Dual Intent coming from USA

[ByeTexas]

Hey guys, looking for any advice and insights.

My wife and I are currently living in the US and we submitted her OUTLAND application at the end of April 2020. I am a Canadian citizen/US permanent resident, she is an American citizen. We've been married for nearly 4 years, and to my knowledge our application should be fairly uncomplicated. We had hoped to move home to Canada either June or July 2021 and expected this timeline to be more than reasonable for processing, however I understand we're now looking at 6-12 month delays by anyone's best guess right now due to COVID-19.

One thought we had to try and still move around our original planned time, was dual intent entry. I understand it would prevent her from being able to work immediately upon moving which was the original plan, but we will be able to support ourselves during an extended wait for PR approval. I was wondering if anyone has any experience with this from the United States (or otherwise). From what I've been able to ascertain, she should be able to enter Canada as a visitor with dual intent, provided we've received AOR1 and a sponsorship approval prior to doing so and she enters Canada with a return flight. What kind of ties would be helpful to maintain to show intent to return if necessary? Does anyone see any holes in this idea? From the information you've found does this seem like a reasonable plan/timeline given COVID-19 delays? As a US citizen I know she could stay for 6 months, is it possible to stay longer if our application is delayed longer than that? Thanks for any advice or feedback ya'll have!

 

[scylla]

Hey guys, looking for any advice and insights.

My wife and I are currently living in the US and we submitted her OUTLAND application at the end of April 2020. I am a Canadian citizen/US permanent resident, she is an American citizen. We've been married for nearly 4 years, and to my knowledge our application should be fairly uncomplicated. We had hoped to move home to Canada either June or July 2021 and expected this timeline to be more than reasonable for processing, however I understand we're now looking at 6-12 month delays by anyone's best guess right now due to COVID-19.

One thought we had to try and still move around our original planned time, was dual intent entry. I understand it would prevent her from being able to work immediately upon moving which was the original plan, but we will be able to support ourselves during an extended wait for PR approval. I was wondering if anyone has any experience with this from the United States (or otherwise). From what I've been able to ascertain, she should be able to enter Canada as a visitor with dual intent, provided we've received AOR1 and a sponsorship approval prior to doing so and she enters Canada with a return flight. What kind of ties would be helpful to maintain to show intent to return if necessary? Does anyone see any holes in this idea? From the information you've found does this seem like a reasonable plan/timeline given COVID-19 delays? As a US citizen I know she could stay for 6 months, is it possible to stay longer if our application is delayed longer than that? Thanks for any advice or feedback ya'll have!

There's going to be no clear answer to your question you can get in advance. It will be up to CBSA when you arrive at the border. Basically a dice roll.

We recently had someone here in your exact situation try this (two weeks ago?) and the American was denied entry into Canada because CBSA said they had been living in the US which made their travel non essential. I believe it was even suggested that an exclusion order might be issued if the American tried entering again while COVID-19 border restrictions are in place.

So you can certainly try, but be prepared for the possibility you may be turned away and told you can do this right now.

 

[ByeTexas]

There's going to be no clear answer to your question you can get in advance. It will be up to CBSA when you arrive at the border. Basically a dice roll.

We recently had someone here in your exact situation try this (two weeks ago?) and the American was denied entry into Canada because CBSA said they had been living in the US which made their travel non essential. I believe it was even suggested that an exclusion order might be issued if the American tried entering again while COVID-19 border restrictions are in place.

So you can certainly try, but be prepared for the possibility you may be turned away and told you can do this right now.

Thanks for your response!

Totally understandable given so many changes with the border and COVID-19 right now. We don't intend to attempt to move even with dual intent until June or July of next year, hopefully there will have been some improvement in the situation by then but only time can tell. I am surprised they refused the spouse at the border though, to my understanding immediate family was being allowed to cross as of now. Definitely unfortunate, do you happen to have a link to their story. I'd be interested to read the details.

 

[scylla]

Thanks for your response!

Totally understandable given so many changes with the border and COVID-19 right now. We don't intend to attempt to move even with dual intent until June or July of next year, hopefully there will have been some improvement in the situation by then but only time can tell. I am surprised they refused the spouse at the border though, to my understanding immediate family was being allowed to cross as of now. Definitely unfortunate, do you happen to have a link to their story. I'd be interested to read the details.

Ah - if you're not going until next summer, you should be fine.

I'll see if I can find the person who had the bad experience...

 

[tizahu]

It was me! https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/prioritizing-canadians-returning-to-canada.698967/post-8793390

 

[ByeTexas]

It was me! https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/prioritizing-canadians-returning-to-canada.698967/post-8793390

So sorry about the set backs y'all are experiencing. I read your post, just to clarify you have applied but told border officials you were both intending to visit for an extended period of time before returning to the US to finish waiting for PR?

 

[tizahu]

So sorry about the set backs y'all are experiencing. I read your post, just to clarify you have applied but told border officials you were both intending to visit for an extended period of time before returning to the US to finish waiting for PR?

We said and were planning on visiting until the December holidays at the latest, but that if I got the PR before that we would likely come back to retrieve all of our belongings from storage.

They said normally we would have been allowed in, so I guess we succesfully proved dual intent, but I was denied entry due to “not having an essential reason to travel.”

 

[armoured]

We said and were planning on visiting until the December holidays at the latest, but that if I got the PR before that we would likely come back to retrieve all of our belongings from storage.

They said normally we would have been allowed in, so I guess we succesfully proved dual intent, but I was denied entry due to “not having an essential reason to travel.”

I believe if your spouse was living in Canada you likely would have been let in. That's only a guess though. The problem it seems is he was only visiting too.

If he was residing in Canada then you would have a plausible family reunification case. Even for your visit (as long as lengthy)