Is the US Land Border restricted for Permanent Residents?

[Dee92]

Hello, everyone. I soft landed in Aug 2018 and returned the same day because of personal commitments. I could not get my PR card then - the border officer asked me to either apply for a PRTD later or cross the land border with the COPR. I decided to move to Canada for good this month and had planned to cross the land border with my COPR and passport - Can I still do this with the current/latest restrictions at the land border? Is this considered as "non-essential" travel?

 

[bellaluna]

You're already a PR so you should be able to enter Canada freely.

 

[raptora]

Would also be very interested if anyone is attempting a land crossing after this weekend, as I was hoping to cross in about a month using a U-Haul but am now unsure if that is "essential travel."

 

[scylla]

Would also be very interested if anyone is attempting a land crossing after this weekend, as I was hoping to cross in about a month using a U-Haul but am now unsure if that is "essential travel."

If you're a PR or citizen, there should be no issues.

 

[Dee92]

Thank you, folks. I'll keep you posted on my experience here.

 

[MapGia]

Since you already do the landing, you are officially a PR even if you don't have the PR card in possession. You should have no problem crossing the border by land with CoPR and passport.

 

[Bs65]

Assuming you manage to come into Canada keep in mind that US/Canada are restricting cross border travel to essential only for time being so make sure you have no immediate need to go back into the US for time being should you forget anything

 

[Dee92]

Thank you for the guidance, folks.

My travel plans have changed. I'm not risking the travel to the US now (in light of the recent number of positive cases there) and then do a land border crossing. Instead, I'm planning to apply for a PRTD and fly directly to Canada from India. Is applying for a PRTD now (in terms of getting it approved + processing time) advisable given the current circumstances?

 

[Bs65]

Thank you for the guidance, folks.

My travel plans have changed. I'm not risking the travel to the US now (in light of the recent number of positive cases there) and then do a land border crossing. Instead, I'm planning to apply for a PRTD and fly directly to Canada from India. Is applying for a PRTD now (in terms of getting it approved + processing time) advisable given the current circumstances?

No reason why you should not apply as you still currently meet the RO. How long might take to process nobody can even speculate.

 

[Dee92]

Thanks, that makes sense. I'll be visiting the VFS centre next week to apply for my PRTD.

Couple of questions about the PRTD itself (it'd be great if you can help me with this) -

1. When I first landed in Canada, I crossed the US-Canada Land border through the Windsor Tunnel and was given my PR status there. I then went ahead to get my SIN process done and immediately returned back to the US. Now in the PRTD form, there is a question (#15) that reads "List time spent in Canada from the time you became a permanent resident to present" and it requires me to give an address. I'm not sure what address to fill here.

2. There's a question on Activities & Employement that reads "List your activities and employment from the time you became a permanent resident to present" - Does this include travel history or just employment history?

 

[scylla]

Thanks, that makes sense. I'll be visiting the VFS centre next week to apply for my PRTD.

FYI - many of the VFS centres are now closed. Check before going.