We are planning to land in Jan from US with some minimum luggage and then once we get a job and apt. plan to move all our stuff from US using moving services. I know we have to provide the list of goods to follow on landing.

1) Are there any other formalities we need to take care of so that the movers have no problem entering Canada. How does this work ? Please advise.

2) I believe that when going to canada by road, we needn't submit our I-94 if we plan to stay less than 30 days. What if i enter by road and then fly back in less than 30 days. In this case, do i have to submit my I-94 before leaving Canada?

Thanks.

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waiting

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1) Are there any other formalities we need to take care of so that the movers have no problem entering Canada. How does this work ? Please advise.
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Hi waiting, you will have to provide a detailed list of Goods to Follow to Canadian Customs when you land. When your movers arrive, they will be sent to a Customs Bonded Warehouse in (or near) your destination address. You need to go to the Customs Bonded Warehouse with your papers including your Passport and List of Goods to Follow. The Customs Officer will ensure that the movers are carrying only the goods as per your list. He will ask you whether ALL of your goods to follow have arrived, if you answer yes, he will stamp on the PP \"no more goods to follow\", date it and release the goods. If you say that some goods are still to come, he will scratch out the goods which have arrived and stamp your PP accordingly and release your goods. The movers can then deliver your goods. There are no goods or duties charged and the value of your goods does not matter.

NOTE: If your movers are carrying other people's goods as well as your goods they need to get everybodys goods cleared before their truck leaves the Customs warehouse. We had a problem because one of the people whose goods were in our movers truck (a commerical importer) did not have his proper documentation and hence our movers truck was held up for 2 days in the Customs warehouse until he produced his papers. So even though our stuff was cleared, we had to wait to receive our goods.

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2) I believe that when going to canada by road, we needn't submit our I-94 if we plan to stay less than 30 days. What if i enter by road and then fly back in less than 30 days. In this case, do i have to submit my I-94 before leaving Canada?
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I cant answer this as we were moving to Canada for good and the INS officer on the US side took all our I-94's.

As an aside: be careful choosing your movers - we had a horrible experience with our movers.

Good luck with your landing (and moving).

When choosing a mover, you should select a mover who is registered with the Certified Movers Program.
Under that, there is a code of business ethics that all members have to follow.
Plus, there is a proper grievance redressal system.
Also, all of the movers under this program will visit your home and give you a "binding" estimate, rather than a non-binding one.

Check out http://www.moving.org

Whichever mover you go with, remember that if you do not insist on a binding estimate, you are asking for trouble.

As for your question about I-94s, you should hand it over to the Canadian officials when leaving Canada.
This is quite common for those people who travel from the US to Canada and then take a flight out to Canada to somewhere other than North America.

Hope this helps.

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"Mah deah, there is much more money to be made in the destruction of civilization than in building it up."

-- Rhett Butler in "Gone with the Wind"