I just wanted to thank everyone for their wonderful support and advice. We filed outland (hubby is Canadian, I'm an American) and it went so smooth. We were approved in 4 months!!!! I just landed yesterday and it took a total of 15 minutes and we were on our way. We feel so fortunate that everything went without a hitch. Now time to find a job 
05-06-09 Mailed App to mississauga
05-08-09 Mississauga received app
05-17-09 App sent back because 1 missed signature (GRRRR)
05-22-09 App sent back to Mississauga
05-24-09 Mississauga received App
06-19-09 Hubby approved to Sponsor
06-29-09 App received by Buffalo
06-29-09 Buffalo began processing App
07-24-09 Received passport request letter
08-08-09 Sent passport to Canadian Consulate in Buffalo
08-10-09 Buffalo received my passport
08-28-09 Received passport back with landing papers
09-01-09 Landed!!!!
Wow, that was very quick! Congrats to you... I will be filing in Oct through Buffalo as well and can only hope mine is as fast as yours!
Congrats to you and your hubby!!
congrats to you and your husband
Hey Leapfrog that's awesome! I actually just got my passport request in the mail too!
I had a question for you...I'm planning on going up to Canada again with my passport BEFORE I send it in. I'd rather spend that time without the passport with my hubbie...did you do they same? Where there any problems? It says I have 60 days to send in my passport and I will definitely be in that time frame. Anyhoo...just curious!
Ophelia7z Wrote:Hey Leapfrog that's awesome! I actually just got my passport request in the mail too!
I had a question for you...I'm planning on going up to Canada again with my passport BEFORE I send it in. I'd rather spend that time without the passport with my hubbie...did you do they same? Where there any problems? It says I have 60 days to send in my passport and I will definitely be in that time frame. Anyhoo...just curious!
I actually stayed in the states while I sent my passport in because I still had to work. My hubby came down to visit me instead. It took them 15 business days to get my passport back to me. When I received my passport back it had my landing papers too (which we didn't expect). No problems. I had to wait almost 2 weeks to send them my passport after I got the letter because I sent it off to the US passport to get my name changed. So as long as you are within the 60 days you are fine. Also, I would strongly encourage you to do the prepaid express envelope they talk about in the letter, it's expensive, but worth it. And I of course obsessively checked everyday to see if they had processed my passport and sent it back :), but it was nice to get it back the day after they finished processing. Good luck to you both & congrats on the passport request
Congrats! How did you land, btw?
Congratulations!!!
I have got to get myself in gear and fill out my "goods to follow" paperwork so I can land.
The plan was to land when I arrived home after a two month stay with my partner in England last week. Unfortunately, the attorney I had hired wasn't available to answer my questions on the paperwork and I arrived in Vancouver - on route to WA - without landing.
I was greeted with "Welcome back to Canada" when the inspector saw my visa but he quickly became confused when he couldn't find the rest of the necessary documentation. He agreed it was a real bummer about the lawyer but it is what it is.
With a little luck I can get everything together this week - although I suspect my attorney may be on vacation - and be able to land soon. I have until the end of October but I don't want to wait until the last minute...
Nordicgirl Wrote:Congrats! How did you land, btw?
Thanks :)
THe hubby came down to the states and we drove up together in his vehicle and a bunch of my stuff and we crossed together at th Pac-hwy crossing in Washington. It was extremely easy. We pulled up to the booth, the border guy asked us a few questions: how do you know this lady, do you have your list of goods and then sent us inside. I signed my papers, they looked at my visa and passport, stamped my goods & to come later documents (didn't even look at them). Asked the total value of everything I was bring and told me welcome to Canada! In total, it took 15 minutes. They didn't even look in the truck at my stuff or ask about my 2 cats
CommonLaw Wrote:Congratulations!!!
I have got to get myself in gear and fill out my "goods to follow" paperwork so I can land.
The plan was to land when I arrived home after a two month stay with my partner in England last week. Unfortunately, the attorney I had hired wasn't available to answer my questions on the paperwork and I arrived in Vancouver - on route to WA - without landing.
I was greeted with "Welcome back to Canada" when the inspector saw my visa but he quickly became confused when he couldn't find the rest of the necessary documentation. He agreed it was a real bummer about the lawyer but it is what it is.
With a little luck I can get everything together this week - although I suspect my attorney may be on vacation - and be able to land soon. I have until the end of October but I don't want to wait until the last minute...
They didn't even look at my goods lists. All he did was cross out the empty spaces i didn't use & stamp it & ask for the total value of everything. And they expect you will forget to list some things. The guy who did my paperwork didn't seem too concerned about what was on my list.
I'm surprised he didn't have you land when you crossed. I know on my visa it said only 1 entry. But as long as you are crossing by land and not air, you can come back and forth without your PR card and just your landing papers. But I guess you can't do the same if you are flying and they are averaging 3 weeks for the PR cards from what I have read.
Good luck, hopefully you will be able to land soon :)
I've been in my common law relationship for eleven years. I've owned my home in WA for nine years and have no immediate plans to sell - thanks to the current real estate market - so my "to follow" list will be pages long.
Fortunately - or not - I've got over $100,000 worth of jewelry that I've bought, inherited and been given over the years, all of which has to be accounted for on my way in. I don't want to have to pay duty on it or have to sell it!
I arrived in Canada by air (from England) and it didn't appear to be an issue. The only thing I was reminded of was the expiration date on my visa - not that I needed them to remind me of that!
Glad it was so easy for you. Thanks for the good wishes.
leapfrog Wrote:Thanks :)
THe hubby came down to the states and we drove up together in his vehicle and a bunch of my stuff and we crossed together at th Pac-hwy crossing in Washington. It was extremely easy. We pulled up to the booth, the border guy asked us a few questions: how do you know this lady, do you have your list of goods and then sent us inside. I signed my papers, they looked at my visa and passport, stamped my goods & to come later documents (didn't even look at them). Asked the total value of everything I was bring and told me welcome to Canada! In total, it took 15 minutes. They didn't even look in the truck at my stuff or ask about my 2 cats
What goods did you have? Why do your good need to be stamped? I don't understand anything!!!
Oh well
Furniture, clothes, household items, 2 cats, jewelry, laptop, some personal paintings I've done.I didn't have a whole lot of stuff to bring with me. The stamp just shows the date you landed. And I think it makes it "official" so you can bring up your goods later. Don't stress, it's much easier than it seems. I know, easier said than done :).It's a 4 hour drive from where I was living to the Canadian border and I stressed the whole way. I was completely nauseous and car sick because I kept thinking about all the horror stories I have read about. But it ended up going very smooth. So hopefully everything will go just as smooth for you as it did for me :)