1. Are hard copies required when applying online? 2. What is meant by immigration or citizenship status

[alxms10]

Hi guys

I have two questions please:

1. When applying online, do I need to provide hard copies in the future. The reason I ask is I just asked my brother to issue me my police certificate from back home and he will scan it and send it to me? Will IRCC ever ask for the hard copy? Because there is no mail service back home and courier (DHL) is bloody expensive

2. Screenshot below is a question from online application form. Since it doesn't specify, how far in time do I need to go to mention immigration or citizenship statuses. Since birth? Since 18? Because I have been to so many countries and worried if I miss one country.

 

[CaBeaver]

Hi guys

I have two questions please:

1. When applying online, do I need to provide hard copies in the future. The reason I ask is I just asked my brother to issue me my police certificate from back home and he will scan it and send it to me? Will IRCC ever ask for the hard copy? Because there is no mail service back home and courier (DHL) is bloody expensive

2. Screenshot below is a question from online application form. Since it doesn't specify, how far in time do I need to go to mention immigration or citizenship statuses. Since birth? Since 18? Because I have been to so many countries and worried if I miss one country.

1- I am not sure. Possibly. Keep the hard copy in hand if they ask for it.
2- Since birth.

 

[akbardxb]

Hi guys

I have two questions please:

1. When applying online, do I need to provide hard copies in the future. The reason I ask is I just asked my brother to issue me my police certificate from back home and he will scan it and send it to me? Will IRCC ever ask for the hard copy? Because there is no mail service back home and courier (DHL) is bloody expensive

2. Screenshot below is a question from online application form. Since it doesn't specify, how far in time do I need to go to mention immigration or citizenship statuses. Since birth? Since 18? Because I have been to so many countries and worried if I miss one country.

Always have a hard copy ready to send if required, especially for documents that are being submitted online. In some cases they ask for original documents to be submitted, for instance records of travel history and certified copies of translations on passport pages. I had applied on paper, BTW.

2. The key words are 'ever held'. You would mention your first country of citizenship as 'Since Birth'. If you hold any other citizenship, you would mention that as 'since yyyy-mm-dd' followed by any other country where you ever held a 'right to stay' - residence visa/ work permit etc etc. If any of these ended, you would have to specify the end date as well.

 

[alxms10]

Thank you very much CaBeaver and akbardxb. I have a follow up question on my question 2 above. I once had USA visa but never used it to enter USA, should I include it? Or they only ask for immigration status where you used it entered the country?

 

[akbardxb]

Thank you very much CaBeaver and akbardxb. I have a follow up question on my question 2 above. I once had USA visa but never used it to enter USA, should I include it? Or they only ask for immigration status where you used it entered the country?

A visit visa is not immigrant status, so if you hold any visit / tourist visas to any country, they are not to be reported in response to this question.

 

[alxms10]

Thanks again akbardxb, but the list of "status" shows visitor as one of the options. So I guess I need to include counties I visited.

But again, if I never used an approved visa to enter a country, should I include it?

 

[akbardxb]

Thanks again akbardxb, but the list of "status" shows visitor as one of the options. So I guess I need to include counties I visited.

But again, if I never used an approved visa to enter a country, should I include it?

I'm not sure why Visitor exists in the list of options because visit visas are not immigrant status / citizenship.

 

[hamgha]

Thanks again akbardxb, but the list of "status" shows visitor as one of the options. So I guess I need to include counties I visited.

But again, if I never used an approved visa to enter a country, should I include it?

Doesn't include visiting

 

[harirajmohan]

Thanks again akbardxb, but the list of "status" shows visitor as one of the options. So I guess I need to include counties I visited.

But again, if I never used an approved visa to enter a country, should I include it?

You need to specify all immigration status(temporary or permanent/citizenship) held during that period while you were inside a country. if you havent used your visa then dont enter as you dont gain status till you enter inside.

Its nothing but all statuses in any country(doesnt matter what visa/passport you used) you stayed. Just specify status of the each visit/stay.

 

[akbardxb]

You need to specify all immigration status(temporary or permanent/citizenship) held during that period while you were inside a country. if you havent used your visa then dont enter as you dont gain status till you enter inside.

Its nothing but all statuses in any country(doesnt matter what visa/passport you used) you stayed. Just specify status of the each visit/stay.

By that logic, all travel on visit visas should be reported in this question. Whether you used a visit visa to enter a country or not, a visit visa does not permit you to live or work in that country, therefore does not count as 'immigrant status'.

 

[harirajmohan]

By that logic, all travel on visit visas should be reported in this question. Whether you used a visit visa to enter a country or not, a visit visa does not permit you to live or work in that country, therefore does not count as 'immigrant status'.

Our interpretation can be anything. But cic's intent is to know what exact status you held in a country.
Thats why they say as "exactly what status you held" and listed visitor in the dropdown to avoid this confusion i think.
All statuses including visitor/work/study are temporary except PR/citizen. In some countries call as non-immigrant(visitor, study, work etc) and but in some they call as just immigrant status with different type within it.

Either case, providing exact status is not going to harm in anyway in verifying the application. Not providing will only confuse them.

 

[alxms10]

Thanks everybody, I think I'll play it safe and include the US visa. But I hope they won't consider that as misinterpretation since I ddin't enter the US.