Hi Folks,

I intend to arrive in Toronto in early September 2009 for my initial landing and first hand experience of Canada. I plan to stay for week with my friend and return back to UAE where I am currently working. I cannot spend more days in Canada at this point of time due to official commitments at my work place. I would be applying for my PR and SIN while I am in Canada while I am going to be there.

Could experienced Desi's on the forum advice me on the following?

1) I apply for my PR card at the airport and give my friends address for receiving the PR card.

2) I apply for my SIN card and give my friends address for receiving the SIN card.

He would then either courier the cards to me or personally hand it over to me when he meets me in Dubai by the end of this year. I do not plan to visit Canada for atleast one year more.

Is it legal for my friend to receive my cards and send it over / deliver it to me? Bearing the confidentiality / security of the cards concerned, I do trust my friend and am sure he can do the needful, but do not want him to face any legal issues for helping me out.

Thanks in advance for the feedback.

Regards, rawe

It is very safe to give your friends address and he will receive PR,SIN,Medical card on your behalf.You have to take care of the following things while landing :

first and foremost, when you are booking tickets, if it is via some destination you flight is coming and suppose you have to change flight, make sure with travel agents that you don't need/need transit visa.

put everrythings in check in luggage and bring only clothes in cabin luggage.If anything fragile then write on the baggage 'FRAGILE HANDLE WITH CARE'

third thing, if you are vegetarian or carrying small infant,while booking ticket, you inform travel agent for specific food.

carry luggage weight according to the specifications only.(ask travel agents).

Carry some latest photographs of all family memebers. (tell photographers,it is for canada immigration)

carry passports/landing papers/visas/children immunization record/funds carried xerox and cash carried details to be given to landing officers in your handbag or cabin luggage.(do not put any important documents/investment papers in check in luggage.

after you land, if you have more luggage and children, better to hire porter and he charge you$20 legally and $20 for additional services.He will take you to right counter fast and you will out of airport in 15-20 mts and porter will put all your luggage in taxi and let you use his mobile to trace your relative.
($20 additions is worth for the effort he is putting because while completing formalities with officers, he is taking care of your whole luggage.)

after landing, make sure the landing officer enters your full name exactly as per passport name in landing paper because landing papers and PR card is inter related. (If he makes mistake in landing papers then PR card will also be wrong and you will have to come again to rectify PR card.)

As soon as you are rested Go to nearest SIN card office and it will take 1-2 hours to complete SIN formalities.(SIN card will be issued to you 10-15 days)

next day, go for Medical formalities which will take 2-4 hours depends on the queue. For all these formalities You require passport and landing papers.
(medical card will be issued to you in 3 months time).

PR card will automatically received by you in 10-15 days time.

I think you will require PR card in move into and out of canada, so you can't go back without PR card.

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The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
Mahatma Gandhi

Thanks Gopalpai. Its very heartening to know that so much affection and caring advice is available on Canadian Desi.

I hope a couple of our other seniors too would share their thoughts with all of us.

Keep the faith.....

rawe

Quote:

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Originally posted by rawe

Hi Folks,

I intend to arrive in Toronto in early September 2009 for my initial landing and first hand experience of Canada. I plan to stay for week with my friend and return back to UAE where I am currently working. I cannot spend more days in Canada at this point of time due to official commitments at my work place. I would be applying for my PR and SIN while I am in Canada while I am going to be there.
.....................
......................

Is it legal for my friend to receive my cards and send it over / deliver it to me? Bearing the confidentiality / security of the cards concerned, I do trust my friend and am sure he can do the needful, but do not want him to face any legal issues for helping me out.

Thanks in advance for the feedback.

Regards, rawe

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Thanks Freddie.

As per your advice I will just apply for my PR and SIN, the rest of the things I presume can wait.

Could you enlighten me above the currency of funds which I am suppossed to carry with me for my initial landing? As mentioned above, is it okay for me to carry the draft in 'UAE Dirhams' or it will have to be in 'CAD $'?

This is a very important source of information for me or for all new initial landers in Canada who plan to stay for a short time and return as they can save a bit on the exchange rates.

rawe

It is advisable to carry canadian dollar travelling cheque /draft since landing officer will ask you about funds. You will have to show him original proof of funds and he will write it on landing papers. Mind you, a draft will take 20-30 days to clear. If you are coming for a short visit and go back, then I would advise you to carry 10000 CAD cash. Carry little more,if not used, you can take it back with you. If you carry less, and if there is nobody to help you financially in canada, they you will be in big trouble.

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The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
Mahatma Gandhi

When you apply to get in, they ask for the proof of funds, sufficient to support you here in Canada and they have provided you with a set of tables to follow. It has the a column with number of dependents with the number of dollars required.

When you show funds in a country in which you were living, it is mostly in that particular currency. It could be all Cash, or other vehicles such as Mutual funds, Term Deposits and Stocks, fixed properties and other NEGOTIABLE INSTRUMENTS. The aggregate value of it should normally equal or exceed the required dollar value at the time of application.

Normally after a lapsre of an year or two, it generally appreciates. Also who ever is working generally adds to it as savings. So, it could be in excess of the amount. But in recent times, the markets have taken a turn for the worse and people will hang on to their portfolios as long as they can hoping for the best. So, it is in negotiable securities. That is the norm for all people who do not hold their assets in CASH.

So, when you land here in Canada, if you have all of the assets that you declared and a few thousand Canadian dollars in cash, you can liquidate with ease from time to time as the markets are slowly improving everywhere in all of the other parts of the world.

Most negotiable of all the instruments are Demand Drafts. (D.D.) If they are in a currency that is negotiable here in Canada, then it is even better. It could be in Dhirams, Pounds, Euros, US dollars, Japanese Yens and any such currency that is acceptable here in Canada by the local Banks. It is a very safe instrument to carry. Stocks and bonds are acceptable (O.K.)too.

Then Cash is KING. If you have cash especially in Canadian or the US currency, then you can get by. But every time you convert it to the local currency, you get hammered by the Banks in their exchange system. It is their mode of survival. And we succumb to it. Hence the suggestion that you bring sufficient cash for you to take care of your stay and then some more to cushion your stay, but not a very large sum that will be risky to carry, or will attract attention, in the form of CASH. But every one has a threshold that they will not cross, mine may be a thousand, others may have a larger sum. Then if you have credit cards, or debit cards to help you with, you are well set for the travels.

Now coming to the $9999.00 in cash. In Canada, when you cross the border with a larger sum than that and FORGET to declare it, either by accident or by design, then you will be made to answer for it, for NOT declaring it. You are classified as a criminal and the money gets confiscated too. So, why carry that amount in CASH... BUT you MUST DECLARE and any and ALL sums you are carrying into Canada. May be what is to follow also. Whether it does or not is not the topic of discussion here.

'FINTRAC': Is an organization that gets your name in their rosters whenever you move or transfer a sum of 10,000.00 dollars or larger. (Now they might have brought it down to $5,000.00 because of the numerable transfers in sums that large are taking place here in a lot of directions.) I have not kept pace with them, but that is what I suspect from the news that I hear from the grape wine.

Nevertheless, I say live by your own standards. Carry what you are comfortable with and have a very safe trip and do all of the formalities in style and do not feel restricted in your behavior or movements.

Hope this helps you all a little.

Freddie.

{All of this have been hashed and thrashed, MANY MANY Times over here. Why is it that we have to repeat this subject many times over is it not possible to make them sticky for the new Immigrants who are entering and leaving??}