P.S: The following post is a personal experience of one of our fellow immigrants. Please do not take this as an advice but rather note key points that can help you in your landing experience.
I was living in Detroit for over 4 years and was on H1B Visa. Most people advised me to take a rental car, but I chose to take one of my friend’s car to do the landing.
When I was about to enter the tunnel, I saw some security/police like folks. As soon as I drove close to them, a security officer ( she ) walked o my car. She was from US Customs.
I had an expired visa but had a valid I-94 and I explained that I would be back to the U.S very soon. I was asked to pay the toll of $4.00 and then I started driving to the tunnel.
As I crossed the border, and about to enter Canada, I saw security posts to the right and few cars were waiting on those lanes. It really looked like toll booth but there was a security officer sitting inside.
She told me that she is going to ask a few questions. Some of her questions that I recalled were:
Officer: Your Country of Citizenship?
My Answer: India
Officer: Why are you here for?
My Answer: I am here to do my landing for Immigration to Canada.
Officer: Can I see your passport?
Me: Took out my passports out of my bag, it took a few minutes and she was not really happy about it. I explained it to her that this is the first time I am crossing the border so did not realize that I need to take my passports out at the booth.
Officer: How many days are you going to stay here?
Me: 3 days
Officer: Do you have any firearms, food, alcohol?
Me: No
Officer: How much money are you bringing?
Me: Told her that it was less than $500 USD.
She handed over me a yellow colored slip and asked me to park on the parking lot to my right and told me to follow the instructions of the security officer at the parking lot.
As soon as I parked in the lot, one of the officers asked me for the slip and he then asked me to go inside the building for immigration.
The line in the building was huge and I had to wait a good 30 minutes before I was called in by an Immigration Officer.
Officer: Are you here for landing?
Me: Yes
Officer: Can I see your landing papers?
Me: Gave him my COPR and other documents
Officer: Do you have the address where will you be staying?
Me: I had already written down the address in a paper and I gave it to him.
The officer entered all the details in the computer and asked me to sign the COPR. He repeated twice that my signature should not go out of the white box.
After that he asked us to go the Customs and again there was a huge line for this.
The customs officer asked how much money I was bringing in. I provided her all the details.
I had also already filled the E677 Form and saved her some time. You can get the form here E667 download.
The customs officer was happy that I had done some homework and she asked what was I bringing with me. I provided her with both the B4 forms. One of the form was the goods I was landing with and the other one was the goods to follow
For the goods to follow I used the form B4A as addendum to B4. It is always suggested to make the entire list with prices in Canadian Dollars. I took wrote the whole thing in an excel for the goods to follow and printed it.
Fortuntely for me, the customs officer did not do an evaluation for the prices I had provided. The officer took my documents and entered all the information in the computer in front of her.
Make sure everyone’s name is on the forms during landing as I was asked to enter my wife’s name and my son’s name as well.
I also had gold ornaments of my wife and I took photos of them as what I was bringing now and what I would bring later. The customs officer asked me to show some details about the gold ornaments I was bringing and it helped me.
She then stamped on each sheet of the goods to follow and gave my papers. She then smiled and said – “Welcome to Canada”.
I cannot explain how happy I was. I walked out of the building and the security officer who was there in the parking lot checked my papers and off I was driving to Windsor.
On my return trip, I drove thro Ambassador bridge instead of the tunnel. The US Immigration officer asked me me why I was visiting Canada. I told him I was there to do my immigration landing.
He checked my passports, I-94 and I-797 and asked if I have any food, alcohol or meat with me. I said No. He then let me drive to the U.S.
All in all it was a smooth experience and I had prepared a good amount of time creating all the documents and I believe that confidence helps you for an easy landing and return back to the U.S
Good luck to you all.
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