Posted on: 27-06-05 20:06:19
Hi everyone,
Just wanted to let you know about the humiliating experience my wife and I had last November when we \"landed\" in Canada from the U.S. through the border at Windsor. We were given only six weeks on our visa to come to Canada. Because my wife still had a contract to complete in the U.S., we decided to cross the border for a few days, establish our landing, and return to the U.S. (Our lawyer said this would be okay.) We arrived at the border at about 9 p.m. on a Saturday night. When we went to the immigration counters, I immediately heard one immigration officer, an older woman who was going to serve us, turn to another officer and say, \"Oh, you're lucky you didn't get them.\" I'm not sure if it was our appearance that turned her off, or the fact that she realized immediately that we were coming as PRs and she'd have a lot of paperwork to do. Anyway, she spoke to us very rudely, like we were dirt. She asked for my wife's H-1 and when she found out that it was valid until Oct. 2005, she asked angrily, \"Are you moving to Canada now or going back?\" Because of her tone, we were afraid that we were doing something wrong and we didn't know what to say. My wife finally said that she needed to work in the U.S. until Oct. and tried to explain our situation. The woman didn't want to listen to our explanation and said to my wife, \"Just go and sit down. I don't want to listen to you. I'll process your papers, but I won't apply for your PR card.\" As a man, I felt terrible, standing there and listening to someone talk so rudely to my wife, but I couldn't say anything, because I didn't want to upset this seemingly all-powerful officer.
A Pakistani couple we met outside told us that they had a similar experience with another immigration officer. It left a very bad taste in our mouths and since it was our first taste of our new country, it was doubly distasteful. But we told ourselves that we shouldn't let one rude person spoil our impression of an entire country. Every country has rude people and friendly people. In an ideal world, the immigration officer would smile and say, \"Welcome to Canada\" and make you feel good about moving here.
I hope others are a little more prepared for this than we were. The funny thing is, my wife thought we'd have an easy time with the Candian border officers but she had some anxiety about the American officers upon our return. The exact opposite happened.
Melv
Just an unlucky experience ..
Try to keep it out of your mind. We have all had people rudely talking to us once time in life or the other. Don't let it spoil your day
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We will find a way or we will make one
what smiley said is true, i made my entry thru Blaine border (BC), i entered at 11.30 pm, too late..however everyone was a gentlemen there, the female officers were all nice and no1 asked of any details, gave us canadian flags and welcomed us, they were pleased that i prefered canada over US gc..
whereas in US itself we have faced so much discrimination so ..just put that fact on Ignore
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Ashish
like the others said...she probably had a bad day and should have taken the day off.
Since she was out of line...you probably should e-mail your experience(along with details like time...officer name , port of entry etc) to the immigration ministry asking for an explanation for the poor customer service.
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Melv
What a cold reception and impression!
Just curious, according to the angry woman, “…I'll process your papers, but I won't apply for your PR card…” Did this woman eventually refuse to apply for your PR and what actions have you taken in this regard? What is the position currently? Please, try and elaborate more on this aspect as a learning point for other CDs.
Rgds.,
Phuan1
Quote:
Orginally posted by phuan1
Melv
What a cold reception and impression!
Just curious, according to the angry woman, “…I'll process your papers, but I won't apply for your PR card…” Did this woman eventually refuse to apply for your PR and what actions have you taken in this regard? What is the position currently? Please, try and elaborate more on this aspect as a learning point for other CDs.
Rgds.,
Phuan1
When she processed our papers, we became landed immigrants/permanent residents. We just didn't have the permanent resident cards. She told us we'd have to apply for the cards when we move to Canada permanently, which we're going to do in a few weeks. So in the end, aside from being treated very poorly, we didn't lose much.
Since we're driving to Canada, we don't need any sort of travel document to enter; if we were flying, then we'd have to apply for a travel document at the Canadian consulate. At least that's my understanding.
I'm glad to hear that the rude immigration officer is an exception, not the rule.
Quote:
When she processed our papers, we became landed immigrants/permanent residents. We just didn't have the permanent resident cards. She told us we'd have to apply for the cards when we move to Canada permanently, which we're going to do in a few weeks. So in the end, aside from being treated very poorly, we didn't lose much.
Since we're driving to Canada, we don't need any sort of travel document to enter; if we were flying, then we'd have to apply for a travel document at the Canadian consulate. At least that's my understanding.
I'm glad to hear that the rude immigration officer is an exception, not the rule.
From CIC website:
"CIC began issuing PR cards to new permanent residents on June 28, 2002, as part of the immigration process. Personal data and a photo are confirmed at the point of entry into Canada and a card is issued automatically."
Did you give an address in Canada to the officer?
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