The Flight to Canada

The First Flight was a great story that we read about in our school times. How many of you got to read that in school? The Flight to Canada is about my first flight.

An Immigrant always takes the flight to reach their desired destination. Our generation saw cartoons and animated movies in their younger years. Where the flight was commonly shown as how birds/geese used to immigrate. They immigrated to favorable destinations during cold weather just to avoid freezing to death. In Canada’s case; you are going to be taking the flight of your life time and then staying for the adventure. And guess what, you are not going to freeze to death. And there is no immigration after you arrive here as this will be your final destination. (Not referencing the movie here)

Once you have done the preparations to move as an immigrant; finding that best way to take the flight is important. Because you are moving for good. Now, there are special circumstances where you consider making this decision favorable to your adventure. I had to consider options and decide on how to take the flight. And it is a decision that you are given time to decide upon.

Landing as a Permanent Resident:

The Canadian Government; when endowing you with the permanent residence status; provides you with almost an year to determine if you want to take the flight. But they tell you that you need to move before a certain date.

You have to become a landed immigrant as soon as you receive your Confirmation of Permanent Residence and the counter foil stamped in your passport. Just note that if you are arriving from a Visa Exempt country like Germany, UK, Japan etc. you will not have a counter foil stamped in your passport.  The last date to arrive in Canada for a COPR holder is mentioned on the counter foil stamped on your passport. That date is usually one year from your passed Medical e-Screening or the expiry date of your passport, whichever comes first.

Note courtesy Canada.ca: “We can’t extend your COPR, so you should make sure to use it before it expires.”

The Flight:

There are only two options for a COPR holder when deciding on taking the flight. You have to decide if you will be moving for good or will be coming back after making a landing and receiving your PR status and card.

Maybe getting a brother or a sister married, attending a graduation and then moving, finding an appropriate job in Canada or getting your company to offer you a transfer etc. These things define if you would like to move permanently or give it sometime. In either of the cases you have to land in Canada before your COPR expires and convert your status to that of a Permanent Resident and receive your PR Card.

These two options are as follows:

1. Short Landing (Temporary Landing)
2. Permanent Landing

SHORT LANDING:

Some people decide that instead of leaving for good, they would want to stick more in their country to take care of their finances, business, family and friends etc. Giving your life a chance to enjoy the stable livelihood for a bit longer.

In this case, the COPR holders visit Canada for a short period of time just to attain their Permanent Resident status and then return back to their country of origin.

Is this Legal?

Yes it is legal to do so. As a permanent resident you need to ensure that you stay in Canada to fulfill your PR status requirements to keep it active. To keep your permanent resident status, you must have been in Canada for at least 730 days during the last five years. These 730 days don’t need to be continuous. Some of your time abroad may count towards the 730 days. See what time abroad counts towards your permanent resident status. (Courtesy: Canada.ca)

During your short landing, you have to ensure that you collect your PR cards before you leave Canada as you cannot enter Canada again without your Permanent Resident Card. In today’s time, PR cards however are being delivered late due to COVID-19 therefore it is not suggested to do a short landing and wait for your cards. There is a possibility that you can provide an address of a friend or family who can mail you those cards via Secure Mail (FEDEX, UPS or DHL). You can check the processing times here.

PERMANENT LANDING:

Most of the COPR holders take this landing option as they had decided their lives are better off elsewhere than their current country of residence. Elsewhere here means Canada.

A permanent landing in Canada is regarded as entering Canada and building a living. This includes finding a job, a house, getting a car, getting your kids enrolled in schools, setting up your bank accounts etc.

This type of landing is easy in terms of settling in Canada. You are ready from the get-go. The decision that you are going to become an Immigrant and live your dream is made. You have decided to say your good-byes. This helps you settle in better and faster as opposed to when you complete a short landing and go back.

Why is it better?

Because once you land in Canada and go back, you take with you experiences. For example; you come here and see that the groceries are expensive; or that car insurance is so high; you need to restart your career. All of these things put a question mark in your head and you start second guessing yourself. The moment you second guess your decision of becoming an immigrant, you will not succeed. You will turn around and might never come back and I have personally seen such cases.

My Flight:

For me it was a big decision too. Saying goodbye to a stable job as the Logistics and Purchasing Manager in a multi-national firm; to my parents, to my friends and extended family was not easy. But the decision was made that we will move as Immigrants. And this was way before we had sent our applications in for screening.

The flight I was taking was definitely a permanent one.  Therefore, I resigned my job, and as per my commitment to my Manager, I gave him a three months’ notice. Didn’t want to leave him high and dry. He had taken a promise from me and I was going to follow through on it. A promise made almost a year and a half ago when I had told him I was planning to immigrate. I made sure that I found a replacement and handed over my responsibilities. Guess what? I didn’t find a replacement and we ended up hiring two employees. They would share my responsibilities together and my Manager was going to manage my departments now. I realized now that I had too much on my shoulders. 7 Years too late.

Next was saying goodbyes to friends and extended families. I told all of them about my decision and went to meet each and every one of them. They shouldn’t have any regrets. My parents knew and were ok with it. Three of their sons were moving permanently as immigrants and I was the 2^nd one. They had already said their good byes to my elder brother and they knew I had to leave too. So, it was a gradual impact on them and they were ready.

Now we had to deal with the fact that my wife’s family was in Pakistan. And she had to meet them too before we leave for the land of gold. Just Kidding! Therefore we decided to take the longer route. We went from Abu Dhabi to Islamabad where we stayed for a few weeks. Then we took the long awaited flight from Islamabad to Toronto. We were finally here.

Landed Immigrant:

Landing in Canada for the first time was a different experience. I was not travelling between U.A.E., Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar etc. We were not expatriates or a tourists, We were landing in our own country. I am going to be calling Canada my own for the rest of my life. My kids will call this place home and my family was coming to this country to stay. We had just started our Adventure. The adventure of a life time in Canada.

I will talk more about the steps and processes involved when landing as an immigrant in my next blog post. Also, here we branch off the story to Life in Canada and Travel. Expect to see blogs on Life in Canada and travel. I will also provide future updates on Immigration processes and travel within and outside Canada as “The Immigrant”.

So up until next time, please like and share these blog posts to your friends and families. Any one having questions and concerns can write to me through my contact page. See you in Canada!