Tips on applying for landed immigrant status

• The final authority is CIC Canada. Their webpage can be found at http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/index.html. They have a phone # at 1(888)242-2100, which is open M-F 8am to 4pm, local time. As a warning, going through their automated system will never result in speaking to a human. If you want to speak to a human, pick English or French, and then dial "0" at any time to speak to a human. This may result in a busy signal, but it's your only hope.

• • The more common, somewhat confusing end game: you eventually get documents in the mail telling you to send your passport off to get the immigration visa put into it. If you send by courier both ways, you'll get it back in a few weeks. During this time it's more difficult to leave the country, of course. After you get your passport back, the next time you enter the country you will go through Immigration Canada and get yourself officially landed. It's quick if there's no lineup, the whole process only took under 30 minutes. The confusing part is whether you can leave the country between that time and when your permanent resident card arrives in the mail. The web site implies that you cannot. In fact, I was told that it's almost certainly fine to leave and return - Immigration Canada doesn't care, it's just that the airlines may theoretically balk at letting you on, but apparently that's highly unlikely to happen in practice.
  • You have to do an interview. They'll send you a letter telling you when and where to appear about 2 weeks ahead of time. It is possible to get this rescheduled, but you have to communicate with the local office by fax (the number will be on your letter), and they're very bad at getting back to you. If you do this, call the main CIC number as well, and they'll put a note on your file.