do I count as a resident of Canada or China?

[stoorot]

Hi there,

I want to sponsor my wife for a permanent residence visa in Canada, but I'm not sure if I count as a resident of Canada or not (as per question 4, part E, in IMM1344E). I am a Canadian citizen by birth (born in Canada). Here are the details:

I have been working in China for three, going on four years as an English teacher (August 2010-now), with a working visa. I married a Chinese woman nearly two years ago. We've been living together the whole time. In addition, my wife and I went to Canada on a tourist visa over the summer in July-August 2012, then returned to China.

My permanent address for tax/mailing purposes has always been in Canada. I use my parents' home address. For example, when I filed my 2012 taxes, my address was listed in Canada. Of course I listed my income from teaching as overseas income.

I appreciate any input on how immigration would view this situation. Let me know if any additional details are required.

Thanks a bunch,

Stoorot

 

[little_apple]

I would say you are a Canadian Citizen residing in China with a mailing address in Canada, so a resident of China.

Did you know that you don't have to list your oversea income for the years you lived completely outside of Canada?
Because you were officially not a Canadian resident.

This happened to my boyfriend who lived outside Canada from December 2010 to February 2012. He claimed his oversea income for 2011 without beeing a resident in Canada and gets now the tax money back he had to pay when he filed his taxes for 2011. Call CRA and asked them if this would be the case for you, too.

 

[canadianwoman]

You are a resident of China. Yes, a lawyer could probably argue that you are a resident of Canada, but why bother? It will just delay things. The visa officer looking at your file is going to see you as a resident of China, even if you claim otherwise, so just be upfront with this and provide the proof they want from Canadian citizens sponsoring while residing abroad. That is, you will then have to include proof you will be returning to Canada to live.

On the plus side, your relationship is longstanding and you have been living together, so there should not be any problems proving the marriage is genuine.

 

[gongdi]

I just finished the same process from Beijing. You clearly note you are residing in China. Use your parents Cdn address. That is no problem. Fill out the long paperwork. Include 10 or so natural looking photos, write a brief relationship testimonial and include a paragraph briefly outlining you plans for Canada. If there are no red flags (your pics look genuine, your age gap isn't too wide and your wife did not travel to certain countries), it should be an 8 month wait. There was a strike going on, and thats how long it took for us. 8 months isn't very long compared to most other countries. After 4 gongbaojiding Christmases, my wife and I will finally be in Ottawa eating turkey and stuffing. Good luck.

ps. Ecas will never be updated. Just wait for them to contact you or contact your MP if you become impatient.

 

[stoorot]

Thanks for the input everyone, I appreciate it. For some reason it just worried me what I would count as, but it really does seem obvious that I'm a resident in China. Showing proof of coming back shouldn't be an issue, I'm planning to go back to school and live with family for a while so getting some documents/emails to show that shouldn't be hard.

@gongdi - Now that you're in Canada, maybe you can make some 宫保"火鸡"丁!

 

[gongdi]

Truthfully, I had "huo ji" last Christmas in Beijing, but it just wasn't the same!