From: bauwens@acs.ucalgary.ca (Luc Bauwens)
Subject: Re: The visas arrived today! (Rich Wales)
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 92 03:09:04 GMT
Organization: The University of Calgary, Alberta

In article <1992Jul29.012532.9668@cs.ucla.edu> wales@cs.ucla.edu (Rich Wales) writes:
>For those of you have have been following my Canadian immigration quest,
>I am pleased to announce that our visas arrived today (Tue. 28th).
 
Congratulations :-).

>  [...]
>Each visa (one for myself, my wife, and our baby girl) is a four-part,
>legal-size (8.5x14 inch) form with interleaved carbons.  They are all
>labelled "IMMIGRANT VISA AND RECORD OF LANDING", except for the second
>part, which is simply labelled "RECORD OF LANDING".  The second part is
>engraved and printed in multicolored ink, in a manner similar to paper
>currency, and presumably for the same reason (i.e., to discourage coun-
>terfeiting or alterations).  I gather that, once we arrive, we will keep
>the colored copies as proof of our status in the country; one person has
>told me he was advised to keep it in a safe place and take a photocopy
>of the form with him when he travelled abroad.
 
Looks like they haven't changed much in ten years.  

When you present them at the border, the immigration officer signs the
form and staples one copy (the one entitled 'record of landing')
in your passport.  You will need
copies of it for a bunch of things, like showing your employer that
you are a permanent resident, like applying for a social insurance
number, applying for family allowances and probably to enroll in a
provincial medical insurance plan.

I thought also that you were supposed to bring it with you when
coming back to Canada from abroad (I always carry mine with my passport).
You will need to enclose a copy when applying for a Returning Resident
Permit.

(I don't know what would happen it one looses it.)

>This also presumably means I can tell a prospective employer that he
>does not need to obtain permission from a Canada Employment Centre (form
>EMP-2151) in order to hire me -- since I have already managed to obtain
>permanent resident status on my own.
 
I don't know about the box about conditions.  I think once you are a
permanent resident, you have the right to work where you want and
anybody can hire you anyway.  Immigration laws are presently
undergoing some changes, and some questions  came up about the
constitutionality of restrictions about place of employment/residence.

>The visas are also marked with expiry dates for "medical validity" and
>"visa validity".  These correspond to the one-year anniversary of the
>date we had our medical exams (2 June 1992).  We have to show up for
>immigration by 2 June 1993.
 
That seems to be different.  Ours only had an indication of visa validity.

>==> A sheet about "returning resident permits" to document our intent to
>    remain resident in Canada should we decide to travel abroad after
>    immigrating;

(Another familier topic :-).  I maintained my permanent resident status
for 5.5 years while in the US through a series of returning resident
permits.  They used to be free, but now they charge for them.  And
the criteria seem to have got tougher too.) 

>Now all I need to do is get a job. :-}

Good luck there.

Luc B

Newsgroups: soc.culture.canada,can.general