Help - they turned me down!

All is not neccesarily lost. It depends on why you were turned down. Was it because of a medical problem? Perhaps that can be re-examined. Lack of experience? Go get the extra year's work experience and try again. Whatever the reason now is the time to consider getting legal advice. You have invested a lot of time, money and effort, so it's worth spending just a little more to find out what can be done.

Got the visa!

Congratulations! Welcome soon.

Make sure you understand exactly what the cut off date is for landing. Usually this is within one year of the date of your original medical (regardless of any subsequent tests required) or the date that your passport expires. Whichever comes sooner. You must land by this date or the visa will be void and you will have to start all over again. They rarely - in fact never that I've heard of personally - make exceptions to this rule.

Don't panic. Often this means that you have to land within a very short period of time. But Immigration understands that moving to a new country involves quite a bit so it is perfectly alright for you to land, officially become a Landed Immigrant - this takes about 30 minutes at the airport or border - and then leave again immediately. Your card will be mailed to you. This can be pronblematic if you are leaving emmediately. Try to stay at least long enough to receive the card or have it mailed to a friend or family member and have them send it to you. You need the card in order to re-enter the country.

If you wish to return to Canada and don't have a valid Permanent Resident Card, you will need to obtain a permanent resident travel document from a Canadian visa office abroad. For a list of visa offices, go to Find a CIC office in the I Need To.. section on the right-hand side of this page. An application kit is available at the CIC web site. Once you return to Canada, you should apply for a Permanent Resident Card.

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