Canadian living in the USA Sponsoring USA spouse of 17 years questions

[4Canucks]

Greetings all! Stumbled upon this form and it has been a great wealth of information. However I have a few questions I am a Canadian citizen by birth living in the USA for the past 18 years. My wife is American and we have been married for 17 years and have two children. We got both children their Canadian citizenship and SIN last year. We are looking to move to Canada in about 1.5 years. We started the paperwork a few days ago, my wife still has to get the medical exam, and background check. I looked at the CIC website and am a little confused on processing times. Does anyone have an idea how long it would take to get my wife approved when applying from the USA? Also in the application there are requests for information twice such as marriage certificate, and identifying information such as copies of passports, birth certificates etc do we need to just include one copy of each or do we need to get multiple copies of the same document and all notarized? Also Appendix B photo specifications it is asking for 4 photos, do we need to supply 4 photos of each person or just my wife? I am a little confused as it says all family members are to get photos on her paperwork, but since myself and the children are Canadian citizens do we need the photos as well? One last question after I am approved to sponsor my wife and then her paper work is approved for PR how long do we have before we have to cross into Canada? Just worried that she might get approved for PR before we are ready to move back.

 

[tink23]

US applicants are process though Ottawa visa office. Although the time posted is long, most Americans are approved in about 6-9 months, as long as their application is straight forward, which yours sounds it will be.
You only require one of each document requested, not multiple ones. You and your children don't need to fill out all the paper work because you're all Canadian. You are the sponsor and will include that information and paper work. You and the children must, however, be mentioned on the Additional Family Information form (as will your in laws on this form, only). The rest where they mention "dependents" you and the children won't be included because you are all Canadian and don't require sponsorship. The visa photos are only needed for your wife.

The PR expiration is tied to the expiration on the medical exam, so once the COPR is received, your wife must land by that date to activate her PR. She can then return to the U.S. if you all require a few more months to tie up loose ends there. As long as she lands by the date on the COPR, it will be fine. Depending when she does the medical exam and how quickly they process the papers, will dictate how long the landing period will be.

 

[Ponga]

Just to add to tink23's informative post...

Since you are a Canadian citizen, her days spent with you outside of Canada (after she lands as a PR) would still count towards her 730 days/5 years required to live in Canada. This is helpful to know, should you ever decide to move back the the U.S. (or anywhere else) after she has her PR.

Good luck!

 

[4Canucks]

Thanks for the info. Checked the form IMM5406E and ensured that yes my info and our children's info is on this. One thing to note, for many reasons my wife has not had contact with her family for about 8 years now. So for her mother,father, and siblings we noted that last known address and added a separate sheet of paper explaining that she has had no contact for xxx amount of years and the information provided is to the best of our knowledge.

US applicants are process though Ottawa visa office. Although the time posted is long, most Americans are approved in about 6-9 months, as long as their application is straight forward, which yours sounds it will be.
You only require one of each document requested, not multiple ones. You and your children don't need to fill out all the paper work because you're all Canadian. You are the sponsor and will include that information and paper work. You and the children must, however, be mentioned on the Additional Family Information form (as will your in laws on this form, only). The rest where they mention "dependents" you and the children won't be included because you are all Canadian and don't require sponsorship. The visa photos are only needed for your wife.

The PR expiration is tied to the expiration on the medical exam, so once the COPR is received, your wife must land by that date to activate her PR. She can then return to the U.S. if you all require a few more months to tie up loose ends there. As long as she lands by the date on the COPR, it will be fine. Depending when she does the medical exam and how quickly they process the papers, will dictate how long the landing period will be.

 

[4Canucks]

To make sure I am understanding..when she is approved for her PR and we are not ready to move back all she would have to do is cross over to Canada and then could come back to our home in the USA and that would still count towards her 730 days/5 years? If thats the case when she crosses to Canada after PR approval how long would she have to stay there before she could come back?

Just to add to tink23's informative post...

Since you are a Canadian citizen, her days spent with you outside of Canada (after she lands as a PR) would still count towards her 730 days/5 years required to live in Canada. This is helpful to know, should you ever decide to move back the the U.S. (or anywhere else) after she has her PR.

Good luck!

 

[tink23]

To make sure I am understanding..when she is approved for her PR and we are not ready to move back all she would have to do is cross over to Canada and then could come back to our home in the USA and that would still count towards her 730 days/5 years? If thats the case when she crosses to Canada after PR approval how long would she have to stay there before she could come back?

As long as you are there living with her, yes that's it.

She will need to provide a Canadian address for her PR card to be mailed to.

 

[4Canucks]

Great that is good to know. I have family in Canada and they have already said that we could stay with them for the first few months to get re-established and use their address for mailing so that would work out great. MY USA green card expires every 10 years and I just renewed it about a year ago what we are thinking is for myself to get dual citizenship so that we would not have to worry about the renewal and would make easy border crossings. Do you know if after the sponsorship application is sent off for my wife, am i allowed to apply for USA citizenship or should this be done after her PR approval?

As long as you are there living with her, yes that's it.

She will need to provide a Canadian address for her PR card to be mailed to.

 

[Ponga]

Great that is good to know. I have family in Canada and they have already said that we could stay with them for the first few months to get re-established and use their address for mailing so that would work out great. MY USA green card expires every 10 years and I just renewed it about a year ago what we are thinking is for myself to get dual citizenship so that we would not have to worry about the renewal and would make easy border crossings. Do you know if after the sponsorship application is sent off for my wife, am i allowed to apply for USA citizenship or should this be done after her PR approval?

Be aware that becoming a U.S. citizen means that you would be forever taxed on your worldwide income! You wouldn't be double-taxed, thanks to the tax treaty between Canada and the U.S., but it would still be a pain.

Are you finding the border crossing difficult with just your GC? IMHO, that's not the best reason to apply for U.S. citizenship, but it may in fact be for you.

Good luck!

 

[Ponga]

It's also worth mentioning that as part of her application, you will need to convince CIC that she, you and your children will `move' (in essence) to Canada after she has her PR. Once you return to Canada, there's no real time frame as to how long she must remain in Canada, so...you and your family could easily move back.

Lastly, CIC is notorious for updating the forms on a regular basis, so make sure that when you are finally ready to send everything in, you check their website and download the latest version of ALL forms. Some people have had their entire application returned because of an outdated form, while others have simply been asked to submit the new form(s). Once again, CIC doesn't seem to have any continuity on how updated forms are `officially' treated when they are received.

 

[4Canucks]

Thank you for the info. Yes I have already gotten two requests for phone interviews for jobs in Canada via email which I have printed out, in addition we have been in contact with two realtors which gave us their cards and send us daily emails on housing. I have opened up a bank account in Canada as well my past visit in November 2014 and we purchased a cemetery plot all of which we noted in the application

It's also worth mentioning that as part of her application, you will need to convince CIC that she, you and your children will `move' (in essence) to Canada after she has her PR. Once you return to Canada, there's no real time frame as to how long she must remain in Canada, so...you and your family could easily move back.

Lastly, CIC is notorious for updating the forms on a regular basis, so make sure that when you are finally ready to send everything in, you check their website and download the latest version of ALL forms. Some people have had their entire application returned because of an outdated form, while others have simply been asked to submit the new form(s). Once again, CIC doesn't seem to have any continuity on how updated forms are `officially' treated when they are received.

 

[4Canucks]

another 2 questions , in the sponsorship application it asks for the Option C from Revenue Canada since I am not living or working in Canada, i added an additional piece of paper and explained this and instead included my W2 for the IRS. Just want to be sure thats ok. Also how long is the medical assetment from the dr. valid for?

 

[tink23]

another question, in the sponsorship application it asks for the Option C from Revenue Canada since I am not living or working in Canada, i added an additional piece of paper and explained this and instead included my W2 for the IRS. Just want to be sure thats ok.

Yes, that's perfectly fine, since u haven't been a resident of Canada for so long u won't have the option C. The irs paper is fine.

 

[4Canucks]

Thank you. Also how long is the medical assessment from the dr. valid for?

Yes, that's perfectly fine, since u haven't been a resident of Canada for so long u won't have the option C. The irs paper is fine.

 

[tink23]

Thank you. Also how long is the medical assessment from the dr. valid for?

1 year from date it was done. It is possible for the vo to extend it a few months, but they could also just ask for a new one if the medical is more than 1 year old.

 

[4Canucks]

Just found out that to do the medical exam here in the USA is going to cost $425. So i called a doctor from the list in Ontario and its only $180 CDN total, much better price. We are planning a trip to Ontario anyways in a few months so will get it done there. My wife went for the finger printing today and about to mail that off which current processing time with the FBI is about 4 months. Which works great right around the time she will have the medical done. Got my letter from my current job stating when i started work, that i work atleast 40 hours a week, and my current salary. They actually gave me two one stating my hourly wage and one stating my yearly salary, does it matter which one i submit? Also will it matter that the letter is dated today if we dont mail off the application until middle of July? I didnt see anywhere in the application that states a time limit on the letter from my current place of employment.