YVR Immigration Question
 

Greetings FTers,

Not sure if this is the appropriate place to pose this question. If not, would the moderators please move this to the proper place? Thanks!

I am going to the University of Ottawa for graduate school. I am flying PDX-YVR-YYZ-YOW on AC come the 4th of January, and will be needing to obtain a student visa at YVR Citizenship and Immigration Canada. I am scheduled to arrive in YVR at ~7:15 AM.

Anyone been through the arrivals hall/immigration at YVR around that time and, if so, could please shed light on how busy the immigration/customs processing area is? I have a 2.7 hour layover. :confused:

Thanks! :)

~FAI PDX Flyer :)

I've never tried to get a student visa there, but YVR customs should be fairly quiet at 7 am, as the only Intl flights before then are from the US (mostly Hawai'i). The first asian flight (AC8 from HK) doesn't land until 8 am. After that it does get a bit crazy, so if your flight is on time you should be fine.

Our Travel->Canada forum should be perfect for your Qs. and I'll move the thread there. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, TravelBuzz.

Should be pretty quiet. Note that it's a bit of a hike from the turboprops to Canada Customs and Immigration.

Thanks Ocn VW 1K for the redirect. :)

Thanks for the heads-up! I've been to YVR a couple of times, but this is my first during this time-slot so I wasn't quite sure how the lines were generally. I hope Citizenship and Immigration are open at the time.

Thanks! :D

~FAI PDX Flyer :)

Just went through YVR arrival/immigration hall at about 8 am. Only the passengers from the plane I arrived on was going through immigration. Generally speaking, early in the morning means less passengers, less line ups but your question is dependant on how many planes are arriving at that given moment.

I'm sure they would be, as the first thing that will happen is the officer at his counter will direct you there :)

BTW, you're courageous, moving to Ottawa from the Pacific Northwest in the middle of Winter :)

Thanks gglave!

Coldness doesn't really faze me: I spent 5 academic years at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (which is where the FAI part of my screen-name comes from). Plus, I get a handsome $17,000 per year to help with tuition and living expenses. It also helps that my M.Sc thesis project is funded -- which helps out significantly. :)

Thanks for your insight Taiwaned! It is nice to have the insight of someone who went through around the time-slot of my scheduled arrival.


~FAI PDX Flyer :)

The first minute of this video should be some what of a help.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...Q&q=yvr&hl=en#

Sat 2/13 - Olympics Arrival Help
 

We are arriving into YVR at 8:15am from SEA. Our goal is to be at Capilano University no later than 11:45am. Is this possible? Translink.ca seems to think public transit will take an hour - Canada Line to Seabus to bus 239. With two people and a bag is a taxi/car a better option or will traffic be difficult? Fortunately my best friend from childhood will be competing on Saturday; unfortunately it is a bit late notice so we are scrambling to get everything together - I appreciate any information.

It should be very doable with 3:30 to play with. However, I would give 1 hr to get out of the customs hall given that you'll be arriving amidst the rush from Asia (unless travellers from there decide to stay home and avoid the Circus chaos).

I think the 60 minute estimate by Translink is optimistic. If the 25-30 minute RAV line ride to the waterfront station is true, you may have up to 1/2 hr wait between SeaBus ferries and a 10 minute ride across (maybe a lot less wait if all 3 SeaBusses are operating). Not sure how frequent service is to Cap College but I imagine it must be at least a 25 min ride. Research the timetables at Translink carefully.

I'd say it's about 45-60 mins by cab to the old Capilano College by taxi and closer to $50. Just tell the taxi driver to go via the 2nd Narrows bridge (they should know that). Go onto Marine Drive eastbound in Vancouver, north on one of the N-S streets, onto the 2nd Narrows and Cap College is no more than 5-7 minutes from the north end of the bridge.

If you do go by transit, see one of my last entries in the RAV line thread to avoid paying the $5 surcharge. You can buy 10 prepaid tickets for the 4 cash fares from the airport.

During the Olympics the SeaBuses will be operating every 10-15 minutes, even on Saturday. Of course if there are 1,000 people waiting to board each ferry then that may take longer.

That being said, I agree with Roach - While do-able, times will be tight - Taxi, while expensive, might be a surer thing - But when you get in the cab, say "Capilano College via Second Narrows bridge."

(No one in Vancouver other than employee's in Cap's marketing department call it "Capilano Univerity" :).)

Thank you both for the information. Because of the tight time frame and the reduced margin for error I decided to find a way to fly in on Friday night. So now I will be arriving at 11:25pm and will then try to get to North Vancouver, Lonsdale Quay sometime before the SeaBus stops. I hope the flow out of the city after the opening ceremonies will be over by then, but it will probably still be busy.

Assuming your flight is 30 minutes late, as many are by the end of day, you'll arrive around midnight. Assume 20 minutes to deplane and get through customs - Perhaps pick up bags if need be - So let's say you're leaving the airport at 12:30 AM. The last Canada Line train leaves YVR at 12:57AM, so you're "probably" OK. A bit tight, but OK.

During the Olympics the last Seabus leaves downtown at 2AM, so you're OK there.