Hello Riley.
I am glad to say that I am finally in Canada!! I'll try to explain my experience best as I can in writing on crossing the boarder. I pulled up to the guard shack and had to answer the usual questions about why I was coming to Canada, how long I planned on staying ect, ect. When I answered I was coming to visit my wife for 6 months and while visiting I would be applying for residency I was asked if I had talked to an immigration officer, not yet was my reply.
So I'm told to go park and go inside to talk to the guy at the end of the counter. He asks the same questions and then some more. He asked how I intended to support myself, I reply "with my wife sponsoring me she will be signing a financial responsibility letter to support me until I can get a job along with 4,000$ cash on me and my wife has 5,000$ in an account for me in Canada and I still have about 4,000$ in a bank account in Connecticut". He asked how I planned on getting a job, did I have one already, I said I would be applying for an open work permit at the same time as residency and he kind of looked at me like he had no clue what I was talking about. He said that I wasn't able to do that and I said that according to the CIC website there was a year long pilot program started in December of 2014 to allow currant and new spousal applicants to apply for an open work permit thus allowing them to get a job at pretty much anywhere from McDonalds to WalMart to a warehouse that was extended until December of 2016.
He wanted to know what and where I worked along with a work number, he wanted my wife's name, place of work, home address, and phone number.
In between rounds of questions I'm told to sit and wait, usually for about 15 minutes at a clip. He asks to go through my vehicle, I say go for it here's the keys. I have to show him how to open the back door due to a broken piece of molding that catches the door.
Eventually, after about an hour total wait, I'm called over and told that it seems like I have done a lot of research and I know how to go about applying for residency. He also tells me that he is giving me a Visitor Visa good for 3 months due to the fact he had seen many other people in the same circumstance come into the country only to never apply for residency and there fore live without paying taxes or having jobs. As long as we get the application in before the 3 months is up then I will be good to stay in Canada. Once the paper work is in process I am allowed to stay in Canada until we hear from CIC about my residency. If we don't get the paper work filed before the three months is up then I will have to apply for an extension on my Visitor Visa.
I'm sure there are some things that I have forgotten to say about it all as the whole experience was a bit nerve racking thinking that they could say "sorry, no you're not allowed" for any reason they like. Gladly they didn't and the immigration guard actually helped and suggested I call the number on the back of the visitor visa if I have any questions about the application process because hiring a immigration lawyer is usually pretty expensive.
Thank You for all your help on the little things that that made a huge difference.
You rock Riley!!!!!!
PS. Raul, I hope you make it to be with your girlfriend! Thank you for allowing me to hi-jack your thread and talk to Riley.