The Final
Steps
Waiting for my
landing papers and getting ready to land.
Waiting... and waiting...
That was the toughest part about my application process. No
complaints from me, though! Often when waiting the idle mind
wanders into unpleasant "what if" thoughts. What if the Visa
Officer hates gays? What if my letters weren't good enough?
What if my medical results never got sent? What if there was
something bad that showed up in my medical exam that I
didn't know about? What if... A lot of "what if's." The best
thing to do is to be consciously aware of that detrimental
way of thinking so energies can be spent doing something
productive.
I was concerned about
unforeseen mishaps, but rather than fretting over "ghosts" I
learned as much as I could about the immigration process. I
prepared myself with information so that if something did
happen--like a lost form--I knew when I should call
someone, I knew whom I should call, and I knew
what I needed to do quickly. Learning about other
people's experiences helped a lot in that. It doesn't seem
that forms get lost very often, but they do; so it's good to
be prepared, but not paranoid.
Now I just had to wait. On
the newsgroup I learned that based on other people's
experience, after the medical exam is completed landing
papers take between six weeks and six months to arrive.
Between six and eight weeks was about the norm. The RCMP
said they'd take about 60 days for the clearances, so I
estimated I would receive my landing papers in mid to late
December. In the meantime, I learned about what kind of
things I should know before landing in Canada.
IMPORTING
MY PERSONAL GOODS
Since we had been
living together for so many years, nearly everything my
partner and I owned we owned together. When he arrived in
Canada on a work authorization he was allowed to bring in
personal goods, so nearly everything we had was already
in Canada.
Since I was planning to
have some of my other belongings shipped over which I had
left behind with my family, I prepared a fairly detailed
"List of Goods to Follow" to give to the customs officer
when I landed. This proved to be unnecessary and provided
more confusion than anything else, but I'll mention more
of importing personal goods later when I go over my
landing.
IMPORTING
MY CAR
My main concern
about landing was my car. Since my car was purchased in
the United States I needed to check if I would be able to
import it into Canada. The links listed on my
links
page proved very
useful to me.
Unfortunately for me, my
car was not allowed to be imported into Canada. In some
cars modifications would be allowed so the car can meet
Canadian safety standards, but not in my case. As an
American visitor to Canada I would be allowed to drive my
car, but once I became a Permanent Resident I would not
be allowed to drive it because of a law that prohibits
Canadian residents from driving foreign registered cars
except under special circumstances. Since I wouldn't be
able to import my car in Canada I had to dispose of it in
the United States before I landed.
In addition to using
Yahoo!Autos
to estimate the resell value of my car, I also searched
the web and newsgroups to see if there were cars like
mine being sold and what were the asking prices. Once I
was armed with an asking price, I considered various
options:
- Sell it to a used cas
dealership (the easiest option)
- Use it as a trade-in
to buy another car that I would be able to import into
Canada.
- Sell it to a friend
or relative (it's a problem-free car, so I wouldn't be
risking a friendship)
- Sell it publicly via
a For Sale classified in the newspaper or on the
Internet.
- Give it away (hah!
like I can afford that!)
Note: Due to the
strength of the US dollar against the Canadian dollar, it
is not a bad idea to sell the car (in the U.S.) and use
the money to buy a car in Canada. In addition, there is a
fee of $210 CND ($262 CND at non-designated ports) to
import a vehicle as well as any additional costs if a
vehicle required modifications.
GOT
MY LANDING PAPERS!!!
(click to
see my timeline)
My landing papers arrived on
November 20, 1998. It arrived in a plain brown envelope in
which was the booklet, "A Newcomer's Introduction to
Canada," a letter informing me that my application
process has been completed,
and my "Immigrant Visa and Record of Landing," a.k.a. Form
IMM1000. The latter is a bunch of forms separated by carbon
paper. One page is missing, which I assume is kept on file
at the Consulate since others have mentioned they also have
a page missing. One of the forms is the counterfeit-proof
"Record of Landing" that the immigration officer will staple
into your passport when you land. Also included in the
envelope was my partner's support letter, but I don't know
why it was sent back to me with my landing
papers.
Getting Ready
to Land
The next day I
rented a car in Ottawa so I could head over to a boarder
crossing to officially land in Canada. I brought
along
- my landing
papers
- the completion of
application letter
- my partner's support
letter (just in case they asked to see it)
- a copy of our lease
(so I could show the officer I had a place to stay
since I was carrying very little cash)
- my bank statement
(proof of funds)
- my valid
passport
- a detailed "List of
Goods to Follow" to let them know what I planned to
bring in later
- some cash since there was a $2US ($3 CND) toll to go over the bridge.
Immigrant
Landed
Rather than landing
at the nearest boarder crossing just south of Ottawa at
Ogdensburg, NY, I thought I'd drive over to someplace
nice and scenic, so off we went to Lansdowne in the
scenic Thousand Islands region. It was a longer drive,
but I had a nice comfortable rental car with cruise
control, a cassette player so I could play some of my
music, and, best of all, unlimited mileage.
When I got to the boarder
crossing I popped into the Canadian side first to drop
off my partner to wait there for me since he needs a U.S.
visa to enter the United States. The US-Canada open
boarder privilege applies to citizens of the U.S.
or Canada, not Permanent Residents, although some
citizens of other countries do enjoy the privilege also.
Since I was there I asked how far I needed to go into the
U.S. side. I was told to just go to the U.S. boarder
guard and tell the guard that I need to turn around
because I need to enter Canada from the U.S. to land. I
thought the boarder crossing was many miles away and over
another bridge, but it turned out it was actually just a
few hundred yards in front of me. Note: non-Americans, especially
non-Americans without a visa to enter the U.S., will
sometimes be required to be officially refused
entry to the United States to be turned around. Even if
you are not staying in the U.S. you are entering the U.S.
just the same. Don't be frightened or upset if you are
asked to go into the U.S. border Immigration office. That
is standard procedure.
So I got myself turned
around at the border, popped back into the Canadian
Immigration/Customs building, got helped right away by a
very pleasant Immigration Officer, presented my landing
papers, signed it, then the Immigration Officer typed a
few things into the computer, and asked me about my
funds. I told him I already have a bank account in Ottawa
and a place to stay, and he didn't ask to see any
documentation. Then he typed a bit more into his
computer, stapled my IMM1000 into my passport, stamped
it, wrote "Immigrant Landed," and handed it and my
passport back to me. At no time did the Immigration
Officer give a hint whether or not he knew I had
submitted an H&C application or that I was in a
same-sex relationship. Nothing in my landing papers
indicated anything out of the ordinary regarding my
application or relationship, and it was virtually
identical to my partner's Record of Landing--and he
immigrated to Canada normally, not with an H&C
application. The only things I showed to the Immigration
Officer were my Passport and Record of Landing, but
still, a landing immigrant must be prepared to present
proof of funds.
I was now finally a
Canadian Permanent Resident! It didn't quite sink in I
suppose because I walked right over to the Customs window
next and declared "I'm an American" rather than "I just
landed" and presented my "List of Goods to Follow" to a
young looking agent. Since I was not landing with any
personal goods, my list caused a bit of confusion. After
conferring with an older agent who then conferred with an
even older agent, the decision was made that I should
just present my landing documents to Customs in Ottawa
when I have my things shipped in. The most senior agent
said landed immigrants aren't required to land with all
their belongings, and having "goods to follow" processed
right then would just be a waste of time. So off I went.
And that was it! The whole thing took less than 10
minutes.
On the way back to Ottawa
my partner and I took a leisurely drive along the
Thousand Islands Parkway and then headed back to Ottawa
for a celebrational dinner at Red Lobster.
Yum!!!
So now that I was a
Canadian Permanent Resident, I had a few "official"
things to do to get settled in Canada.
Disclaimer: Not intended as legal advice. Please see
About this Website for more information.
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