Evidence of Plans to Re-Establish in Canada

[KRM]

Hi! I'm a Canadian citizen who's been living abroad for a few years. I'm planning a permanent return in 2015 with my wife and son, both of whom I need to sponsor. We have a fairly weak range of evidence for plans to re-establish in Canada however, since we plan on working in my parents' small business and living with them upon our return. This means providing immigration with documents like a formal job offer, a mortgage, etc. is out of the question. Obviously I will include a letter from my parents, but that seems pretty weak. It's also way too early to book our flight or start selling our possessions in the country where we are now, so we're out of luck there, too. Here are my ideas so far:

• letter from parents re employment offer / housing arrangement
• a copy of my housing lease from the country I'm in now (shows when the lease ends)

I'm pretty sparse on ideas at this point, and if I was the case officer this would be a red flag. I go through lengths in the application to explain we want our son to grow up in Canada, etc.

My questions are:

1. Does anyone have more ideas for evidence in my situation?

2. Can I send more evidence as I obtain it DURING the processing phase of my application? (e.g. flight tickets)

Thanks in advance for your advice!!

 

[Catou]

If you have told friends and other family members of your plans you could get letters from them too. If you told people on any social networking sites, print out the pages. If your son is school age show internet searches where you have researched schools. Contact schools or child care facilities to make enquiries and print out the replies. I would also write a letter explaining why you want to go home - do your parents need help, are they getting older and you want to be closer to them, do you want your son to grow up close to grandparents? Whatever the reasons for returning, tell them.

I hope this helps.

 

[KRM]

These are some good ideas -- thanks! I hadn't thought of including internet searches. It seems like a bit of stretch, but no worse than some of the other things I'm including with my application.

 

[KRM]

As an aside, does anyone how early is TOO early to apply? We're planning on making the move to Canada in summer of 2015 and having the application in by beginning of 2014. Being that early, would CIC go ahead and process the application, put it on hold, or simply return it? In an ideal world, we'd like to get approved well ahead of our move date so that we feel confident making further arrangements for our life in Canada.

 

[CanNZ]

Where is your visa office going to be? If you are planning on moving summer of 2015, I would apply early 2014. Don't do the notorized stuff or medicals until January 2014 IMO as they all have a 'life span.' Notorized documents 3 months and medical one year.

 

[KRM]

Where is your visa office going to be? If you are planning on moving summer of 2015, I would apply early 2014. Don't do the notorized stuff or medicals until January 2014 IMO as they all have a 'life span.' Notorized documents 3 months and medical one year.

Thanks! The visa office will be Manila. Great advice on notarizing and medicals...I didn't know they were only good for 3 months. Thanks a bunch!

 

[CanNZ]

Manila? Apply early next year. Medical is good for 1 year, the others are only good for 3 months.

 

[KRM]

Great...thanks!

 

[xxdieselxx]

Hi! I'm a Canadian citizen who's been living abroad for a few years. I'm planning a permanent return in 2015 with my wife and son, both of whom I need to sponsor. We have a fairly weak range of evidence for plans to re-establish in Canada however, since we plan on working in my parents' small business and living with them upon our return. This means providing immigration with documents like a formal job offer, a mortgage, etc. is out of the question. Obviously I will include a letter from my parents, but that seems pretty weak. It's also way too early to book our flight or start selling our possessions in the country where we are now, so we're out of luck there, too. Here are my ideas so far:

• letter from parents re employment offer / housing arrangement
• a copy of my housing lease from the country I'm in now (shows when the lease ends)

I'm pretty sparse on ideas at this point, and if I was the case officer this would be a red flag. I go through lengths in the application to explain we want our son to grow up in Canada, etc.

My questions are:

1. Does anyone have more ideas for evidence in my situation?

2. Can I send more evidence as I obtain it DURING the processing phase of my application? (e.g. flight tickets)

Thanks in advance for your advice!!

Hi KRM,

I too am a Canadian citizen by birth and have been living abroad for 5 years. We moved to my wife's homeland of the Philippines last year. We included a job offer from my father's company (on letterhead) and a letter from them that we will be staying with them "rent free" until we are settled and for as long as we want/need. We included some letters from family in Canada that are eager and excited of our return too. I too wrote a letter explaining that I am looking forward to returning to Canada and starting our new life there for the long term as soon as my wife's PR visa is approved and that I have gotten the travel/living abroad in developing countries out of my system and am excited to return to the best country in the world to live...Canada! We included a bunch of stuff such as photos and screenshots from facebook over the years including "friends" comments on the photos to show that our relationship is legit. Many of the photos are from trips all over Central and South America, China, Philippines as well as parties and events including friends. We don't have phone logs or skype logs (like most long distance relationships would have), as we have been living together and pretty much inseparable since we met over 4 years ago when we both lived in Latin America.

As for the timing, The police checks are only good for 3 months, so make sure you get them just before submitting your application. The medical is only good for 1 year and you MUST move to Canada and "land" prior to the medical expiring or the visa is null and you will have to start the process over. This is very important. You might want to be prepared to move shortly after the visa is granted or at least fly to Canada for your spouse to land and then return to wrap things up. We submitted our app at the end of July and plan to start selling most of our household stuff during the next 6 months. We will most likely be giving away a lot of it but I would like to get rid of my car and big ticket items soon as I don't know how long it will take to sell it.

We won't be buying flights until the visa is granted as I don't want to pay fees to change dates and it's a crap-shoot as to when the visa will be granted.

I think that you having a son is not a red flag. We do not. We just put in the letter that we would do any family planning once we are settled in Canada. Children are not for everyone If they think that us not having children is a red flag, we would welcome an interview, as like I said earlier, we have been pretty much inseparable since we met over 4 years ago and have lived together for most of it too. Huge age differences and short whirlwind long distance relationships are red flags but I don't think children are.

I hope this helps and feel free to pm me if you have any other questions.

 

[Leon]

Hi! I'm a Canadian citizen who's been living abroad for a few years. I'm planning a permanent return in 2015 with my wife and son, both of whom I need to sponsor.

You may already have looked into this but if you were already a Canadian citizen when your son was born and you yourself gained your citizenship either through being born in Canada or having immigrated to Canada (even as a child with your parents), your son is already a Canadian citizen and would not be sponsored for PR. You would have to apply for a citizenship certificate for him through the Canadian embassy instead.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

I also had very little evidence to show I was returning to Canada, just letters from family (my parents confirmed we would be living with them initially) and friends and statements showing I had maintained my bank account and credit card in Canada. I explained that I couldn't make any commitments in Canada (job, lease, school, plane ticket home etc.) and couldn't break my UK ties (end my lease, give notice at my job) until I knew the outcome of the PR app, as I would not actually be returning to Canada if my partner was refused. I gave a detailed plan of what we were going to do in Canada if the visa was approved, how we would establish ourselves, jobs, place to live. The GCMS notes show that this was enough to convince the VO that I intended to return.

 

[KRM]

Hi KRM,

I too am a Canadian citizen by birth and have been living abroad for 5 years. We moved to my wife's homeland of the Philippines last year. We included a job offer from my father's company (on letterhead) and a letter from them that we will be staying with them "rent free" until we are settled and for as long as we want/need. We included some letters from family in Canada that are eager and excited of our return too. I too wrote a letter explaining that I am looking forward to returning to Canada and starting our new life there for the long term as soon as my wife's PR visa is approved and that I have gotten the travel/living abroad in developing countries out of my system and am excited to return to the best country in the world to live...Canada! We included a bunch of stuff such as photos and screenshots from facebook over the years including "friends" comments on the photos to show that our relationship is legit. Many of the photos are from trips all over Central and South America, China, Philippines as well as parties and events including friends. We don't have phone logs or skype logs (like most long distance relationships would have), as we have been living together and pretty much inseparable since we met over 4 years ago when we both lived in Latin America.

As for the timing, The police checks are only good for 3 months, so make sure you get them just before submitting your application. The medical is only good for 1 year and you MUST move to Canada and "land" prior to the medical expiring or the visa is null and you will have to start the process over. This is very important. You might want to be prepared to move shortly after the visa is granted or at least fly to Canada for your spouse to land and then return to wrap things up. We submitted our app at the end of July and plan to start selling most of our household stuff during the next 6 months. We will most likely be giving away a lot of it but I would like to get rid of my car and big ticket items soon as I don't know how long it will take to sell it.

We won't be buying flights until the visa is granted as I don't want to pay fees to change dates and it's a crap-shoot as to when the visa will be granted.

I think that you having a son is not a red flag. We do not. We just put in the letter that we would do any family planning once we are settled in Canada. Children are not for everyone If they think that us not having children is a red flag, we would welcome an interview, as like I said earlier, we have been pretty much inseparable since we met over 4 years ago and have lived together for most of it too. Huge age differences and short whirlwind long distance relationships are red flags but I don't think children are.

I hope this helps and feel free to pm me if you have any other questions.

Reading your post was sort of liking getting a hug from the internet LOL -- thanks for sharing your experience, which sounds parallel to my own. I didn't know about requirement for my wife to land in Canada before the medical expires...that's huge. Looking at our timeline for this, that probably means she'll need to make a short trip to Canada and come back to wrap things up, like you said. I'd still rather apply early and have the added expense of that flight than waiting and taking the risk of not having a decision in time for our move to Canada.

Please keep me posted on your own application...

Thanks again!

 

[KRM]

I also had very little evidence to show I was returning to Canada, just letters from family (my parents confirmed we would be living with them initially) and friends and statements showing I had maintained my bank account and credit card in Canada. I explained that I couldn't make any commitments in Canada (job, lease, school, plane ticket home etc.) and couldn't break my UK ties (end my lease, give notice at my job) until I knew the outcome of the PR app, as I would not actually be returning to Canada if my partner was refused. I gave a detailed plan of what we were going to do in Canada if the visa was approved, how we would establish ourselves, jobs, place to live. The GCMS notes show that this was enough to convince the VO that I intended to return.

Thanks...I think my letter will end up sounding a lot like yours. I hadn't thought of the Canadian credit card -- good tip.

 

[KRM]

You may already have looked into this but if you were already a Canadian citizen when your son was born and you yourself gained your citizenship either through being born in Canada or having immigrated to Canada (even as a child with your parents), your son is already a Canadian citizen and would not be sponsored for PR. You would have to apply for a citizenship certificate for him through the Canadian embassy instead.

Wow...I had totally forgotten about this. I had come across it when our baby was first born and somehow totally forgot. That makes things much easier (and much cheaper). Thank you for posting...huge help.

 

[KRM]

You may already have looked into this but if you were already a Canadian citizen when your son was born and you yourself gained your citizenship either through being born in Canada or having immigrated to Canada (even as a child with your parents), your son is already a Canadian citizen and would not be sponsored for PR. You would have to apply for a citizenship certificate for him through the Canadian embassy instead.

So I've been going through the forms to obtain citizenship certificate for my son (thanks to you!). It seems I need my original birth certificate for this process, which I may not have (and we all know how long THAT takes). Then I saw the following on the CIC site: "Children born to Canadian parents while the parent are outside Canada will only be Canadian at birth if one parent was born in Canada." This begs the question of whether we even need to apply for a citizenship certificate at this point. Can I not just bring him to Canada? I'll be calling the Canadian embassy here to find out on Mon morning.