Successfully did soft landing

Express Entry
1

Hello there,

This post is share my experience on soft landing we did 3 weeks back. We had to land by Feb end, decided to visit on Jan last week just after snow storm🥶. We flew from San Francisco to Toronto. Got our NAAT test just 2 days before travel. The officer in Toronto airport was very cordial. She asked when I’m supposed to move. I said after we finish some of our pending stuffs we will move. She asked if you have a Canadian address, provided the address. She said after this visit I would need visa to fly back again until I have my PR card in hand. I asked if this is same for land border crossing which she was not sure of.

Then she asked us to wait for 5-10 mins during which she did complete some of the formalities and handed over the COPR client copy with other details filled and signed. That was smoother than expected.

While returning from Toronto to SF, the delta agent demand the visa and I said we wanted to use AVR which she had no idea and with the help of a senior she finally validated our i797 and issued the boarding pass. The USA immigration officer in Toronto airport again validated our case and he was also unsure of AVR for which he took another one’s help and finally allowed to proceed. But warned us that AVR is a privilege. We should not use most often as it may create problem if it is a busy time or if the officer is not knowledgeable. Well that was it. Everything was smooth.

In 2 days stay I got my SIN and opened a bank account. Thank you!

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2

Hi @suryakanta87 ,

Thanks for sharing your experience! Is Canada enforcing mandatory quarantine if you’re fully vaccinated? Also do you need a prior appointment with Service Canada to apply for SIN or can you just walk in?

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Hi @Karan11, mandatory quarantine is not there. They actually randomly pick few folks and ask them to be tested on the spot. If you are tested positive then mandatory quarantine applies. Otherwise not. And I did not take prior appointment. I walked in. But there were 20 people ahead of me. So had to stand in the queue for close to 50 minutes in -21 degree Celsius :cold_face:. And have the covid test result handy there also.

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4

Congrats! I just landed in Toronto, what address did you give for your SIN? A friend’s address, UPS mailbox, or something else entirely?

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I gave my friends address

6

aah same. What bank did you end up using? I’m not sure which one to go to.

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I opened at RBC. But make sure you have an appointment. Without appointment bank does not let you do this. Somehow I managed by pushing them but I recommend having an appointment

8

Hi. How did you open your RBC bank account without Canadian address proof?

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I got my SIN with my friends address and using the address in SIN I opened the RBC account.

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