Activate IEC visa on holiday in Toronto via USA and then return to Vancouver in 3 months

[choward40096]

Hi my girlfriend and I are both from UK.
My girlfriend has an IEC visa which needs to be activated by 9th January 2018 and mine needs to be activated 30th March 2018. Due to work we will not be ready to arrive til early March. A solution we thought of is we are in New York in December so could fly to Toronto for 24hours to activate the IEC visas. Then fly home from NYC without my girlfriends deadline looming. We would then ideally re enter in March in Vancouver. We only plan on being in Canada for a year so the early activation of a 24 month IEC visa is not an issue.
Are there any issues with doing this?
(ie different city entry, 3 month gap before returning properly, going via USA on the holiday)
(We could get health insurance for 2 years starting the brief visit to Toronto)

 

[Bs65]

No problem at all given IEC is an open work permit once issued and you are free to live/work in any province.

As you already gathered you need your 2 years travel insurance even if your intention is to stay for 12 months plans can change and anyway advisable to have insurance to be in the USA. Plus of course you both need to be able to show the 2500 CDN as well so just land in Toronto with those things to hand plus your POE letters and you will be fine. You can also probably sort out your SIN at the airport which you need to work when you return in March.

Personally I would have looked at an option of UK/JFK/YYZ then back to UK air ticket direct from Toronto rather than messing around with a NY / YYZ return but hey depends on the cost diffential I guess plus of course you would have the 'pleasure' of facing US CBP twice otherwise.

 

[choward40096]

Perfect thanks for this! Great news.
In terms of flight plan... We already had the New York trip booked before we thought of this solution!

 

[choward40096]

We are thinking about flying there on a morning and back to NY that evening... so same day and just have lunch in Toronto - and a few hours in case of any issues... not sure if this might flag up as a problem :/