American spouse application questions

[Latiass]

Hey all,

I'm hoping to get some general info on my situation before I speak to a lawyer for more specifics (lawyers are expensive!). Currently, my partner lives in the US and intends to travel to Canada this summer to stay with me so that we can get married. We have plenty of evidence about proving genuine status (chat logs, numerous trips to visit family, trips to fancy places with family together, etc), so that shouldn't be a problem, but I'm wondering how getting married and applying for PR will impact her ability to stay with me? If we get married and apply, how likely is it for her visitor status to get extended while we wait for the application? Would we be better off with outland in this case, since she might end up having to return home?

Also, I was planning to travel there to help her ship stuff here, which means we'd be travelling together.. I've heard telling the border officer that we're planning to get married is a bad idea, so should we just say she's there to visit for a while? Would this look too suspicious? Should I instead have us travel separately?

I'm sure I'll have more questions as I think of them and as time passes, but thanks in advance for any help I can get!

 

[CDNPR2014]

DO NOT APPLY INLAND. You want to apply "outland". She can freely apply outland and stay in canada as a visitor while her application is processing. US outland applicants are being approved in 5-6 months, as opposed to the 12-16 months it's taking for inland. THERE IS NO REASON FOR A US CITIZEN TO APPLY INLAND!!!!!!!!!!!

Submitting a PR application (inland or outland) does not give her the right to stay in canada as a visitor. she will have to apply to extend her stay so she can stay throughout her process. PR applicants and US citizens are rarely denied extensions, so don't assume this will be an issue.

apply OUTLAND!!!!!!!

also, there is no need to talk to a lawyer if you don't have dependant or criminal issues. you can get better information on this forum from people who have gone through the process, and it's absolutely possible to do everything yourself. Immigration lawyers are notorious for giving out wrong information.

 

[scylla]

If she ships her stuff to Canada now, she will have to pay duty / tax on everything. She can't import her belongings duty / tax free until she is officially a permanent resident. For now, she should only bring the basics she needs as a visitor (e.g. one suitcase). Everything else should be left in the US (e.g. in storage) until she has PR.

 

[jeff198901]

If she ships her stuff to Canada now, she will have to pay duty / tax on everything. She can't import her belongings duty / tax free until she is officially a permanent resident. For now, she should only bring the basics she needs as a visitor (e.g. one suitcase). Everything else should be left in the US (e.g. in storage) until she has PR.

+1 for this. We are doing this

 

[Ponga]

If she ships her stuff to Canada now, she will have to pay duty / tax on everything. She can't import her belongings duty / tax free until she is officially a permanent resident. For now, she should only bring the basics she needs as a visitor (e.g. one suitcase). Everything else should be left in the US (e.g. in storage) until she has PR.

If she ships anything to Canada, prior to having PR, she runs the risk of CBSA contacting her, asking why. It's not just a matter of duties and taxes.

 

[Latiass]

Hey everyone! Thanks for the replies. I didn't realize we could do outland application from inside Canada and that it was really that much faster, so we'll definitely be going that route.

Honestly, the amount of belongings she owns is basically one suitcase.. there's maybe some extra books, but if it's best to leave it behind, we'll probably ship them to her mom or something for safe keeping.

Would it be suspicious if I travelled to help her pack everything up and then fly back with her? Will they ask a ton of questions if we don't have a return flight for her but can show that she has the money to support herself/return if needed (of course, it won't be, but they don't know that)?

Thanks for all the advice again.

 

[LizBB]

I'm in a very similar situation (Canadian citizen, married to US citizen, want to get Canadian PR for him) and have been trying to sort out inland vs outland, and I have a follow-up question, if anyone has any thoughts..

US outland applicants are being approved in 5-6 months, as opposed to the 12-16 months it's taking for inland.

The CIC website now says 12 months for estimated process time for both inland and outland. Is the CIC's estimate accurate, or am I still likely to have outland approved in 5-6 months? I had thought it would be smarter to apply inland and apply for an OWP, but if it's a question of another month or two until PR, that seems like the easier route..

 

[SpottedDick]

Inland is two-stage. Not sure about 2017 rules, but it used to be that you need the first stage to be over in order to apply for the OWP. And that first stage would take approximately 8-12 months.

I had thought it would be smarter to apply inland and apply for an OWP, but if it's a question of another month or two until PR, that seems like the easier route..

 

[kcward7]

Inland is two-stage. Not sure about 2017 rules, but it used to be that you need the first stage to be over in order to apply for the OWP. And that first stage would take approximately 8-12 months.

With the new application (pilot program) you submit the OWP application with the spousal application and it takes about 4 months to get OWP.

Applicant is Irish outland and we're in the processing stages at the VO and in hindsight, we wished we had just done inland. He was already here and would have gotten OWP. Now we're just stuck in a holding pattern waiting and he can't work until it's all said and done.

If you go through threads you'll see US outland applicants thread that you could check out.

 

[bafonso]

Yes, right now it's not clear how much faster Outland is judging by what we read on these forums. I also applied from US in April and my file is likely still in Mississauga in an unknown status...