You received the great news—“decision made”. Congrats, you’re about to get permanent residency status in Canada!
What happens next? What should you do before coming to Canada? How does the landing process work?
Before coming to Canada
If your permanent resident application is approved, you will be asked to submit your passport to the Canadian visa office where you applied in order to receive your permanent resident visa.
You will get two important documents:
- The confirmation of permanent residence (with identification information, photograph…)
- An entry visa
The confirmation of permanent residence has an expiry date by which you must arrive in Canada. This doesn’t mean you have to settle in Canada by that date, but it does mean you must travel to Canada and become a landed immigrant before the confirmation of the permanent residence expiry date. After that, you may come back to your home country and prepare for your actual arrival if you wish.
You must have your Confirmation of Permanent Residence and your visa with you when you arrive in Canada.
When landing in Canada
When you arrive in Canada with a permanent residence status, you become a landed immigrant. This is a very important step.
Note that there are two cases here:
- If you received your permanent residence status abroad: Most people will fly to Canada and land at an airport. The busiest the airport, the more likely it is that officers will be familiar with immigration papers, that there will be interpreters available if needed etc. In the East, Montreal and Toronto are good choices.
- If you received your permanent residence while you were already in Canada: this is a bit weird, but you have to exit Canada and re-enter (even if it’s five minutes later!) in order to become a landed immigrant. The French have an expression for it: “faire le tour du poteau” (to go around the flagpole). Most people will go to the U.S.A. and re-enter Canada immediately. Walking, driving or biking to Canada are all acceptable options! Officers on both sides of the border are used to it and you shouldn’t have any problem. I did it in 2005 to become a landed immigrant.
Whether you arrive by air or by land, you will first meet an officer from the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).
The officer will ask to see:
- Your passport
- Your valid permanent resident visa
- Your confirmation of permanent residence
- If you immigrate through a category that requires you to prove that you have sufficient funds to support yourself (for example, the skilled worker category), the officer will need to see the supporting documents, such as a recent bank statement.
There are a few routine questions to establish your identity and to make sure you gave correct information that matches your application, but this usually only takes a few minutes. Make sure you have all your documents with you and everything will be fine!
Be aware that you will be asked to declare items you bring to Canada. Take a moment to check out what you can and cannot bring in Canada, and what you must declare. You may want to check “How do I bring my belongings with me?” as well.
After that, the officer will authorize you to enter Canada as a permanent resident. He will also confirm your Canadian mailing address. Your permanent resident card will be mailed to you at this address.
The permanent resident card
A permanent resident card is a small wallet-sized card and a very valuable document, which allows you to prove your status in Canada or when travelling in and out of the country.
Permanent resident’s cards are not issued on the spot when you arrive in Canada. They are mailed to your Canadian address within a few weeks. If you do not have a Canadian address at the time you land in Canada, you must supply one to CIC within 180 days (plenty of time!). There is no fee for the permanent resident card applied for at the time of the landing process. It usually takes about 30 days to receive the permanent card after you land in Canada, but it varies (you can check the current processing time here).
The permanent residence card is normally issued for 5 years. It can be renewed if you wish to remain a permanent resident, or you may not need it anymore if you apply for Canadian citizenship after three years of residency!
…And then what?
After landing in Canada, some people decide to go back to their home country for a little while to finalize their move and settle their affairs. Some have houses to sell, some have to finish their work etc. This is perfectly acceptable. Once you become a landed immigrant, you are free to travel in and out of Canada!
However, if you leave Canada before you receive your permanent resident card, you may need to apply for a single-use permanent resident travel document to return to Canada. If you hold a passport from a country that does not need a visitor visa to come to Canada (such as with an American or a U.E passport), you should be able to enter Canada without your permanent resident card. See the list of countries which require a visa to visit Canada or read the article I need to leave Canada but I do not have my PR card yet for more information.
Be aware that to keep your status as a permanent resident in Canada, you must meet the residency requirement. This means that you must live in Canada for at least two years within a five-year period. If you don’t, you will lose your permanent residence status (and yes, it does happen a lot).
If you stay in Canada after landing, you can start applying for Canadian IDs (such as your SIN card), looking for a job, a place to live etc.
Your rights and duties as a permanent resident
As a permanent resident in Canada, you have both responsibilities. You can:
- Live, work or study anywhere in Canada
- Receive most social benefits that Canadian citizens receive, such as health coverage
- Be protected under Canadian law and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Note that as a permanent resident, you cannot vote or hold certain jobs that have a high-security clearance.
You may lose your permanent status if you don’t meet the residency requirements or if you are convicted of a serious crime.
After three years in Canada as a permanent resident, you may choose to apply for Canadian citizenship if you meet the requirements.
I landed in Canada on February 2014,as a permenent resident as cr catogory Just before arrival to Canada, I did marriage due to certain circumstances. As my marriage documents/certificate came late due to their processing, I was unable to inform about my marriage to High Commission of Islamabad. At Canada Airport when immigration officer asked me, I told him truth about my marriage verbally . Now i got pr card . And doing job can i sponser my wife
Hi,
I got my PR visa under CEC (Canadian Experience Class). Due to personal reasons, I will not be able start living in Canada right now and before the expiry of my PR visa, I am planning to visit Canada for about a week in the next month, stay at my friends place and then come back to India.
I do not have any job offer from Canada and also I am not in a position to provide any proof of funds to the visa officer at the port of entry. Will I get into trouble if the VO asks me how will I support myself in Canada ? Is there is a possibility of stopping me from entering into Canada due to this issue ?
Please let me know if you have any information/suggestions in this regard.
Many thanks for your time.
I have a free entry Passport, from SAINT CHRISTOPHER AND NEVIS am visiting Canada in September however I have consider staying there and studying. Can I just move there and once I have a Job offer letter then Apply for the work Visa?? am I able to study and work at the same time?? Is there any problems that am not married and I have no kids??
Sorry for so many questions at once.
Hope to hear back soon..
Best Reagards,
M.Caines
It would be very tricky for you to apply for a work visa or study visa from within Canada, but the best way to check would be to visit http://www.cic.gc.ca.
I f I live in Canada now and go to the US for just a day and return to become a landed PR, are the items I buy in the US duty exempt?
No idea, please contact CBSA.
Sorry if this is a silly question but I’m British and living in South America but I’m planning to move to Canada. Would it be easier to apply for the PR card from here or go to Canada with my British passport and then look for work while applying for residency?
You have to do things step by step 🙂 First, make sure you qualify under one of the programs to eventually get PR status. Applying from within Canada is an option but it can be very slow. Check out your local visa office (in South America) for processing times, and weight the pros and cons.
Hi,
If an International student (originally from Middle East) in U.S want to come to Canada for the first time to get his Permanent Resident Card (applied for FSWP), can he come with his own car? or he should come with public transportation?
hi,
myself, my wife and 4 months old baby ,we have applied for the QSW program,our file is open in the Quebec immigration department.I would like to have some guidelines from you about landing in Quebec as a QSW.
1After landing in Quebec, we are planning to come back to the country of residence after a month or 20 days stay in Quebec. Since we both are planning to go to Quebec without resigning our jobs.
2.I am planning to send my wife back to Quebec within 3-6 months once she get finalized with her job resignation and its paper works.
3 My wife is a nurse by profession and she is the primary applicant for QSW program,so only my wife will stay in Quebec to enroll into her work based regulatory paper works and for a job search,i have to stay back in my place of work back to support her from my salary.(we are from a middle class family)
4.We need to set up a plan based on what you think best for us
i hope you can help us with our doubts..
thank you
Hi,
You can go back to your home country after landing. The rule is to stay in Canada 2 years for every 5-year period (http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?q=727&t=4). So that’s not an issue. I’m not sure what plan you are looking for…? Your question is a bit broad 🙂
Hi! We just receive a letter from cic informing that our permanent visa is approved and ready to be issued, it also stated there an expiry date for the visa and requiring us to send to vfs our passports together with the said letter. My question is, is there still a possibility that after we will send our passports to them they will issue a denied visa?
No, I think that wouldn’t make sense! The visa is yours, as long as you didn’t lie and meet the residency requirements.
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Seriously? This is so ridiculous that I’m leaving this comment. I only blocked out the email address, FYI. Anyone want a good laugh?
Hi ,
Me and my Husband are residing in Dubai and have received our PR Visa under FSW , our Confirmation of Permanent residence states Calgary Alberta as our port of landing , However we plan to make our landing in Toronto and stay there to collect our PR cards. Please advice if this is ok , will ther be any issue with the immigration .
Thanks
No issue, this is common. Land wherever you please, and welcome to Canada!
hi
my i am a PR in canada and i went to Philippines for a vacation. my flight in coming back to canada is this november, but i just discovered my passport is about to expire on april 2015 which is less than 6 months from now. can i still come back to canada without renewing my passport and just show my PR card? or i have to renew it?
thank you so much
That’s a good question! My two cents is that entering Canada for you won’t be an issue since you are a PR holder. If you had been a tourist, yes, it could have been a problem, but since you can remain in Canada for as long as you want with the PR, then Canada doesn’t care about your passport’s validity. You could check with your Canadian embassy, though.
Happy flight back home!
Hello! My name is Reva. My boyfriend and I are extremely interested in moving to Canada but we’re from the USA. We we’re wondering what needs to be done as far as moving like how much money should we save, what documentation we would need, how long does the process take, etc. I think talking to someone who’s done it already will help us in a multitude of ways. Any information you can provide would be an immense help. Thanks!
You need to do research! All the info you need is online. Your first stop should be http://www.cic.gc.ca so see if you’re eligible.
hi my immigrant visa and COPR expiry date will be on Nov.14 , 2014 can i land to canada on the exact expiration date of my visa
I don’t know. Call CIC to check.
hello i have a question to ask my husband just got his letter for him to submit the passport -so now our concern is he is currently leaving and staying in another country then his home country …Can he enter Canada here with no problem ?? Are they going to ask him questions what kind of a status he had in that country that he recently been ? because he doesn’t have any status he was there as a tourist PLEASE ANYONE LET ME KNOW ABOUT THIS ? Or maybe he will have to go back home and come back in Canada from his home country as he was planning to do ???
I don’t see the big deal… as far as I know, Canada doesn’t care where he was as long as he submits his passport as instructed. Hell, I was in Canada already when I had to send my passport to the French visa office.
Hello! And thanks for posting this information! My CPR and visa arrived during june and both will expire during april, next year. I’m half elated and half scared, because there isn’t any clear info from the official sources and your blog is of great help! Even when i talked to the embassy person (who was super nice) she assured me that i only needed those two documents plus my CSQ (i stayed for a long vacation in Quebec and i loved the place, soooo…). I’m actually in the process of quitting my job and packing my belongings, my departure from Chile will be during march. Hopefully, everything will go as planed! Thanks for the great info! Cheers from Chile!
Hola Chile! One of my favourite countries… I love Chile! 🙂
I hope everything will go as planned for you, and welcome to Canada! What are you scared of? Looks like your documents are in order…?
To answer your question, i was a bit scared/worried about the lack of info regarding which docs i needed (i even thought i needed even more papers besides the ones i already have!) I looked everywhere! But it seems i wasn’t using the right combination of words in google… Thankfully, i found both your blog and the CIC page related to my questions. Now i know i’ve everything and i shouldn’t worry anymore.
Good, I’m glad you found the answer to your question. It’s great that you looked it up… you wouldn’t believe the number of people who just don’t care. I understand how stressful it can be… but it looks like you’re all good 🙂
Let me know if you have other worries!
Hello,
Your post is super helpful! I have a question because I am in a bit of a pickle. I received my “Ready for Visa” passport request email on November 5th, and they needed the passport within 30 days of receiving the email. However I am traveling for business on Nov 17, returning Nov 23 so I won’t be able to submit the passport until then. it gets worse tho, I travel again Dec 22, so I was wondering if you know how long it takes for them to return the passport with the visa? I would be basically giving them a few days short of a month, so am really nervous.
Any advice or tips would be much appreciated.
Thanks!
Misha
You should contact your visa office directly, only they will be able to help! From memory, getting the visa was very quick (one the passport request is issued), maybe a week? You you do need to submit your passport within the deadline, otherwise you may run into issues.
That’s helpful to know – I have heard from some people it’s taken about 1-2 months. I will request urgent processing and attach my ticket as well so really hoping that helps. I can’t even find a contact number for Ottawa’s visa processing office.
Thanks again, Zhu!
I know that finding the right phone number for the visa office isn’t easy…! My experience was in 2004, so maybe it takes longer now? I hope not for you. Let me know how it goes!
Hi,
I got my visa along with C PR . Unfortunately I can’t travel for a year.I wonder how much visa extension do I get?
Depends what kind of visa you have. It should say on it! For the PR, you must land before the visa expires, again, it says on the visa (but it won’t be more than a year…).
Hi, this article was very helpful! I have a question about the COPR and “landing”. Can my boyfriend land, get his permanent residence, then go back to his home country to continue working while trying to find a job here? I’m unsure of what is allowed.
Yes, as long as he watch out for residency requirements (two years of physical presence in Canada for every five-year period).
Dear ,
Your post is superb. One more question I wanted to ask that is , I got the Provincial Nominee from Alberta but got PR from CIC. Is it necessary to stay in that province for atleast 2 years or Can i move anywhere in the Canada after arriving in Alberta first.
Kindly answer me plz
Regard’s
Faisal
No, you can since you committed to stay in Alberta through the program.
Very useful post . Cleared Up A Lot Of Questions In My mind. I landed in late Oct and came back to my home country (US) within a week to finish up my work related tasks, wind up other business etc. I will be moving permanently in Apr 2015.
CIC has sent out our PR cards to the Canadian address. My landlord forwarded the cards to my US address and the cards got lost here in the US.
Is it ok if i tell cic that the cards were mailed outside country? Also do i need to come back to Canada to apply for PR card?
Thanks
Eeek… that’s not good. Well, you have to explain CIC what happened :-/
Ok i will
My wife submitted a urgent application for permanent card renewal in early May, 2014. Guess what…still not received till today (December 9, 2014). It is passed over 200 days since the application on review (May 22 on CIC’s website). Nothing has been informed so we called several times to CIC to find out if there is any problem with her application. None of agents know or gave us good explanation but repeatly saying call back in a week which I did for the last 6 weeks.
We are extremely disappointed and upset…and thinking about even taking to a law suit.
Anyone knows if this can be a good idea?
Thanks,
Suing CIC is generally not a great idea, IMO. Maybe contacting your MP?
I have received the Visa as a PR, but the paper they gave me (“CONFIRMATION OF PERMANENT RESIDENCE”), it has the following written on it:
“Not Valid For Travel”
!!
What does this mean? Is this normal?
What should I do?
This is normal. I’m not sure why it says that (there is an administrative reason, I forgot…) but you’re good to go 🙂
Hello, and I really appreciate your quick reply, I contacted them and they informed me that it means that this specific paper is not valid as a document to travel with.
You have to have a travel document like a valid passport to be able to travel to Canada.
🙂
It makes sense 🙂
c u in Canada SOOOooon 😀
Welcome to Canada, and thank you for providing the explanation!
Great article. I’m currently waiting for my PR interview. What happens if you get accepted as a permanent resident but your country refuses to renew your passport?
My government has refused to renew my passport and I might not have a valid one to loop the flag.
Sorry, no idea. Never heard of that issue before.
I’m asking for a friend. She is a permanent U S resident living in the United States with her two dependent children, one is a U S citizen. Her husband applied for permanent residence in Canada for the entire family including himself. He has been living in Canada for several years. They just got a notice dated 12/30/2014 to come for a interview the second week of January stating all of her husband dependents must attend the interview since they were included on his application. Is there any waiver for her or her children to not attend the interview. As the children are in school and she wasn’t planning to go to Canada until sometime in March or will she need to take the entire family to the interview and come back to the US to finish her business some time later. Thanks.
No idea, for this kind of question you have to contact CIC!
Contacted Immigration they said only dependents that are in Canada now need to attend. Your website is informative. Thanks for all your hard work.
Thank you so much for sharing the reply! It will help other people as well. Was it hard to contact CIC?
Hi,
I have recently got my canadian PR and I am from India. My Question is that my current passport expires in July 2015 and which has the PR VISA stamped and planning to travel in april.Can I renew my passport and travel to Canada along with the old passport since most of the airlines ask for a six months validity of the passport.Will there be any issue since the visa is on old passport.Pls let us know.Waiting for your reply. Thx
Regards,
Prem Kamal.
My question is just the same as Perm Kamal my wife has renewed her passport and have the old one with visa on it ,does she have to inform anyone before entry?
Thanks
Ghorab KH
only one question.My wife is from the Philippines and she has her Landed Immigrant Visa and her ” sticker ” so she can come anytime now .She has to be in Canada by July 12th-15. Some family matters keep her in the Philippines until the middle of March. Her Philippine passport by then will not be valid for 6 months. I was told that she can enter Canada as long as her passport is valid and as long as she takes a direct flight ( Manila – Vancouver ) since some countries will not let you board a connecting flight if your passport is not valid for at least 6 months.
Good..just asking my wife in canada she has a working permit…we are in the philippines with our kids just waiting for our VISA as PR…what she do if our PR Visa is approved? then she is in canada? thanks..
Not sure I understand your question! If her PR is approved, she will have to “land” officially in Canada.
hi zhu good day….i just wanna ask….my wife is in canada right now and she has a working permit status….now she sponsoring us family sponsoring category…now we are waiting for our VISA to be approve…co’z this coming july is for 3 years of waiting to be approve our visas…she need to exit canada or not? tnx..
She will need to land officially. I think you can now “land” at a CIC office in Canada. See here: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?q=748&t=22
Hi ZHu, my husband is in India. I sponsored him to Canada and we are waiting for his visa. Our family have a wedding in Dominican Republic. We were wondering if he can travel to Dominican Republic first (Visa for Dominican Republic is not required for a Canadian visa holder) attend the wedding then travel to Canada from Dominican Republic and Land as a permanent resident in Canada. Is it possible to leave ones country and travel to a next country then land in Canada from the other country? (Therefore is return ticket would be from Dominican Republic travelling to Canada) Hope i explained it properly.
Hi Nadia,
Yes, you explained it just fine! Well, I don’t see why not. If it can help, I “landed” coming from the US, even though I’m French and my visa was processed in Paris.
Hiya,
Approximately how long did you have before you had to enter Canada to land officially? My boyfriend is waiting on his permanent residency visa to come through and we’re living abroad through the wait & we might want to stay here for a year or so, if it comes through quicker than we expect it will, do you get 30 days to go back to Canada to land officially or is it longer? We’d likely pop back to Canada to “enter” and then just come back here, but wanted to know the window we might be looking at! Thanks!
I think it took me about a month before I landed officially, but I had a two-month window. It actually (used to?) depend on the date you took your medical exam, as it’s only valid for a year. If if it took six months to process the visa, then you have six months or until the medical expires to land. Huge caveat, it may have changed!
Hi Zhu,
I am from india and i am applying for the PR now. My wife is a nurse and she will be coming along me. Just need to know how soon she will get a job and what all process need to be done for that. I am working as a technical support engineer and how is the job market for IT proffessionals over there. Over all can we survive there
You need to reach out to people in your field (and I’m not!). Check out local employment resources.