Do I have to submit my wife's passport when applying for sponsorship

[neilz]

Hi All.

So I live in China right now (and am a full Canadian citizen) and my wife is America, we want to return home in the summer to wait for the application to go through. The thing is we can't submit her passport to the government for processing till we leave China. My question is when do we usually need to submit her passport as part of the application process, and could we just send a notarised copy?

Thanks

 

[clearly]

You don't submit the passport when you apply, only a photocopy. They then may or may not request it before final issuance of a visa. At the moment, for citizens of visa-free countries (like the US) they generally just ask for a scanned copy by email at CPP-Ottawa. Not sure if you guys want to apply from the Beijing visa office, CPP-Ottawa, or inland. Up to you guys.

 

[Sweden]

Which VO will process your application and where is your wife from ? (country of origin) - that will make a difference.

If she is from a visa-exempt country, she won't need to submit her passport most likely.
If she is from a visa-exempt country, she will have to submit her passport at some point in the process, but not at the beginning. So you can send the application without it ( it asks for a copy as a mean of ID), and once the visa office contacts you, you can explain the situation at that point.

Good luck,
Sweden

 

[neilz]

Thanks for that everyone. We are probably going to apply through the USA (I think this means it will go through Ottawa, according to CIC). We don't want to do it from China for fear that there will be delays and her residency permit here will expire before we get the passport back.