Canadian Immigration Questions

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Background: I am a 34 year old disabled American drawing Social Security w/ Medicare, Medicaid, & Food Stamps. I have been living with my mate for 7 years now. He has dual citizenship between Canada and the US (his mother was born in Canada). He is currently finishing his college work up and will graduate as an Architect next year. I have done some searching and reading though I have more questions and require some further details on some answers I've already seen.

Questions:

1) We plan on moving to Canada within the next few years (2 maybe 3 at max). When this happens, we plan on getting married (not possible in the US, at least where we currently live). How will this affect my immigration?

2) I've read a few forum posts talking about a medical exam as part of becoming a citizen. I have been determined to be totally and permanently disabled. I have constant migraines that require a medication that contain codeine. I also have a back condition that will, eventually, cause paralysis. Also, I have Auto-Immune Hives though there isn't a current medication for it. There are more, but the ones I listed are the worst I have. Based on this, what should I expect?

3) As I stated above, I draw Social Security, Medicare, Medcaid, and Food Stamps. I understand about Canada having the health care, however; what should I expect as far as my SS and FS goes? Would I still just get those from the states? I've done further research and found that I would continue to receive my SSD while in Canada, what I don't know about is, if I became a full Canadian Citizen, I assume I will lose the SSD at that time. Due to this, and me being permanently disabled, what could I expect from Canada as far as assistance is concerned?

4) Lastly, I am waaaay below the Federal Poverty level (I get $800/mo), this means I cannot afford much of anything. I've seen people mentioning that PR and Citizenship costs thousands of dollars and years to get through. Are there any options for someone like me? Or will Canada just consider me too poor to be in the country? (UPDATE: I was informed this cost is only if using an attorney and, if not, would only cost a couple hundred dollars. Considering all of the above information, does Canada offer something like Free Legal Aid for helping those whom cannot afford one, to get an attorney for this?)


Anyways, any and all help would be very much appreciated as we are both tired of living in the US and wish to move to Canada (he has lived there before and he has family in Regina, Saskatchewan .

 

[Leon]

If you have been living together as a couple for at least 12 months or if you get married, your partner can sponsor you for permanent residency. Without doing that, your status in Canada would be as visitor, you would be allowed to stay for up to 6 months and you have no health care. With PR status, you have all the rights of a Canadian citizen except that you can not vote. You would have the right to live, work and study in Canada, you would have access to health care and you may be able to get disability benefits in your province if you lose what you have in the US.

Getting PR is expensive. You can expect over 1000 just for the processing and application fees + you have to get a medical done and that costs too. As a spouse, you can not be refused just based on your disability. There is no certain minimum amount of money that your spouse must have or make in order to sponsor you but he can not be bankrupt or on welfare.

 

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Okay, and how about actual Citizenship? I am not looking to retain my US citizenship the entire time. I do want to renounce that at some point. How does that figure into everything?

 

[Leon]

If you live in Canada as a permanent resident for 1095 days within a 4 year period, you can apply for Canadian citizenship. You will have to pass a citizenship exam and take an oath. You do not lose your US citizenship if you take Canadian. You will be dual.

 

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This is the same when it comes to marrying a Canadian citizen?

 

[Leon]

This is the same when it comes to marrying a Canadian citizen?

Yes, the citizenship rules are the same whether you are married to a Canadian citizen or not. You still have to live in Canada for 1095 days before you can apply. You still need to pass the exam. You do not get citizenship automatically just because you are married.

 

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Ok, based on all of this, it would mean I would basically never lose my Social Security Disability since I would retain my US citizenship and gain a Canadian one as well. Since the cost of living is higher in Canada, would they supplement the SSD?

What else would they help me with? My total and permanent disability has been determined by my doctor, the department of education, and social security.

I would probably also lose my Medicare since the premiums are currently paid by my state (would not get that in Canada) though I do understand, under PR status, I would have access to Canadian HealthCare. How does Canadian HealthCare differ from Medicare/Medicaid? What should I expect?

Also, you stated I would end up having dual citizenship. I was told that dual citizenship's were no longer being recognized (this site canada.usembassy. gov/consular_services/dual-citizenship.html states you can lose your US citizenship if you apply, voluntarily, for a foreign citizenship) after a certain year unless you were actually born to a Canadian Citizen (whom was born in Canada) abroad. Nevermind, read travel.state.gov and saw that US citizenship is only relinquished if one became a citizen of another country with the intention of relinquishing their US citizenship.


One last question (I think). My mate needs to get his proof of citizenship. He was born in 1988 in the US. His mother was born in Saskatchewan making his a Canadian. Due to this, he has dual citizenship, but has no current proof. We don't think his mother ever filed for nor received a registration of birth abroad certificate. We have tried looking over the Immigration website and saw many of the things that are required to receive the proof of citizenship certificate/card, however; we have no clue which fee we pay.

Which if these would he need to pay for?

• Adult Grant of Citizenship - Processing and Right of Citizenship fees $200.00
• Adult Grant of Citizenship for Stateless Persons Born to a Canadian Parent (Subsection 5(5)) - Right of Citizenship fee $100.00
• Citizenship Certificate - Processing fee $75.00

Also, in regards to his Canadian Passport Application, can his mother be the guarantor on it?


Thank you very much for all of your help.

One other thing I just thought about. You mentioned he can sponsor me (we have been together since October 12, 2006). How does that work and would he have any issues doing that with us living in the US? What are the steps to take to ensure we do all of this right? Is it possible to start the whole PR thing now instead of after we move there?

 

[Leon]

Would who supplement the SSD? The US? You would have to ask. I have no idea. Once you get your PR and move to Canada, you would be able to look into disability benefits in your province. Tell them you are already getting SSD and see if they will supplement that if their benefits are higher.

Under PR status, you would have access to Canadian health care. I have never been on Medicare so I can not compare the two but in the Canadian system, you need to have a family doctor and that is your initial visit every time you have a problem. If you want to see a specialist, your family doctor gives you a referral to one. You never pay for doctors visits or if you have to go to hospital but if you get a prescription, you need to pay for your medication. If you are disabled and low income, there may be some kind of provincial assistance you can get for medication. If your partner is working, he will most likely have supplementary insurance through his job that will cover the better part of the medical costs and he can add you to his plan.

Your partner would be applying for a citizenship certificate, see http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/citizenship/proof.asp When he gets it, he can apply for sponsorship which can be done even while you are both outside Canada but only as long as he can prove that you are moving when you get your PR.

As for the passport, he would need the application form here: http://www.ppt.gc.ca/form/pdfs/pptc153.pdf and it has instructions about a guarantor etc.

 

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Thank you, one last question. How would he prove we would be moving once I get PR status?

 

[Leon]

Such proof could include having a job offer, being accepted to college, having arranged housing or at the very least having some concrete plans on where you are going to live and what he is going to be doing for a job.

Does he have relatives in Canada still? If you get a letter from the relatives saying that they know of your plans to move and will help you out, that could help.

 

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Yes, he has relatives in Regina, Saskatchewan. Also, he will have an Associates in Architecture. As far as where we are moving to, we don't even know yet. We have been researching and like Alberta or Saskatchewan, but we aren't sure which area would be best for an Architect that is possibly thinking about going into the City Planning / Civil Engineer / Code Inspector / Residential Design fields. Any suggestions?