PR landing to Canada, giving birth

[yoruk98]

Firstly a big thanks to everyone contributing to the forum, helped us a lot in every step.

A short summary of us: We’re a couple who have PR since 2018. We did soft landing in 2018, our original intent was to settle in 2020, couldn’t do it due to commitments back home and COVID situation. Now wife is 4 months pregnant, we want to settle in November 2021 and planned birth is February 2022.
Now a few questions:

1-We will settle in Toronto, so we will apply to OHIP when we arrive in November 2021.It is said that we don’t need to wait for 90 days due to covid time policy. Does it mean we get the OHIP immediately when we apply? Within how many days/weeks it might arrive?

2-We’re trying to arrange for hospitals / doctors before our arrival, many hospitals reply back saying we need family doctor’s referral. Hard to get any e-mail address (not shown in websites) and phone calls are not picked up. What is the best way to approach doctors before arriving?

3-I’ll start working remotely for my home country and will make a transition to a full time job in Toronto. I’m afraid we might need to get back to home country before satisfying the OHIP requirement (153 days stay in first 6 months) if things don’t go as planned. If we have to go back, will our OHIP be cancelled? Will we need to reimburse the costs spend in labour? (we are ok to do that)

 

[scylla]

Firstly a big thanks to everyone contributing to the forum, helped us a lot in every step.

A short summary of us: We’re a couple who have PR since 2018. We did soft landing in 2018, our original intent was to settle in 2020, couldn’t do it due to commitments back home and COVID situation. Now wife is 4 months pregnant, we want to settle in November 2021 and planned birth is February 2022.
Now a few questions:

1-We will settle in Toronto, so we will apply to OHIP when we arrive in November 2021.It is said that we don’t need to wait for 90 days due to covid time policy. Does it mean we get the OHIP immediately when we apply? Within how many days/weeks it might arrive?

2-We’re trying to arrange for hospitals / doctors before our arrival, many hospitals reply back saying we need family doctor’s referral. Hard to get any e-mail address (not shown in websites) and phone calls are not picked up. What is the best way to approach doctors before arriving?

3-I’ll start working remotely for my home country and will make a transition to a full time job in Toronto. I’m afraid we might need to get back to home country before satisfying the OHIP requirement (153 days stay in first 6 months) if things don’t go as planned. If we have to go back, will our OHIP be cancelled? Will we need to reimburse the costs spend in labour? (we are ok to do that)

1. That's correct. You can apply immediately. I don't know how long it's taking for the card to arrive these days.

2. To the best of my knowledge, there's no way to do this from outside of Canada. You'll need to wait until you've arrived in Canada and then visit a family doctor to get the referral.

3. If this happens, then there's a decent chance you may have to pay back any costs related to any health care you received (the labour and any medical test, check ups, etc. in advance or after the labour). Note that these costs can often amount to more than if you had just paid the costs yourself from the start vs. using OHIP. It's possible this could also cause some complications / delays in getting OHIP coverage reinstated when you move back to Canada.

If you leave Canada after the birth, you also won't meet the residency requirement for retaining your PR status and should expect this may result in the loss of PR. Depending on when you landed in 2018, you may already not be in compliance with the residency requirement to keep your PR status.

 

[yoruk98]

Dear Scylla,

Sincerely thank you for the great insights and your time.

1- All clear, if anyone had recent OHI apllication and receipt experience that would be great

2-I’m hearing people setting up arrangements before landing, these people are doingthis as “pregnancy tourism” of course 100% paid out of pocket. I understand arranging same within OHIP coverage is nor possible

3-Can you elaborate why reimbursing the medical costs later might be more expensive than having them paid in the first place? Is it due to any penalties or state charges added?

Very valid point on PR status, we also see this as a risk. We are counting on using COVID times as the rationale of our delay (which is the truth by the way), do you think it would work out? We see in cic website below, I understand that you can keep the PR status even if you fail to satisfy residency obligation. How is this evaluated?

“”Even if you don't meet the residency obligation, you are still a PR until an official decision is made on your status.””

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigratio...-immigrants/pr-card/understand-pr-status.html

 

[scylla]

Dear Scylla,

Sincerely thank you for the great insights and your time.

1- All clear, if anyone had recent OHI apllication and receipt experience that would be great

2-I’m hearing people setting up arrangements before landing, these people are doingthis as “pregnancy tourism” of course 100% paid out of pocket. I understand arranging same within OHIP coverage is nor possible

3-Can you elaborate why reimbursing the medical costs later might be more expensive than having them paid in the first place? Is it due to any penalties or state charges added?

Very valid point on PR status, we also see this as a risk. We are counting on using COVID times as the rationale of our delay (which is the truth by the way), do you think it would work out? We see in cic website below, I understand that you can keep the PR status even if you fail to satisfy residency obligation. How is this evaluated?

“”Even if you don't meet the residency obligation, you are still a PR until an official decision is made on your status.””

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigratio...-immigrants/pr-card/understand-pr-status.html

2. I'm not aware of any way you can get a referral while outside of Canada if you're wanting to do this under OHIP. The family doctor will require you to be in Canada and visit the clinic in person to give the referral.

3. If you pay yourself, you're paying the hospital directly and pay the actual costs. If OHIP comes after you, they seem to apply some sort of general or estimated cost for the services you've used. There may also be a penalty applied. I can't comment on that. Where we've seen instances on this forum of the province coming after the person to repay the expenses, it always seems to be quite a bit more than if they had just paid it themselves.

Yes, you remain PRs until your PR status is officially lost. Note that there have been no changes to the residency obligation rules due to COVID and none are expected. We haven't seen any instances where IRCC has accepted COVID as the reason for failing to meet the residency obligation given PRs have been free to travel to Canada during COVID. If you use this as your reason, you should be prepared for the risk it won't be accepted and this could result in the loss of your PR status. If you leave Canada for employment reasons after giving birth, I don't see how you'll be able to argue that you have any H&C grounds. As long as you're good with the risk of losing your PR, no issues with going ahead as planned.

 

[canuck78]

Firstly a big thanks to everyone contributing to the forum, helped us a lot in every step.

A short summary of us: We’re a couple who have PR since 2018. We did soft landing in 2018, our original intent was to settle in 2020, couldn’t do it due to commitments back home and COVID situation. Now wife is 4 months pregnant, we want to settle in November 2021 and planned birth is February 2022.
Now a few questions:

1-We will settle in Toronto, so we will apply to OHIP when we arrive in November 2021.It is said that we don’t need to wait for 90 days due to covid time policy. Does it mean we get the OHIP immediately when we apply? Within how many days/weeks it might arrive?

2-We’re trying to arrange for hospitals / doctors before our arrival, many hospitals reply back saying we need family doctor’s referral. Hard to get any e-mail address (not shown in websites) and phone calls are not picked up. What is the best way to approach doctors before arriving?

3-I’ll start working remotely for my home country and will make a transition to a full time job in Toronto. I’m afraid we might need to get back to home country before satisfying the OHIP requirement (153 days stay in first 6 months) if things don’t go as planned. If we have to go back, will our OHIP be cancelled? Will we need to reimburse the costs spend in labour? (we are ok to do that)

You also have to worry whether you will be reported for not meeting your RO. If your baby needs NICU care you are looking at 20k/day so costs can increase dramatically. A day or two in the NICU is not uncommon. If you have no plan on remaining in Canada and with the risk serious medical complications for pregnant women with covid, it only makes sense to take the huge risk of travelling if you are committed to settling in Canada. If you weren’t willing to travel when your wife wasn’t pregnant, I’m not sure why you would risk travelling now that she is at much higher risk. Based on your statements it seems like there is a high likelihood that you won’t be remaining longterm.

 

[yoruk98]

Dear Canuck78,

Thank you for your comment very well appreciated. I’d like to clarify 2 topics to give better detail:

1- Our delay due to Covid was not only about the risk of transmission while landing in Canada. It was a time with a lot of uncertainties, no Covid vaccine (at least in our country) until mid-2021, plus the need to take care of the elders with chronical conditions. Now me and the elders are fully vaccinated and my wife will complete final shot in upcoming weeks (no vaccination allowed in first 3 months of pregnancy).

As an outcome of all this, we lost 1.5 yrs, I hope the reasons make better sense now.

2- To clarify our intention,our objective is not to leave after birth, but to stay. My question was about the “very low probability” of things going not as planned and we have to stay out of Canada for longer than 30 days in first 6 months due to my work arrangement.

Thanks for the insights on NICU, this is also linked to my major concern. It’d be a shame to get into full financial burden for a 1% chance of having to leave Canada for >30 days in first 6 months. Of course we wouldn’t want to do anything uncompliant.

I wish there was a way for us to pay the costs and after we stay 153 days in first 6 months we’d be able to receive back the money we spent through OHIP. Is there such a way?

 

[scylla]

I wish there was a way for us to pay the costs and after we stay 153 days in first 6 months we’d be able to receive back the money we spent through OHIP. Is there such a way?

Unfortunately no. There is no way to have OHIP pay the money back later.

 

[canuck78]

Dear Canuck78,

Thank you for your comment very well appreciated. I’d like to clarify 2 topics to give better detail:

1- Our delay due to Covid was not only about the risk of transmission while landing in Canada. It was a time with a lot of uncertainties, no Covid vaccine (at least in our country) until mid-2021, plus the need to take care of the elders with chronical conditions. Now me and the elders are fully vaccinated and my wife will complete final shot in upcoming weeks (no vaccination allowed in first 3 months of pregnancy).

As an outcome of all this, we lost 1.5 yrs, I hope the reasons make better sense now.

2- To clarify our intention,our objective is not to leave after birth, but to stay. My question was about the “very low probability” of things going not as planned and we have to stay out of Canada for longer than 30 days in first 6 months due to my work arrangement.

Thanks for the insights on NICU, this is also linked to my major concern. It’d be a shame to get into full financial burden for a 1% chance of having to leave Canada for >30 days in first 6 months. Of course we wouldn’t want to do anything uncompliant.

I wish there was a way for us to pay the costs and after we stay 153 days in first 6 months we’d be able to receive back the money we spent through OHIP. Is there such a way?

You must also remain in Ontario not Canada.