Documents

[riannepel]

Good morning,
I'm from the Netherlands and I've been with my Canadian boyfriend for a while. On my last visit to Canada last month he asked me to marry me and I said yes!
We are planning to get married next year. He has asked me if I feel comfortable moving to Canada after we are married and I am considering doing so.
I've looked at the application package for the spousal sponsorship and feel confused. The whole process makes me feel very nervous.
Do I for instance need to legalize any of the documents (like birth certificate, marriage certificate, proof of a clear criminal record and medical exam) by sending them to the Canadian embassy in the Netherlands before sending in the application?
Where do I send the whole package once I've filled in all the forms and added all of the necessary documents? (I saw Europe is divided into different regions and there are different processing times for each of them, so how does that work?)
Are there things I should keep in mind?

I hope you can help me.
Thanks in advance.

 

[kiwi01]

You send the entire application to Mississauga, ON. From there they decide where the applicants section will be processed, which for the Netherlands I think is likely in Vienna? Someone else will have to confirm that.

 

[andrew-brit]

Welcome!

First off you need to decide if you apply inland or outland.

Inland means you have to be in Canada for the duration of the application process. Your application is processed in Canada from start to finish. Leaving Canada jeopardizes your application. Currently the processing time for inland is 27 months.

Outland means you can be anywhere in the world, including Canada. Your applications is processed in a visa office based on your nationality and your current location. You can leave and enter Canada as much as you like, assuming the border officials are confident that you will not break any of your restrictions as a visitor, for example work.

I recommend applying outland as you will receive your permanent residence status faster this way. Outland works by first sending your complete application to Mississauga, Ontario, Canada for stage 1 processing (approving your sponsor). Once your sponsor is approved your application will be sent to a visa office abroad, most likely Vienna in your case. The CIC posted timeline for Vienna visa office is 16 months but this is not an accurate number. On this forum there will be a thread for the Vienna visa office which will give you a realistic processing time. Here is the link to the Vienna thread.

The starting point of your outland application is here.

The forms are split up into 2 sections: forms for the sponsor and forms for the applicant. There is also a guide specific to applicants based on their current location. This guide details important things such as the format of passport style photos the visa office wants.

I suggest downloading all of the forms listed in the link above, going through them all and getting a feel for them. The main checklist (IMM5491) will keep you right as it provides enough detail on what is required.

If you have any other questions let me know!

 

[riannepel]

Thank you so much!
Very helpful.

I was wondering about the fees. It is not yet clear to me which ones we should pay?
And how to do that?

Thanks !

 

[Gemini020]

Yes, another Dutchy going through this! I haven't seen anyone yet. Do you know when and where to you are moving? (you can PM me too if you don't feel comfortable having it on the internet)

Regarding the medical, there is one doctor in Amsterdam that does the medical exam (https://huisartsamsterdam.praktijkinfo.nl/, about 325euro.). If you go to visit your boyfriend in Canada, I would look into doing it there, it's cheaper. Also, make sure you do it as late as possible as it expires after a year. I believe they'll upload the results into an online system, I should be able to tell you in about 1,5 month.

The police check you can get at your gemeente, in Dutch it's the Verklaring Omtrent het Gedrag. It's in Dutch and English and already has some kind of stamp on it so I don't think it needs to be legalized. To be honest, I hadn't thought about the birth certificate yet. You can get the Uittreksel Basisregistratie Personen in English so that will have most information on it. You can probably get your marriage certificate in English too.

These are the fees and some information on how to pay it. To be honest, I'm a little confused now too. Maybe someone else can tell us if it is the 75+475+550=CAD1100. I thought somewhere else I saw 1040 total.
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/inFORMation/fees/result.asp?countrySelect=NL&lob=fc

 

[IrisSphere]

Yes, another Dutchy going through this! I haven't seen anyone yet. Do you know when and where to you are moving? (you can PM me too if you don't feel comfortable having it on the internet)

Regarding the medical, there is one doctor in Amsterdam that does the medical exam (https://huisartsamsterdam.praktijkinfo.nl/, about 325euro.). If you go to visit your boyfriend in Canada, I would look into doing it there, it's cheaper. Also, make sure you do it as late as possible as it expires after a year. I believe they'll upload the results into an online system, I should be able to tell you in about 1,5 month.

The police check you can get at your gemeente, in Dutch it's the Verklaring Omtrent het Gedrag. It's in Dutch and English and already has some kind of stamp on it so I don't think it needs to be legalized. To be honest, I hadn't thought about the birth certificate yet. You can get the Uittreksel Basisregistratie Personen in English so that will have most information on it. You can probably get your marriage certificate in English too.

These are the fees and some information on how to pay it. To be honest, I'm a little confused now too. Maybe someone else can tell us if it is the 75+475+550=CAD1100. I thought somewhere else I saw 1040 total.
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/inFORMation/fees/result.asp?countrySelect=NL&lob=fc

It should be $1040 = 75+475+490 (right for permanent residence fee) for just a principal applicant (spouse). 550 refer to if the spouse of the applicant is also being sponsored. You can pay online which is probably the easiest, but you can also request a special receipt form to pay at your financial institution.

 

[Gemini020]

thanks for clearing that up. Maybe you can answer another question I've had regarding the fees. For inland application I see people paying for OWP. I know you cannot get that doing outland application but is there a fee you have to pay to be allowed to work, after getting PR?

 

[IrisSphere]

thanks for clearing that up. Maybe you can answer another question I've had regarding the fees. For inland application I see people paying for OWP. I know you cannot get that doing outland application but is there a fee you have to pay to be allowed to work, after getting PR?

No, once you have PR you have the right to work. After you "land" as a PR they send you a PR card - this is your official document that confirms your valid status in Canada.

 

[Gemini020]

thanks!