Alberta Health

[bealily]

Hi

I´m being sponsored (outland) by my boyfriend to get permanent residency in Canada. I´m visiting him now and am hoping to stay here (extending my visitors visa) until I get my PR. We are living in Alberta and I´m confused about Alberta Health.

I went and talked to Alberta Health last week and they ended up giving me 6 months of Alberta Health, in order to extend it I have to hand in First Stage Approval or if I´m lucky I´ll have my PR by then.

I thought First Stage Approval was the same as the sponsor being approved but now I found out that it is only used for Inland applications.

So my questions are: did they give me Alberta Health because they thought I was applying inland? Should I correct them?
And am I eligible for Alberta Health if I´m applying outland?

They also wanted to see my passport and see how long I had visitors visa for. But I´m from a visa exempt country and don´t have anything like that.

Sorry for a confusing post...I´m a bit confused here was so happy to get health coverage and now i´m thinking it might not be this easy!!

 

[Leon]

In many provinces they would not even consider you for health care until you have PR or first stage approval plus 3 months waiting time after that but Alberta has been doing this because they are so nice and have all this oil money. Anyway..

* When you entered the country, you could have said to immigration that you have come to live with your husband who will apply to sponsor you and if they can give you a visitor record to let you stay longer. With that, you could have gotten a longer term for AB Health.

* What you can and should do if you are intending to stay in Canada after your 6 months are up is apply to extend your visitor status before it expires. Once you get your extension and they normally approve them if you are applying for sponsorship (be sure to mention that on your extension application), you can take that to AB Health and ask them if you can get your health card extended again. However, watch out because getting the extension takes a couple of months, even if you apply online so if your visit status expires before you hear back, you will not have anything yet to show to AB health. As far as immigration is concerned, you do not have to worry because once you have applied to extend, you are under implied status and may stay even if you haven't heard back yet.

* I do not know if they care if you applied inland or not. If you want to know, contact them.

At last, make sure if your health care lapses that you have accident and emergency insurance in case something happens.

 

[bealily]

Thanks for your answer Leon.

I guess I´m lucky to be living in Alberta
I talked to a lady at AB Health and got much clearer answers that before. Apparently they are giving me 6 months of AB Health because my boyfriend is adding me to his AB Health (oh and only because we have a child together, being in a common-law relationship is apparently not enough for them). It has nothing to do with my application for PR, so she didn´t really care if I was inland or outland or whatever, like you said.

I´ll make sure I apply for extension on my visitors status early enough, thank you for that advise.

And now I´m just hoping to get my PR soon so I don´t have to worry about his at all

 

[amikety]

My situation is somewhat similar. I'm American and my boyfriend/fiance is Canadian. We're waiting on his divorce certificate to marry and file our application. We live in Calgary. I am a temporary resident until Nov 2012 - I asked CIC for ample time for us to get married and file our application. They were very generous.

We would like to have a baby and the sooner the better. (Someone has serious baby fever and it isn't me!) I have a very common fertility issue that can be fixed in the large majority of cases by a regular doctor. It will NOT require infertitility treatment, which I know Alberta HC doesn't cover. I have a friend in Calgary with the same issue and it was completely covered by HC. I have traveler's insurance for myself in case of an accident, but it doesn't cover pregnancy.

I have read as a temporary resident, I can apply for HC - I already have the 3 months residency with proof by my paper trail with CIC. Is this true? More importantly, would I get approved?

My BF will try to add me to his benefits at the end of the year, however, we don't fit the requirements by law for common-law yet and I don't *think* I have a SIN. (I may be wrong here, there is a 9 digit number beginning with a 9 on my temp res paperwork.) Will I get approved on this?

Thanks!

 

[Leon]

You can try it. What kind of temp. res. status do you have? Are you a student or temporary worker on a work permit? If yes, they should give you AB health because of that. If no, you might be able to get it through your bf once you complete the 12 months.

 

[amikety]

I filed an extension to my visit and received a temporary resident status. I'm not allowed to work or study... so I'm just kind of here? Haha.

We're moving sometime this month, so I'll probably try after the move (so I don't have the run around of changing my address). If they say, no, at least I tried. We *should* be married sometime soon as well. (Like the faster Calgary sends him his divorce certificate, the better.) I can try again after we're legally married to see if that makes a difference.

Thanks

 

[RITU80]

Hi Leon,

would request you to clarify at the earliest ..Both me and my husband,s have canadian Pr ..we have already done our landing last july in2011 ..we stayed for period of 10 days and have got our Pr Cards and sin cards
Now i am pregnant and we want to have our baby in canada..If we stay in toronto there is a waiting period of 3 months which will not help since i am already 7 months.. is it true that alberta provides health coverage the dya one lands there?
Please clarify and guide us..your opinion matters a lot..

thanks for all your help in advance..

Ritu

 

[Leon]

Hi Leon,

would request you to clarify at the earliest ..Both me and my husband,s have canadian Pr ..we have already done our landing last july in2011 ..we stayed for period of 10 days and have got our Pr Cards and sin cards
Now i am pregnant and we want to have our baby in canada..If we stay in toronto there is a waiting period of 3 months which will not help since i am already 7 months.. is it true that alberta provides health coverage the dya one lands there?
Please clarify and guide us..your opinion matters a lot..

thanks for all your help in advance..

Ritu

The only provinces that have a waiting period are ON, BC, QC and NB. Alberta will not care that you landed in Toronto as you did not settle there so if you move to Alberta now, they will treat your move as an international move and give you first day coverage. However, be aware that the criteria to be covered by health care anywhere is that you live in that province for 6 months a year. If you just come to have your baby and then leave AB again right afterwards and do not spend 6 months in AB in the year after you arrived, you risk that they could cancel your health insurance and bill you back for the services you received. Although I have not heard of such a case in AB, I have heard that healthcare in BC has done this.

 

[RITU80]

thanks a ton leon....really appreciate your help....thanks..ritu

 

[andkiss]

[size=10pt]In many provinces they would not even consider you for health care until you have PR or first stage approval plus 3 months waiting time after that but Alberta has been doing this because they are so nice and have all this oil money[/size]. Anyway..

* When you entered the country, you could have said to immigration that you have come to live with your husband who will apply to sponsor you and if they can give you a visitor record to let you stay longer. With that, you could have gotten a longer term for AB Health.

* What you can and should do if you are intending to stay in Canada after your 6 months are up is apply to extend your visitor status before it expires. Once you get your extension and they normally approve them if you are applying for sponsorship (be sure to mention that on your extension application), you can take that to AB Health and ask them if you can get your health card extended again. However, watch out because getting the extension takes a couple of months, even if you apply online so if your visit status expires before you hear back, you will not have anything yet to show to AB health. As far as immigration is concerned, you do not have to worry because once you have applied to extend, you are under implied status and may stay even if you haven't heard back yet.

* I do not know if they care if you applied inland or not. If you want to know, contact them.

At last, make sure if your health care lapses that you have accident and emergency insurance in case something happens.

I LOVE ALBERTA!!!

 

[RITU80]

Hi Leon,

Troubling you again..just a small query..I am planning to initially travel and land in toronto and stay with my cousin for 10 days ...then later my husband joins me and we both travel to alberta...The reason being i dont want to delay my travel but my hubby has some urgent work which requires him to travel a bit later...

Will this still be an international move..

let me know ..thanks and regards

Ritu

 

[Leon]

Talk to AB health about it. I think it would be but if you talk to them first, they can verify that for you.