Landing at a Canadian Port of Entry: The Two Lists That Decide What You Pay in Duty

The date that cannot move

Your Confirmation of Permanent Residence has an expiry date. You must enter Canada on or before that date.

IRCC's position is unambiguous: it cannot extend your COPR, so you must travel to Canada before it expires.

There is no appeal to this, no discretion, and no sympathetic officer who will make an exception. If you miss it, you have lost your permanent residence, and you start over.

Everything else on this page is secondary to that sentence.

What to bring to the border

A valid passport or travel document. It must be a regular private citizen passport. Diplomatic, government service and public affairs passports are not accepted for landing.

Your Confirmation of Permanent Residence, and your permanent resident visa if one was issued.

Proof of funds, if your immigration class requires it.

And two lists. Which brings us to the part that costs people real money.

The two lists

Before you leave, prepare two copies of a detailed list of everything you are bringing, including the value, make, model and serial number where relevant.

Split that list into two sections.

Goods accompanying you: the things in your suitcases right now.

Goods to follow: the things that will arrive later, in a shipping container, with a mover, or sent by family.

Hand both lists to the border services officer at your first point of entry. Even if you have nothing with you. Even if everything is still in another country.

The rule that catches people

The Canada Border Services Agency states it plainly. Goods that arrive later will only qualify for duty free and tax free importation if they are on your original list.

Not on the list, not exempt. You pay duty and tax.

Your grandmother's furniture, your tools, your car, your books, the boxes your brother will ship in six months. If they are not on the list you handed over on the day you landed, they lose the exemption. Permanently.

The officer completes form BSF186, the Personal Effects Accounting Document, assigns a file number, and gives you a copy. Keep that copy. It is the receipt you must present when the goods arrive, to claim the free importation.

You can fill in BSF186 in advance, and you should.

Two more conditions on the exemption

You must have owned, possessed and used the goods abroad before you arrived. New items bought for the move do not qualify as settler's effects.

And if you sell or give away goods you imported duty free within one year of importing them, you must pay the duty and taxes you were originally exempted from.

Money: the ten thousand dollar rule

If you are carrying currency or monetary instruments worth ten thousand Canadian dollars or more, in any currency or combination, you must declare it.

That includes cash, cheques, money orders, bank drafts, travellers cheques, stocks and bonds.

There is no limit on how much you can bring. Bringing a large sum is not an offence. Failing to report it is.

If you do not report it, CBSA can seize the entire amount, and penalties run from five percent to fifty percent of the seized funds. Money suspected of being proceeds of crime or terrorist financing is not returned at all.

Declare it. It takes thirty seconds and it is not a problem unless you hide it.

What you must declare even though you would rather not

Food, plants, animals and their products. Meat, dairy, fresh fruit and vegetables, seeds, wood.

Health products and prescription drugs.

Firearms, weapons, ammunition, explosives, fireworks.

Vehicles. Goods contaminated with soil. Firewood. Cultural property. Used mattresses.

You will be asked directly whether you have any of these. Making a false statement to a border services officer is a serious criminal offence. The homemade sausage in your bag is not worth it.

What the officer does at landing

They confirm you are entering on or before your COPR expiry date. They confirm you are the person who was approved, and may use biometrics to do it. They examine your documents, ask eligibility questions, and assess admissibility.

If you are admissible, they admit you as a permanent resident, sign and date your COPR with your date of entry, and confirm the Canadian mailing address to which your permanent resident card will be sent.

That is the moment you become a permanent resident.

After you land: the one hundred and eighty day rule

Your first permanent resident card is mailed to you, but only if you provide a Canadian mailing address and photo within one hundred and eighty days of immigrating.

If you do not, you will have to apply for your first PR card as a separate application, with a separate fee and a separate wait.

If you change your address within those one hundred and eighty days, tell IRCC through their web form.

Until the card arrives, your signed COPR is your proof of permanent residence. You can use it to apply for a Social Insurance Number and for government benefits.

The short version

Land before your COPR expires. Bring the two lists and hand them over even if your hands are empty. Declare the money. Declare the food. Give IRCC a Canadian address within one hundred and eighty days.

Do those five things and the rest of the process takes care of itself.

Not sure which pathway is right for you? Our RCIC-licensed consultants can advise you on the best strategy based on your immigration goals.

Prepared by Sivathri Priya, KGraph Immigration. Last updated July 2026. General information, not legal advice.

Prepared by Sivathri Priya, KGraph Immigration Consultants. Last updated July 2026. This guide is for general information purposes only and does not constitute legal or immigration advice.