Our family lives in Thailand. I am a Canadian citizen but have been a non-resident for close to 20 years. I would like my 2 children (ages 10 and 12) to study in Canada with my wife, who is a Thai citizen, being their guardian while I remain overseas as a non-resident. Is this possible?
Thai Mother of Canadian Children Studying in Canada
- Thread starter Gards
- Start date
It's really not possible since there is no visa that allows your wife to remain for this duration of time and she doesn't have PR. Your children can certainly come however you would need to find them a seperate guardian in Canada.
So I would need to repatriate myself and get her PR? A Super Visa would not work I assume because I am not currently residing in Canada? Thanks
A super visa is a non starter. You cannot sponsor your spouse under a super visa. Super visas are for parents and not spouses.
For a PR application to be successful, you would either need to repatriate yourself or show extremely strong evidence that your full family, including yourself, plan to relocate to Canada and live here permanently once your spouse's PR application is approved.
Thanks again! Its starting to sound like it would be easier if my kids were not Canadian citizens because they could apply for a student permit and their mother could be with them. I know of 4 families from Thailand who enrolled their kids in primary school and one parent has the ability to stay with them. I am just not sure how my kids can do the same thing as citizens.
Appreciate your feedback!
I'm not sure why this is not possible. Many non-Canadian parents and their kids with study permits have done this before. The parents would just have to extend their stay in Canada. Alternatively, you can also put your kids at a boarding school without the mother comes to Canada to look after them.
This wouldn't change anything. There would still be no visa that would allow your wife to accompany them and live in Canada.
She can apply for a visitor visa and apply a visitor record to extend her stay like other visitors of Canada.
She can. But not guarantee that it would be approved. It would be entirely up to IRCC.
Do the children have study permits? Studying abroad for primary school and paying international tuition makes almost no sense. You could pay for a good private education in Thailand for the same fees and reduced cost of living. As IRCC is cracking down on temporary residents they may find they are no longer extend their visitor status at a certain point.
The Thai families likely are just staying as visitors and coming in and out of Canada or extending their stay as visitors.
They do not have the "ability" to stay with them as a guarantee.
The only "tricky part" for you is to be able to claim as non-resident of Canada to avoid paying tax of your international income while you put your kids to school in Canada.
I know some are able to do so but their children are paying international fees and are treated as international student. The only exception is the study permit which the citizen children do not need.
In that case, I think some private schools can help with the guardianships with fee.
And the mother can come and go and be with the children temporary (as visitor) provided that they have TRV or eTA. Still each entry to Canada is up to CBSA.