Better to be a Canadian resident or not?

[Devonswitak]

Hi everyone. First of all, thank you for taking the time to help me.
There is a bit of a unique situation I would like an answer to, or, at the very least, some help or advice. I am married am temporarily in Armenia with my wife, volunteering for an English language center. I am Canadian, but my wife is Armenian. I met her 3 years ago while volunteering in Armenia. Every year I spend some time in Armenia. I do a lot of volunteering, so my Canadian income isn't high. We've started our application package for me to be her sponsor, and her application itself.

1. I am now wondering if I should become a resident of Armenia, or remain a resident of Canada, as we are married now. Which would be better?
2. I would like to stay here with my wife rather than returning to Canada, but as long as I'm here, I'm not employed in Canada. If I become a resident here, will that negatively effect my application for sponsorship? Will it be difficult for me to prove that I'll return to Canada once her application is approved?
3. Could I remain a resident of Canada even if I was in Armenia for an extended period, granted that I file my income tax and haven't changed my residency? If this is possible, would this improve my application process?

I'm sure I have a few more questions that I can't think of for now, but I would greatly appreciate any and all help given!
Thanks,
-Devon

 

[dmac]

Hi everyone. First of all, thank you for taking the time to help me.
There is a bit of a unique situation I would like an answer to, or, at the very least, some help or advice. I am married am temporarily in Armenia with my wife, volunteering for an English language center. I am Canadian, but my wife is Armenian. I met her 3 years ago while volunteering in Armenia. Every year I spend some time in Armenia. I do a lot of volunteering, so my Canadian income isn't high. We've started our application package for me to be her sponsor, and her application itself.

1. I am now wondering if I should become a resident of Armenia, or remain a resident of Canada, as we are married now. Which would be better?
2. I would like to stay here with my wife rather than returning to Canada, but as long as I'm here, I'm not employed in Canada. If I become a resident here, will that negatively effect my application for sponsorship? Will it be difficult for me to prove that I'll return to Canada once her application is approved?
3. Could I remain a resident of Canada even if I was in Armenia for an extended period, granted that I file my income tax and haven't changed my residency? If this is possible, would this improve my application process?

I'm sure I have a few more questions that I can't think of for now, but I would greatly appreciate any and all help given!
Thanks,
-Devon

My situation's a little different from yours, but I'll share it with you for reference. My wife (Vietnamese) and I (Canadian) are both (temporary) residents of China, and we're in the middle of the PR process. From what I can tell, it hasn't negatively affected our application -- but then again we are very early in the process...! We've lived in China for about 5 years (myself 4 years consecutively, without returning to Canada), and I did not include an "Option C" (Canadian tax statement) with my sponsorship application but was still approved in under 40 days, which, from what I understand, is pretty quick. From what I gather, the main thing the CIC wants to see is that you have a concrete plan to return to Canada upon your wife's PR approval (job searches, real estate inquiries, letters from family members saying you two are welcome to stay with them for the first month, etc...).

As far as I'm concerned, your choice to stay in Armenia with your wife shows a great deal of dedication to your relationship, and MAY actually help your application IF you have a good return plan. For us, our staying together in China has actually made our "time together" very well documented and has consequently given us a fair bit of evidence in our favour with respect to proving the authenticity of our relationship (visas issued in the same place, certificates from my wife's university and my place of work are both in the same city, train tickets, etc...).

A lot of people on this forum have to spend a lot of time apart from their spouses for various reasons, and I'm confident that many of them would jump at the opportunity to be able to be with their spouses throughout the application process if their situations allowed them to do so. I think of myself as very fortunate to be able to be with my wife while we wait for CIC's decision. In our case, going to Canada is "Plan A", but if our application gets rejected for whatever reason, I'm certain we'll be able to move on and continue with a "Plan B" (either in Vietnam or China) without a whole lot of trauma for the very reason that we've been together this whole time -- that's something I don't think many people can say, and something I am very thankful for.

All that said, I'm of the opinion that if you can be together (and flourish) with your spouse in Armenia while you wait for CIC's decision, you should go for it, as long as you can make a plan for your return to Canada. My similar choice seemingly hasn't had any negative effects on our application (that I know of, anyways...!).

Hope this helps!

 

[floomy]

1. you can stay in Armenia while PR is processing (assume you would apply for outland).

however, there is pretty good chance that VO would request more supporting docs regarding to settle down in Canada.
you can find many forum members have been requested for that matter and if your proof would not satisfy your VO ,
then it will lead a delay of your application.

if you plan to stay in Armenia until she gets her PR, I would suggest to find a job in Canada and get a job offer would be one of good proof for your return to Canada.

or

you can go back to Canada with/without your wife and send a proof to VO that you came back to Canada and look for a job etc.

2. you do not need a job to be a sponsor, as long as you do not receive social assistance from gov.
you should be fine, but you have to present some financial proof that how you would support you and you wife while processing PR in Armenia or Canada.

hope it helps.

 

[mikeymyke]

Your biggest challenge will be to prove to CIC that you intend to reside in Canada long term. It might not pan out well for you if your real intention is to remain in Armenia indefinitely. If you plan on remaining in Armenia with your wife, why would you want to sponsor her to come Canada?

 

[Aquakitty]

Your biggest challenge will be to prove to CIC that you intend to reside in Canada long term. It might not pan out well for you if your real intention is to remain in Armenia indefinitely. If you plan on remaining in Armenia with your wife, why would you want to sponsor her to come Canada?

Yes, OP, you need to clarify what you mean by "I would like to stay here with my wife". Do you mean during the sponsorship process, or do you mean permanently?

The onus is on the applicants to prove they intend to return to Canada.

 

[Devonswitak]

Thanks everyone.
To answer your question, Aquakitty, our plan is to return to Canada once my wife's Permanent Residency is approve. However, do to family reasons here, we wouldn't want to leave the day or even the week she receives acceptance because of an extremely close knit family, but rather wait a few weeks or a month or two to get everyone adjusted, then depart for Canada. Addressing other advice, I would still like to have a more concrete answer about if I should become a resident of Armenia or not, granted that I would like to be hear for the duration of the application process. I realize I might have to provide further documentation, but as was mentioned, being with my spouse is important to me and if the application process takes months or years, I wouldn't like to have to continue getting temporary visitor visas. Also, if the process takes a very long time, it might be wise for me to possibly begin citizenship process here. All that said, Canada is the only main priority, but if it's possible to get residency or citizenship while waiting, all the better. If there is no clear disadvantage to becoming a resident here, than I should start my residency process here as soon as possible.
Sorry for the rambling nature of this post...it's late.
Again, any and all help is appreciated.

 

[floomy]

without being in Canada, it would not easy to prove your intention to settle down in Canada.

what you could submit with your application would be supporting letters from your family and friend and your letter contains your future plan in Canada. It is not gonna satisfy VO.

I understand you do not want to be away from your wife, but I would recommend to go back to Canada and start to look for a job.

You can not prove your intention to return to Canada, without showing some effort to come back to Canada and prepare life together for you and your wife.

hope it helps and good luck.

 

[canadianwoman]

You can apply for residency in Armenia and still sponsor her, but the act of applying for residency is going to make the visa officer more suspicious that you will not be returning to Canada.
However, if you don't apply for residency, but remain in Armenia on temporary visas, you still have to prove you will return to Canada. If you have been outside of Canada quite a while, the fact your visa is a tourist visa will not be enough to convince them you are returning.
One method that helps (no matter the type of visa you are on) is to stay in Armenia for now, but return to Canada a couple of months before you think the visa officer is ready to make a decision. Get a job, or start looking for one, and get a place to stay. Then you can send this proof that you have reestablished yourself in Canada to the visa office to be added to your file. You will still have to include some proof of your intent to return in the original application, but because you actually will be back in Canada, if the original proof is not enough, you have concrete evidence to back it up.

 

[Devonswitak]

My good friend was living in South Korea and he managed to easily sponsor his wife while he was a resident of Korea. He said that he didn't have to prove financial means. Perhaps it's different for Korea than Armenia, but from what I've read and completed of the sponsorship and application process, this rings true. Whether or not I chose to apply as a resident of Canada or not, my family in Canada have a semi-permanent residence for us to stay in for free or little. I have plenty of community connections and I've spent the last few years working in Canada during the summer months, before marriage. I'm not sure how to prove all these things. I have videos and hundreds or thousands of photos supporting my claims. I can get sworn affidavits from family and friends and the director of the English center I volunteer at in Armenia about my activities in both Canada and Armenia. I would still love further advice regarding my case before fully applying for everything.

 

[floomy]

1. did your friend receive a job offer when /during pr processing and present to VO?

2. did they wait for whole process in S. korea and move to Canada after his wife gets PR?


if your friend presented a job offers letter to VO, then it would be good evidence of returning to Canada .
therefore, they could wait for in korea.

or he would submitted good proof that he/his wife would return to Canada for sure.

if you can present good proof of returning to Canada, then it would not be much concern, but seems like you do not have it now.

you can send letters and proof from friends and community that what you worked while in Canada, but it just show your history of works.
it does not guarantee that you would settle down in Canada.
Plus, I kinda got a idea that you would not return to Canada after her PR based on your previous post.

you can send your applications, but it would bring a delay or rejection without enough proof.

 

[MRheaB]

My spouse and I are both residents of a country that is not either of our home countries. I am Canadian and he is from New Zealand but we live/work in the Caribbean. I was approved as a sponsor quite quickly by providing correspondence with realtors, mortgage brokers and old business contacts to show that we had started the process to re-establish in Canada when the Visa was approved. Because we both have contracts here we will not be leaving immediately once the Visa is approved (unless the timing is miraculous!) and we have been told that the landing can be postponed up to the time that the medical expires, so if you want to spend time with the family saying goodbyes and getting them used to your departure there should be time. Good luck with the process!

 

[Devonswitak]

Floomy, Thanks again. I would be returning to Canada after her permanent residency was granted. We just might stay a month or two. I was hoping that if her application took a long period that it might be a good idea to have residency here rather than being a visitor. If the application took under six months, then I wouldn't even consider residency in Armenia, but if it's going to take a year+, I would like to take precautions and find a paying job here. I have savings in Canada, and can prove it, but from what I understand, I don't have to provide proof of financial viability given that my wife doesn't have any dependents, which she doesn't. Also, would it be wise for me to hire an lawyer to handle these things, or would it be better to take my time here in the forums to get my application organized properly?

 

[canadianwoman]

When the CIC says it needs proof of the sponsor's return to Canada, they do not mean just returning to Canada and then leaving again after one or two months. They want proof you will be returning to Canada to live. Of course, people's plans change, so someone might sincerely be planning to live in Canada, then once there get a great job offer from overseas. That's OK.

It is true that you do not have to provide proof of your finances for the application. But it is a good idea to provide a plan for your life together in Canada, and this will include discussion of finances. For example, you can state where you will live, what jobs you and your wife hope to get, what you will live on, etc. Then provide proof of this: a letter or affidavit from a family member stating they will give you a place to live rent-free for a year; job offers or searches; proof of savings or investments; whatever applies in your situation.

Hiring a lawyer is up to you. If you find the forms very confusing, or there are a lot of red flags in your relationship, a lawyer might be worth the money. Most people here recommend doing your application yourself if it is a straightforward one.