Hey ya'll, I'm very new to this forum (first time posting) so I apologize if this is placed in the wrong area. I have some concerns regarding my wife's and I's application.
I arrived in Ontario, Canada at the end of Jan 2017 from the USA via car, my passport wasn't stamped at the gate and I have since expired on my visitor status. I had tried to extend it prior to its expiration but I guess I kept going to the wrong place or something because I wasn't able to renew it. A friend here, who also immigrated from another country, said that I didn't need to worry because Canada "won't separate families" and I'm that I'm from the US so they'll be more lenient. For this past year, my wife and I have been saving up for our spousal application since a personal emergency caused us to rush things before we had a good amount of savings. I'll be honest, we're pretty poor and have no car and just got our application money saved.
Obviously we're trying to do everything correctly but circumstances are hard. In the meanwhile we now have tons of pictures and proof of our relationship, I've met all of my wife's family and friends. Unfortunately she hasn't been able to meet as many of my family/friends due to distance. They all live in the south so traveling is super expensive. But I think this will be okay, right? If I just explain things they're generally okay if the spouse hasn't met everyone?
I want to do Inland so I can opt for an open work permit. My wife is a born citizen of Canada.
My questions:
-Do we need to suck it up and budget in a trip across the border so I can get a new visitor status?
-If so would a weekend trip or something be okay? We don't really have anywhere to go in the States at the moment and neither of us drive.
-Again, my passport wasn't stamped at the gate so I'm pretty nervous traveling and having them think I came here illegally. If I do have to go back can I ask for a stamp specifically? Will they think I arrived here illegally?
-Off topic-ish, my wife and I go by names different than our birth names. I'm not sure about her, but I plan to change my name completely when I immigrate. Is it appropriate to place my "nickname" in the "Do you go by any other name?" category? I know this may be self-explanatory but I just want to cover my bases
Thank you for reading!
I arrived in Ontario, Canada at the end of Jan 2017 from the USA via car, my passport wasn't stamped at the gate and I have since expired on my visitor status. I had tried to extend it prior to its expiration but I guess I kept going to the wrong place or something because I wasn't able to renew it. A friend here, who also immigrated from another country, said that I didn't need to worry because Canada "won't separate families" and I'm that I'm from the US so they'll be more lenient. For this past year, my wife and I have been saving up for our spousal application since a personal emergency caused us to rush things before we had a good amount of savings. I'll be honest, we're pretty poor and have no car and just got our application money saved.
Obviously we're trying to do everything correctly but circumstances are hard. In the meanwhile we now have tons of pictures and proof of our relationship, I've met all of my wife's family and friends. Unfortunately she hasn't been able to meet as many of my family/friends due to distance. They all live in the south so traveling is super expensive. But I think this will be okay, right? If I just explain things they're generally okay if the spouse hasn't met everyone?
I want to do Inland so I can opt for an open work permit. My wife is a born citizen of Canada.
My questions:
-Do we need to suck it up and budget in a trip across the border so I can get a new visitor status?
-If so would a weekend trip or something be okay? We don't really have anywhere to go in the States at the moment and neither of us drive.
-Again, my passport wasn't stamped at the gate so I'm pretty nervous traveling and having them think I came here illegally. If I do have to go back can I ask for a stamp specifically? Will they think I arrived here illegally?
-Off topic-ish, my wife and I go by names different than our birth names. I'm not sure about her, but I plan to change my name completely when I immigrate. Is it appropriate to place my "nickname" in the "Do you go by any other name?" category? I know this may be self-explanatory but I just want to cover my bases
Thank you for reading!
