Dual Citizen (resident in US) sponsoring American wife and stepchild?

[javagen]

Hi everyone - I'm a little confused on this topic.

I'm a dual US/Canadian Citizen, and I've lived in the US for 5 years. I've been married for the past 2 years to a US Citizen and she has a 4 year old son.

We'd like to move back to Canada to be closer to my family in January 2018. So, my questions:

1) Is it even possible to sponsor my spouse if I'm living and working in the US? If not... I have family members willing to sponsor her, but I suppose it'd be a different type of application? Trying to avoid this route if possible.

2) If I can't sponsor my spouse while living in the US... should I just move to Canada as planned in January 2018 and she'll have to wait in the US during the Permanent Residency process? I see she would be able to visit, but it doesn't seem like she'd be able to "visit" for the full year, and with our child (my stepchild) starting school I don't think he'd be able to attend in Canada until the PR is granted? Not to mention the financial issues with trying to maintain homes in 2 countries.

3) Is my stepchild just a dependent child of the principal applicant... no need to do anything special here? I haven't adopted him - will this be a problem?

Thanks for any help you can give me. I feel like I've spent so much time reading up on this and I'm seeing conflicting things. This must be a very common situation. If there's just another post someone can point me to that'd be super, too.

 

[javagen]

OK, I feel silly... the main message answered some of my questions. New here, sorry.

I've got to edit a bit now. Still not clear on:

1) What's a good way of proving I intend on moving to Canada? A year is too early to arrange a job. I can get family members to write letters saying I intend to move there... is that really all it takes? Seems too easy but if that's the case my life just got a lot easier.

2) I'm still caught up on the stepchild thing. Just a dependent child... if his mother (my wife) gets accepted, he will be accepted with her?

 

[Badi]

Hi everyone - I'm a little confused on this topic.

I'm a dual US/Canadian Citizen, and I've lived in the US for 5 years. I've been married for the past 2 years to a US Citizen and she has a 4 year old son.

We'd like to move back to Canada to be closer to my family in January 2018. So, my questions:

1) Is it even possible to sponsor my spouse if I'm living and working in the US? If not... I have family members willing to sponsor her, but I suppose it'd be a different type of application? Trying to avoid this route if possible.

2) If I can't sponsor my spouse while living in the US... should I just move to Canada as planned in January 2018 and she'll have to wait in the US during the Permanent Residency process? I see she would be able to visit, but it doesn't seem like she'd be able to "visit" for the full year, and with our child (my stepchild) starting school I don't think he'd be able to attend in Canada until the PR is granted? Not to mention the financial issues with trying to maintain homes in 2 countries.

3) Is my stepchild just a dependent child of the principal applicant... no need to do anything special here? I haven't adopted him - will this be a problem?

Thanks for any help you can give me. I feel like I've spent so much time reading up on this and I'm seeing conflicting things. This must be a very common situation. If there's just another post someone can point me to that'd be super, too.

Hey

To answer some of your question

1) "If you are a Canadian citizen living outside Canada, you must show that you plan to live in Canada when your sponsored relative becomes a permanent resident" that is from CIC website
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/sponsor/spouse-apply-who.asp

2) If you cant proof that you will be moving back to canada then ofcourse you can always go back to canada since you are canadian citizen, and your spouse can come with you as well as a visitor (Legally she is allowed to stay up to 6 months in canada as a VISITOR only). But when you apply for a sponsor application for you spouse and apply for OWP (open work permit) for her, then she/he can get her/his work permit within 4 months and then she will be able to stay and have valid status with open work permit .

Thats what i can help you with.

 

[Rob_TO]

1) What's a good way of proving I intend on moving to Canada? A year is too early to arrange a job. I can get family members to write letters saying I intend to move there... is that really all it takes? Seems too easy but if that's the case my life just got a lot easier.

Definitely letters from family will help. You can also show you started the process to look for work, find a place to rent, etc.

2) I'm still caught up on the stepchild thing. Just a dependent child... if his mother (my wife) gets accepted, he will be accepted with her?

The child would be included in the application as a dependent of your wife. He would also need to do a medical exam. There is no need to adopt him.

Including her child is very easy, the key factor is your wife will need a letter of permission from the child's father, or court papers showing she has been granted full custody.

 

[javagen]

Thank you both for your help. I feel like you've got 90% of what I need sorted out in just a few lines. Whew!

The father of my wife's child is out of the picture... not named on the birth certificate, and no contact with the child... there were no formal court proceedings to give her custody, as far as she knows.

This is probably beyond the scope of this forum, but if anyone has experience with something similar I'd love to hear about it!

 

[scylla]

Thank you both for your help. I feel like you've got 90% of what I need sorted out in just a few lines. Whew!

The father of my wife's child is out of the picture... not named on the birth certificate, and no contact with the child... there were no formal court proceedings to give her custody, as far as she knows.

This is probably beyond the scope of this forum, but if anyone has experience with something similar I'd love to hear about it!

In the absence of legal full custody, CIC will most likely demand the father provide consent for the child to be removed from the US (international child law dictates this requirement). Does she have any way to get in touch with the father? Would he consent?

 

[danawhitaker]

Thank you both for your help. I feel like you've got 90% of what I need sorted out in just a few lines. Whew!

The father of my wife's child is out of the picture... not named on the birth certificate, and no contact with the child... there were no formal court proceedings to give her custody, as far as she knows.

This is probably beyond the scope of this forum, but if anyone has experience with something similar I'd love to hear about it!

My daughter's father is also not named on the birth certificate. In the section where it asked to provide documentation about child custody, I explained the circumstances. I have crossed the border multiple times with her with no issue (I was asked once to show her birth certificate, which I did, and the border agent had no issues), and when I applied for her passport the office considered the birth certificate with no father listed as proof I had sole custody. In my state, unless a father contests paternity, the mother is considered to have sole custody as well. I have not been asked by CIC at this time to provide any further documentation aside from the short statement I made. Your mileage may vary, of course. I tried to research this issue before applying and never got a clear answer. Most of the people I saw asking questions where people from the Philippines who were being asked for a specific signed form.

With the new application package, it does specify on the checklist that it wants a form signed from the other parent, but also says that you can provide an explanation if that cannot be done. I wish they'd just state outright what their policy is about birth certificates with only one parent listed, rather than making people worry.

 

[javagen]

Yes, that's exactly where we're at! Same with crossing the border, too. No issues.

The law is the same in my state re: sole custody and no father on birth certificate, so I'll give the explanation and hope for the best. As you say... sure would be nice to see it written down somewhere though!