to various reasons. So what should we tell the immigration officers?
What are the things to carry if we are doing soft landing in Toronto? Is it mandatory to carry Goods to Follow list even for a soft landing? Are we supposed to get SIN and open bank account since we are only doing soft landing now?
Also, we are planning to visit India from Canada after soft landing and then back to the US. Is there any problem if we visit India after doing soft landing and again back to the US? Will there be any issue at POE in the US?
Please help.
Its best to tell your situation as is to the immigration officer (maybe stress on the fact that you intend to move sooner than later). There is a chance they won’t start PR card process, but that’s the risk with soft landing. I was in the same situation, and I told the officer that I intend to move as soon as I find a job, and that I am actively interviewing (which was all true).
Things to carry:
Passports & COPRs,
GTF (I did this when soft landing, but others on this forum have mentioned you can skip this and get it done later)
Bank statements showing proof of funds (they usually don’t ask, but definitely should carry)
Originals of documents you submitted online while applying for PR (haven’t heard of anyone asking this, but best to keep, just in case they ask) - Police clearance certificates, work ex letters etc.
No idea about requirement to apply for SIN, we actually did not apply for SIN or open a bank account. I don’t think this would be an issue until we start working in Canada.
I also did something similar in terms of travel. i.e. US -> Canada -> India -> US. Didn’t face any issues with US visa stamping or POE. I don’t think US will care if you have Canadian PR or not, even if they ask, we can probably say that, yes, we applied for it and are undecided about moving.
Thanks for the detailed explanation. I have few more queries.
1.We have applied through Express entry and in our COPR its mentioned that our destination as Toronto. So is it mandatory that we have to land only at Toronto or can we do at Vancouver too?
2.And if we land at Toronto, for PR cards delivery we are planning to give a friend’s address who is in different province? Will it be fine? Or we have to give the address in the same province we land?
3.Can the PR cards be sent via courier to US? I have read different opinions everywhere.
Don’t tell anything until asked. Only answer the questions asked.
Get everything done, GA/GTF (include car as well)/SIN/Bank accounts etc.
If you have a valid US visa and any other required US paperwork, there’s no difference between doing US-Canada-India-US vs US-India-US.
If you don’t have a valid (stamped) US visa, you can only do US-Canada-US (using automatic visa revalidation)
Note that technically there’s no such thing as “soft” or “hard” landing. W.r.t. immigration it’s only landing. The difference comes into play when you’re importing your stuff from the US (GTF). In that sense the CBSA (customs) care about whether you’re a landed/new settler or returning resident. BUT I would highly recommend doing the GTF now.
We have applied through Express entry and in our COPR its mentioned that our destination as Toronto. So is it mandatory that we have to land only in Toronto or can we do it in Vancouver too?
And if we land in Toronto, for PR cards delivery we are planning to give a friend’s address who is indifferent province? Will it be fine? Or we have to give the address in the same province we land?
