This is a source of great concern for many people but believe me it is the best part of the whole caboodle.

• Help I put down Vancouver on the form and I will land in Toronto! Will they refuse me?

  No. This is a free country. You can land anywhere (*ok there is an exception but I'll get to that), go anywhere after landing, live anywhere, work anywhere in any job you choose to. In fact regardless of where you plan to end up living you will 'land' the first time your feet hit Canadian soil. So if you are driving in your will land as you cross the border. Flying in, the first stop in Canada is where you go through the process.

  *!!!! Quebec! Bless our French cousins! Quebec does create a bit of a problem. If you have applied to immigrate to Canada but did not specify Quebec (and therefore apply through their system) as your destination and subsequently try to land there they will kick up a stink and make your life a bit of a hell for while. So if you are flying in make sure that the plane doesn't make its first stop in Quebec. Use a different airline if necessary but make sure you land in non-Quebec Canada. There is absolutely nothing to stop you visiting, driving through, or even moving to Quebec after that though. It's just the first touch-down that they get uppity about.

• I'm scared to death! What happens when I land?

  I can only speak from personal experience and the reports I have heard from friends both in real life and on the net but this is a really nice - even tear-jerking in our case- experience. The Canadian Immigration people are charming and welcoming in 99.9% of cases I have heard of. I realise there are always exceptions but I know they are very rare.

  Whether by road or by air...or I guess by ship not that I've known of anyone doing that - would love to hear from you if you did - you will go into the Customs/Immigration area and they will check the visa - yes the one that arrived in that lovely envelope. It is a multi-part form. They will take it apart and hang on to various bits of it - I assume this goes to all kinds of government agencies so they know you did arrive and you can't try to get the Right of Landing Fee back later. They ask you if you have committed any crimes recently - I assume you will reply that you have not - they will check that the passport number and the name matches the visa. They will stamp various bits of paper and make a mark in your passport, hand your copy of the visa back to you and ask if you want it stapled into your passport. Say yes, you don't want to lose this sucker. They may ask you if you have completely lost your mind because you have chosen to immigrate to Manitoba when you could have gone anywhere ... but that may be just our experience. They will show you (if they have time) that if you hold the visa kind of sideways and squint that you can see it's the real McCoy because there is a watermark thing at the top of it.

  Then they will shake hands with you and say 'Welcome to Canada' and there you are. In. At last. Scares the willies out of you!

Personally - a word of advice. No matter how tight the money is, no matter how fraught you are about finding a job and home and schools and all that, take one full day at least, go to a hotel, get out the credit card, walk around on Canadian soil and enjoy it, go out for a meal, hug the kids, each other, say 'We made it, welcome to Canada!' to each other. Why? Because the it's not quite over yet. There are some hurdles to face but no matter what (unless you start committing crimes) you have landed. Welcome and congratulations.

Onwards my friends Welcome to Canada

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