How can I take my wife to Canada?

[mateostanley]

I am a Canadian Citizen, my wife is Nicaraguan. From what I understand, we can apply inland or outland. We currently live in Nicaragua.

The obvious answer to me seems to be to apply for the outland sponsorship, however this gets complicated because apparently it can't be done online, and the relevant office is in Mexico City (Which is 4 countries away and requires a visa to go THERE). Applying by mail would be a bad idea, because the postal system is not reliable enough for sensitive documents, and even if it was they stopped handling international mail or packages.

The other option, that has been recommended to us by several (including the MLA's office and others working for immigration) is that it would be better in our case to get her a temporary resident visa (online), and then apply inland once we have arrived in Canada.

This is confusing for me, because that would require convincing them that we do not intend to stay in order to get the TRV, even though we do plan on staying because the whole point of going is so that we can apply for residency...

 

[spousalsponsee]

You have to apply by post. It doesn't matter if you apply inland, outland, outland while in Canada, etc - all spousal applications are done by mail. If you're worried about security or time, you can use a courier.

If your wife lacks substantive ties to Nicaragua (eg job, house, extensive close family), and is married to a Canadian, a TRV is quite likely to be refused, as you say for being fundamentally at odds with the purposes of a TRV. But a refusal is not certain, and particularly if she has a travel history showing that she leaves countries after visiting, that would help.

 

[scylla]

FYI - application isn't sent to Mexico - it's sent to Mississauga.

 

[Janeth7789]

Hi @mateostanley can you please let me know how you proceeded with sending the application? I am also sponsoring my common law spouse from Nicaragua, i have lived here for 7 years and we have been together nearly 4 years.

Where did you get your documents certified or translated, if you don't mind what was the cost?

Any and all information you have gathered would be great help for us since we are just starting to get our documents together.

 

[mateostanley]

Hi @mateostanley can you please let me know how you proceeded with sending the application? I am also sponsoring my common law spouse from Nicaragua, i have lived here for 7 years and we have been together nearly 4 years.

Where did you get your documents certified or translated, if you don't mind what was the cost?

Any and all information you have gathered would be great help for us since we are just starting to get our documents together.

Hi there, nice to hear were not the only ones in this mess hahaha!

Sadly we still haven't been able to apply yet. We do have the documents together though and will be applying soon. Our solution was to leave Nicaragua actually. Nicaraguan immigration told me to take a hike, not sure if thats because of the current situation there. I wasn't about to go back to Canada without my wife and since they refused to give me residency in Nicaragua we decided to pick another country that allows both of us to be there without a visa. Now we are in a nearby country that has a better postal system so we are planning to send the application by fedex or something like that. Maybe you could send yours from Costa Rica? Our plan for translation is to use an online service because we feel it is more trustworthy. Haven't looked at prices yet.

Oh, and you will have to go to Managua to get your marriage documents certified, that is if you were married in Nicaragua like us.

 

[Janeth7789]

Hi there, nice to hear were not the only ones in this mess hahaha!

Sadly we still haven't been able to apply yet. We do have the documents together though and will be applying soon. Our solution was to leave Nicaragua actually. Nicaraguan immigration told me to take a hike, not sure if thats because of the current situation there. I wasn't about to go back to Canada without my wife and since they refused to give me residency in Nicaragua we decided to pick another country that allows both of us to be there without a visa. Now we are in a nearby country that has a better postal system so we are planning to send the application by fedex or something like that. Maybe you could send yours from Costa Rica? Our plan for translation is to use an online service because we feel it is more trustworthy. Haven't looked at prices yet.

Oh, and you will have to go to Managua to get your marriage documents certified, that is if you were married in Nicaragua like us.

Thanks that is super helpful, we are just starting to get our papers together and hopefully can get this all done by December. Hope to keep seeing your updates and Ill be posting ours as we go. Good luck to you guys!

 

[Mimi Kusi]

Am a Canadian citizen , my husband is a Ghanaian .We are both in Ghana now .I don’t want to leave for Canada without him .I want to apply here in Ghana , then we both go together .I want to know if I have to apply for inland or Outland ???

 

[screech339]

Am a Canadian citizen , my husband is a Ghanaian .We are both in Ghana now .I don’t want to leave for Canada without him .I want to apply here in Ghana , then we both go together .I want to know if I have to apply for inland or Outland ???

You can only apply outland if you are applying for PR sponsorship from Ghana. Be prepared to show documentations of intention to move and settle in Canada with your PR application.

 

[Janeth7789]

Hi there, nice to hear were not the only ones in this mess hahaha!

Sadly we still haven't been able to apply yet. We do have the documents together though and will be applying soon. Our solution was to leave Nicaragua actually. Nicaraguan immigration told me to take a hike, not sure if thats because of the current situation there. I wasn't about to go back to Canada without my wife and since they refused to give me residency in Nicaragua we decided to pick another country that allows both of us to be there without a visa. Now we are in a nearby country that has a better postal system so we are planning to send the application by fedex or something like that. Maybe you could send yours from Costa Rica? Our plan for translation is to use an online service because we feel it is more trustworthy. Haven't looked at prices yet.

Oh, and you will have to go to Managua to get your marriage documents certified, that is if you were married in Nicaragua like us.

Hi there, just wondering if you have made any progress with your application? Since we have very similar situations hopefuy we can keep each other informed.

 

[shalenabennie]

FYI - application isn't sent to Mexico - it's sent to Mississauga.

Are applications still being sent to mississauga? Someone told me NS now?

 

[scylla]

Are applications still being sent to mississauga? Someone told me NS now?

Yes - this changed this year. If you look at the date of my response, it's from September 2017.

 

[mateostanley]

Hi there, just wondering if you have made any progress with your application? Since we have very similar situations hopefuy we can keep each other informed.

Sorry I didn't reply sooner, but there were no updates to give. We have made the application now and its in progress. We applied by mail and it took about 3 months to get confirmation that it was received. We had to start everything from zero because we moved to a different country. They recently asked for a medical, and they wanted the police certificate over again because it had expired by the time they received it. Its a bit of a headache this one because IRCC is asking for documents that don't exist. They asked for a Certificado de conducta from the Nicaraguan embassy, and a "Court certificate" or "record judicial" The embassy told us emphatically that the document does not exist, neither at the embassy or in Nicaragua.

IRCC also gave us a deadline of 60 days to get that done, and the Nicaraguan embassy said they would have the document in 3-4 months. Both sides are being stubborn and completely belligerent when we talk to them. We managed to get police certificates from the country we are living in now rather quickly which they also asked for, and we managed to get a police certificate from Nicaragua online from a Nicaraguan government website. The instructions from IRCC say to get the police certificate from the embassy but that takes 4 months, but its identical to the online one which is instant. So we will see how that goes. They aren't giving us enough time to get the one from the embassy so we will just have to submit the online one and see what happens. We're also using an online service to translate these. They accepted the online translations of the birth and marriage certificates.

Medical check was rather straightforward, costed about $200 CAD plus a trip to the capital city to find a panel physician. Doctor speaks English so no translation needed and they send the form in themselves.

 

[Janeth7789]

Sorry I didn't reply sooner, but there were no updates to give. We have made the application now and its in progress. We applied by mail and it took about 3 months to get confirmation that it was received. We had to start everything from zero because we moved to a different country. They recently asked for a medical, and they wanted the police certificate over again because it had expired by the time they received it. Its a bit of a headache this one because IRCC is asking for documents that don't exist. They asked for a Certificado de conducta from the Nicaraguan embassy, and a "Court certificate" or "record judicial" The embassy told us emphatically that the document does not exist, neither at the embassy or in Nicaragua.

IRCC also gave us a deadline of 60 days to get that done, and the Nicaraguan embassy said they would have the document in 3-4 months. Both sides are being stubborn and completely belligerent when we talk to them. We managed to get police certificates from the country we are living in now rather quickly which they also asked for, and we managed to get a police certificate from Nicaragua online from a Nicaraguan government website. The instructions from IRCC say to get the police certificate from the embassy but that takes 4 months, but its identical to the online one which is instant. So we will see how that goes. They aren't giving us enough time to get the one from the embassy so we will just have to submit the online one and see what happens. We're also using an online service to translate these. They accepted the online translations of the birth and marriage certificates.

Medical check was rather straightforward, costed about $200 CAD plus a trip to the capital city to find a panel physician. Doctor speaks English so no translation needed and they send the form in themselves.

I can imagine how stressful that has been. But not surprised the Nicaraguan Embassy didn't know what they are talking about because they don't even know how to get things done here in Nicaragua either. The system is completing broken, no one knows what they are doing. We spoke with lawyers called several offices and no one could tell us exactly how to do it. We ended up just going to Poder Judicial and luckily a lady there was able to tell us step by step how to get it done. Maybe she can have a family member get her record and mail it? It cost us 150 cordobas we went to the Corte Suprema to request it, then we took it to Poder Judicial (paid 50 Cordobas) to get sealed and then had it translated.

We ended up getting everything done and sending our papers on March 2nd and it was received on March 7th. Right now we are waiting to hear about when they have started to process or I guess AOR1. Has yours been transferred to the office in Mexico or still in Canada?

 

[Janeth7789]

Sorry I didn't reply sooner, but there were no updates to give. We have made the application now and its in progress. We applied by mail and it took about 3 months to get confirmation that it was received. We had to start everything from zero because we moved to a different country. They recently asked for a medical, and they wanted the police certificate over again because it had expired by the time they received it. Its a bit of a headache this one because IRCC is asking for documents that don't exist. They asked for a Certificado de conducta from the Nicaraguan embassy, and a "Court certificate" or "record judicial" The embassy told us emphatically that the document does not exist, neither at the embassy or in Nicaragua.

IRCC also gave us a deadline of 60 days to get that done, and the Nicaraguan embassy said they would have the document in 3-4 months. Both sides are being stubborn and completely belligerent when we talk to them. We managed to get police certificates from the country we are living in now rather quickly which they also asked for, and we managed to get a police certificate from Nicaragua online from a Nicaraguan government website. The instructions from IRCC say to get the police certificate from the embassy but that takes 4 months, but its identical to the online one which is instant. So we will see how that goes. They aren't giving us enough time to get the one from the embassy so we will just have to submit the online one and see what happens. We're also using an online service to translate these. They accepted the online translations of the birth and marriage certificates.

Medical check was rather straightforward, costed about $200 CAD plus a trip to the capital city to find a panel physician. Doctor speaks English so no translation needed and they send the form in themselves.

Hey hope you are doing well,

Just wanted to check in and see how your process is going.

Right now we passed everything Bio, Med, SA since May 17th. We are waiting on notification of the file being transferred.

Hope your process is moving along.

 

[curth]

Hi,

My wife is from Nicaragua as well. She's still there. I returned to Canada to find a job after the civil unrest broke out. After things calmed down, we decided to continue with the application anyway.

Here is my timeline so you have another data point:

Application Received: August 9, 2018
Acknowledgement of Receipt: November 27, 2018
Sponsorship Approval: December 11, 2018
Medical Request: December 11, 2018
Medical Passed: December 20, 2018
Forwarded to Mexico: January 28, 2019
Acknowledgement from Mexico: February 20, 2019

We haven't heard anything since then. Just passed 10 months.

Curt.