Extending Stay after arriving with a Visitor Record

[FamilyDad]

Hello,

I'm a retired US citizen. My Canadian wife accepted a job in Canada and moved there. I applied for permanent residence in April.

I came to Canada on May 29th and was given a Visitor Record expiring Sept. 30th. I do not work or study here.

On August 21st, I applied for an extension with the simple reason I wanted to continue my visit longer than 4 months. I understand I'll be on "implied status" until a decision is made around Dec. 8th.

However, my impulse is to follow the Visitor Record and leave. As I don't want to do anything to mess up my application for permanent residence.

I see a lot of information about people who came to Canada as a visitor and were granted an extension, but I don't seem to see extensions for those arriving with a Visitor Record.

My question are: has anyone extended their stay when they came in under a visitor record? Or does anyone know that Visitor Record stays can not be extended and I shouldn't waste time waiting for an answer for the extension request.

Thank you very much.

 

[zardoz]

Hello,

I'm a retired US citizen. My Canadian wife accepted a job in Canada and moved there. I applied for permanent residence in April.

I came to Canada on May 29th and was given a Visitor Record expiring Sept. 30th. I do not work or study here.

On August 21st, I applied for an extension with the simple reason I wanted to continue my visit longer than 4 months. I understand I'll be on "implied status" until a decision is made around Dec. 8th.

However, my impulse is to follow the Visitor Record and leave. As I don't want to do anything to mess up my application for permanent residence.

I see a lot of information about people who came to Canada as a visitor and were granted an extension, but I don't seem to see extensions for those arriving with a Visitor Record.

My question are: has anyone extended their stay when they came in under a visitor record? Or does anyone know that Visitor Record stays can not be extended and I shouldn't waste time waiting for an answer for the extension request.

Thank you very much.

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/visit-canada/extend-stay.html is the correct process. If that's what you did, you should be ok.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Hello,

I'm a retired US citizen. My Canadian wife accepted a job in Canada and moved there. I applied for permanent residence in April.

I came to Canada on May 29th and was given a Visitor Record expiring Sept. 30th. I do not work or study here.

On August 21st, I applied for an extension with the simple reason I wanted to continue my visit longer than 4 months. I understand I'll be on "implied status" until a decision is made around Dec. 8th.

However, my impulse is to follow the Visitor Record and leave. As I don't want to do anything to mess up my application for permanent residence.

I see a lot of information about people who came to Canada as a visitor and were granted an extension, but I don't seem to see extensions for those arriving with a Visitor Record.

My question are: has anyone extended their stay when they came in under a visitor record? Or does anyone know that Visitor Record stays can not be extended and I shouldn't waste time waiting for an answer for the extension request.

Thank you very much.

Ignore your impulse. It is perfectly legal for you to stay and will not impact your PR app. As you have a PR app in process, there should be no issue with your extension. You may even have PR approval before it is processed.

When you are given a Visitor Record upon entry, you still enter as a visitor, just like all visitors without VRs. Your visitor status is simply a bit more controlled.

 

[soheilhs]

This is the question :

Why you as a U.S. citizen have been given visitor record???

 

[canuck_in_uk]

This is the question :

Why you as a U.S. citizen have been given visitor record???

Irrelevant. Many people, including Americans, are given VRs.

 

[scylla]

This is the question :

Why you as a U.S. citizen have been given visitor record???

This happens all of the time. It's very normal.

 

[soheilhs]

Irrelevant. Many people, including Americans, are given VRs.

This happens all of the time. It's very normal.

My bad, I mixed up TRP and VR. so probably this dude was issued a VR cause he probably requested to stay more than 6 months at the border.

 

[FamilyDad]

My bad, I mixed up TRP and VR. so probably this dude was issued a VR cause he probably requested to stay more than 6 months at the border.

You'll note I was given a four month VR.

I didn't request more than six months. My cursory familiarity with border crossing was talking with Canadians in Florida. I didn't ask for any more time, as I thought six months was the legal limit.

At the border they interviewed me. They asked the purpose of my crossing, and I said to that I was coming to visit to help my daughter ready for college, to get her a computer, supplies, etc. I did tell him I had applied to join my family in Canada, but knew it wasn't yet through the system. He asked my ties back in the USA...bank accounts, older daughter, etc.

Then he asked if I was employed and I told him I was retired. After awhile he said I was getting a Visitor Record because without a job I had "no reason to ever go back to the United States and (I) would probably disappear in Canada." So he gave me a VR long enough to last through the first month of school. And made sure to tell me that I was to turn in the VR at the border on Sept. 30th as I left Canada.

I knew nothing about Visitor Records before being issued one. I figured that Sept. 30th was it. My wife and daughter read about the extension option and asked me to request it.

As the date has approached and I hadn't heard about the extension I started wondering if it was the right idea. Reading about "implied status" made me nervous and I just wasn't sure if a VR was even eligible for an extension. So I asked those with more experience.

I appreciate everyone taking the time to lend me that experience and knowledge

Thank you.