Soft Landing Questions(From US)

Moving Here
102

@g.rajtharun

How were you able to link your PR Card application to your CIC account when you were told to apply for PR Card once you move permanently.

Thanks

AB

103

I thought the same, but looks like the process for PR card is automatically initiated after you land, but the only thing that is missing would be address i guess.
You can sign in to cic website, there is an option to link your application. Also there are many videos on you tube on how to do it.

104

@g.rajtharun

So should I link my PR application to my CIC login as the officer said, you can only apply once you permanently move to Canada.

She also handed me over a form to fill put and fax to IRCC after permanently moving in.

What course of action did you take? Have you applied for your PR even though you did a soft landing ?

105

Hi,
We are planning to do our soft landing soon and return to the US. What shall we answer if , upon return, the US immigration officer asks us about the purpose of our visit to Canada? Is it okay to tell that we went there for PR?

106

HI, What did you answer them about the purpose of your visit to Canada? Is it okay to say that we went there to validate our residency.

107

I told them that i was there for PR landing.

108

Yes, I updated my address.

109

UPDATE: Did my soft landing last week at Toronto Airport and came back in a week, after finalizing my rental home.

Soft landing was smooth.

They had a machine which scans your passport and asks some basic questions and prints a slip for custom (you need it later). Then the CBSA agent looks at your passport and points you to the immigration team.

You handover your CoPR/Passport to them. They stamp it and declare you are officially a PR now. We completed the banter and I moved on. All this took 10 mins.

Then I was directed to the Service Canada place where I was give a SIN. That took around 15 minutes.

I was then asked to go towards exit and that’s where the custom agent (at exit gate) said I am free to go. I told no one has looked at my GTF list and he looked surprised, then he directed me to the custom’s section.

They looked at my GTF/GTA list, spent 10-15 minutes to sign/stamp/ prepare their forms and handed over to me with $0 duty payable.

All this was smooth, but I have to mention that the next 4-5 days I spent in Toronto, I realised that life won’t be smooth for the initial few months. Everyone looks for a Canadian experience (be it in job or house hunt).

fortunately, I have a job so that’s not an issue but I saw at least 10-12 homes in Markham/Richmond hill area and put in few offers. They all rejected those saying they would prefer someone who has lived in Canada over someone who has never lived here. My agent tried to convince them with my US credit score, paychecks, offer letter, PoF, etc. but didn’t work out. One reason is that rules in Canada are heavily in favor of Tenants unlike USA, so landlords are extra careful who they let in.

The day before I was leaving, one of the agents I had put an offer to, came back and said they will look at my offer now (likely his first choice backed out and the landlord was ok with talking to me).
So we got a home, but it was really tough.
Finding apartments is a bit easier, but most of the new apartments are 700-900 sq ft in those areas so may not fit well for a family of 4. Older apartments are bit bigger (1200 sq ft), but you really need to check out their condition before accepting or putting an offer.

Thanks

1 Like
110

Did you try rental apartments that are run by leasing staff and don’t have landlords? Though im landing in 2 weeks time, I have contacted them from here and they have given positive response regarding us credit report and want a job offer letter with salary. They said they have rented apartments like this to new immigrants especially US bound.

111

Yes, Toronto downtown does have a lot of newer options in apartments in nicer school areas, but Markham and RH being developed as suburbs don’t have much options there . I also heard that apartments accept US credit history easily , it’s the individual landlords who are a bit careful and rightly so .

112

I see. Yea i have been looking for rental apartments in North York area and close to downtown. One thing I forgot to mention was that in many apartments the leasing staff has been asking for first and last month’s rent combined. So I guess that maybe something to do with not having Canadian credit history. Will update in few weeks when I start going through this process.

113

yes that’s a standard as everyone asks for first and last month as deposit.
My agent mentioned that sometimes people have to pay upto 6 months rent as deposit if nothing else is working out.
For me, finally, the following things worked :

  • Canadian offer letter
  • US Credit report
  • 2 months rent as deposit
  • Bank statement for balance (as don’t have payslips until starting job)

It is recommended to take a reference letter from your current landlord in US, if renting.

2 Likes
114

Just wanted to share my experience looking for jobs in Canada while I was in the US. I contacted several recruiters on LinkedIn and also applied to jobs online. I interviewed with many companies and all of them had some form of video call interviews. They all were typical tech interviews for software engineers- coding, algorithms etc. Most of them did all interviews over video conferencing since I was remote, while some had onsite interviews in Canada once you got through initial rounds. I was never asked about Canadian experience nor I felt they were looking for that. I did not use a Canadian address on my resume and they knew I was still in the US and I told them about my timeline to move to Canada. I was planning to move with my US employer, transfering to their Canadian office. But I ended up taking an another job offer in the end.

1 Like
115

Soft landing:

Thanks to this forum for all the knowledge sharing.
Did our soft landing this Sunday at Peace Arch bridge in Blaine, WA.
Whole process was pretty smooth and took less than an hour.
We were asked only for Passport and COPR.
Gave them our GTF list next (which they did not even mention about, but I had to ask them to process it)
Got our SIN at the closest Service Canada office Monday morning.

We had our h1b stamped recently, so no special questions while coming back to US.

116

Howdy,
Did a soft landing on Pearson airport yesterday (June 13) and everything was uneventful. Will be here for a day and get back to US tomorrow.
If someone has moved here and is around Old Toronto do let us know! We would love to meet:)
Process:-

  • Post getting down the flight, went through the customs line( Other passports titled)
  • Then went to the counters to validate COPR. The lady just asked the address and asked us to take a seat(Docs- Passport, COPR)
  • In 10 mins, she handed us the docs for us to sign.
  • Then asked us to get our SIN through the next counter( There are folks there who guide you)
  • Filled out 1 small form for getting our SIN.(Docs-Passport, COPR)
  • Got our SIN and then went down to collect the baggage.
  • There is a counter by the SIN for “Newcomers” . They just hand out some info cards and mention that we can get our health cards after we land.
  • Once we got our baggage downstairs, went through the exit to customs. The officer asked us to go to the right side to submit the Goods to follow list.
  • Submitted our Goods to follow list. They gave us the $0 receipt.
  • Exited out.

Regards,
Appy

2 Likes
117

Hi,
I have to land in Canada by December for PR.
As a primary applicant, if I go alone get PR. Does my wife and kid have to land by December too or does she go along with me anytime in future to get PR?

118

They have to land by the expiry date too.

119

Can someone tell me how I can link my PR card application to my cic account. Thanks.

120

You can follow this step by step link:


Note that it may not show up immediately. It takes a few days before you are able to link it so dont worry if the system says cannot find the application.

121

Got PPR recently and sent our passports to Ottawa office on Jun 19th.
CIC account says our application was approved Jul 8th.

But I have not seen the return tracker activated yet - looks like they haven’t shipped it back yet.

Is that normal ? How long do they hang on to the passports after approval ? Any advise here ?