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| Subject: landing experience |
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Hi everyone:
Thought you will be interested in my landing experience. I live in Toronto so on Thursday morning my boyfriend and I left for Buffalo at 5.30am. We drove to Fort Erie (Peace Bridge) in a rental car which was given to us by our insurance company since our car was in an accident a few days ago. Our rental wasn´t permitted across the border. So we parked at the duty free parking lot on the Canadian side.
We decided to walk across the Peace Bridge which was quite painstaking. It was hot and looong. We got to the other side and went through immigration. I had a US visa so I was fingerprinted and my picture was taken. I paid $6 US and we got outside and called for a taxi. The taxi arrived 15 minutes later and we drove to the HSBC Center for about $10 US. We got there around 10am. Stood in the line-up at the lobby and the "lady" gave us the necessary instructions. We were taken in an elevator 10 at a time. My boyfriend waited for me at the visitor´s lounge. When we got upstairs..there were basically two counters. One that said "Permanent residents only" which brought tears to my eyes. Hehehe. The other was for visit/work visas. We moved relatively quickly. In 5-10 minutes I went to the counter and gave the lady my PPR and passport. She took it & gave me a white card and told me to come back at 1.30pm. I went back downstairs to meet my boyfriend.
We walked around Buffalo for about 2 hours..ate at Gino & Joe´s Pizza in the ´Main Mall´ or something of the sort...real ghetto mall, watched a steel-pan band in the street and walked back to the HSBS Center at about 1.15. Waited in line for a few minutes and the "lady" came back to get us. I went upstairs with another group of 10, waited my turn and went to the same counter again. I could see my application in her hand. Hehehe. The entire package all neat in a folder - the original package I had sent Buffalo. She gave me a white envelope with my COPR and passport with the Immigrant visa in it and asked me to check everything before I left the building - DOB, name etc etc. I did. Everything was ok and I went back downstairs.
We left the building to find a taxi. We called a few and they promised to come but nobody appeared. The only other taxi that apppeared wanted us to pay $35 when we knew it was only $10. Finally this airport taxi guy who saw us waiting for like an hour decided to take us. Super nice guy. We got to the Peace bridge and walked across into Canada. Went into immigration on the Canadian side. We got a few odd stares because they hadn´t seen too many pedestrians. Landing was smooth. The lady asked me for my proof of funds. I said I had arranged employment and showed her my papers. She asked me if I was arrested anywhere or if I had weapons or something. She asked me to initial a few places and to sign the green box without touching the green line. She then told me that I couldnt leave the country for 4-6 weeks and I was devastated since I wanted to go home to visit my family before I started work and we had planned a big reunion. I thought my student visa would still be valid and I could use my student visa to go back & forth. Dumb a** that I was! So that was unfortunate and sort of ruined the experience for me. My student visa was cancelled :(
Anyway she took me over to customs (which was directly across from the immigration desk) and told the lady there that I didnt have any good to follow. A copy of my landed paper was stapled to my passport and they stamped a ´NO GOODS TO FOLLOW´ stamp on it.
We walked out and walked to the parking lot. We had to loop around customs a second time and had to pay a $3.50 toll to get onto the highway. As I was looking for the money to pay the toll I realised that I left my bloody wallet in the taxi on the american side . I was devastated. Luckily the nice taxi guy had given me his card so I called the taxi company and they located my wallet for me. We couldnt cross over into the US side so the taxi company (airport taxi) got someone to drive it across the border and meet us again in the duty-free parking lot. They charged me $50 for the service but hey, atleast I got my wallet back & they were super nice and helpful. I tipped the driver $10 too. Anyway, what ****ed was since we were in the duty free parking lot a second time (there was no where else to park) we had to pay the customs toll AGAIN! Oh well.
We FINALLY drove away with my papers and my wallet clutched tightly in hand. Hehehe. My boyfriend was extremely patient through the whole affair. I guess he is a keeper Hehehe. So I am finally a permanent resident of Canada. Yesterday we drove to Ottawa & visited the parliament building. It was pretty cool.
Thanks everyone for all your support through the whole affair. You kept me sane with your jokes and reassurance. I hope you all get your papers soon so we can all meet up one day and have a few drinks & a good laugh about it all. Im happy but also scared. I start a new job on July 24th. I am going to get my drivers licence in 2 weeks as well. Have to look for a place to live, a cheap car and work clothes. It´s SCARY !
Take care everyone.Good luck and thanks for everything!
Cheers,
Candice
[09-07-2006,17:28]
[**.89.71.128]
Anonymous |
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(in reply to: landing experience)
Personality # 5 with the same IP address 89.71.128
[10-07-2006,14:30]
[***.108.252.121]
Anonymous |
(in reply to: landing experience)
you need to give us some more info...we need to know what your situation was BEFORE you landed. Did your b/f have his permanent residence and filed for you? Is he a canadian citizen? let us know the background info man.
[11-07-2006,10:30]
[**.57.236.129]
Shane |
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