A Nova Scotia PNP principal applicant (with spouse and two children, COPR in hand) planned a three-week soft landing: entering Canada through another province, spending a few days there, then flying to Nova Scotia to complete paperwork — with most of the family returning home afterward while the spouse stayed to find housing and work. The thread's answers (a French-language thread, synthesized here in English):
- Entering through another province first is fine. Both IRCC and the NS immigration office told the poster — and a member confirmed from experience — that landing at a port of entry outside your nominating province is not a problem, as long as you proceed to Nova Scotia and complete your setup there (SIN, bank account, address).
- Do your paperwork in the nominating province. The member's caveat was consistent: the SIN, bank account, and address registration should happen in Nova Scotia, honouring the nomination.
- Returning home is allowed — but plan around the PR card. The key logistical warning: family members leaving after the soft landing must wait for their PR cards to return to Canada (commercial carriers require the card). Build that delay into any plan where part of the family goes home while one member stays.
- Use a stable in-province address for the PR cards. For the card delivery, the advice was to use the spouse's Nova Scotia address — the family member remaining in the province — so the cards arrive somewhere someone can receive them.
- Internal flights before the card arrives are fine. Domestic connections (e.g., landing province → Nova Scotia) don't require a PR card — it's re-entry to Canada from abroad that does.
Nominee obligations note: PNP nominees are expected to genuinely intend to settle in the nominating province; be transparent with border officers about your plans.