Filing help: Mixed inland/outland family application

[Pigeonsrcool2]

Hello,

I (US Citizen holding certificate of Indian Status) am finalizing the application documents for my family, but I want to make sure we are filing correctly. My family (spouse, 2 type A dependents, all Dutch passport holders) lived together in the Netherlands. I hold a certificate of Indian Status which meant I needed to be in Canada in order to sponsor them in. Due to the children's ages and my spouse's job (at sea), the kids have relocated with me to Canada and are currently staying on a visitor's visa. My spouse works 1 month on and one month off at sea and has been coming to Canada to visit us on a visitor's visa.

1. Do I have to file for everyone on the application under a single path (i.e everyone outland or everyone inland) or can I do mixed (Spouse outland, kids inland)? Or is it better to file with spouse on one application and kids on the other?
2. Does it make sense for me to file for my spouse inland? He will need to continue to work until we can sell our house in the Netherlands because I don't make enough to cover two households' expenses. Would he need a work visa since he never works in Canada but from a boat that launches from and returns to Europe? Currently we intend for him to leave his job in March 2025 and would want him to be able to live full time in Canada with us.

We don't have anything that would red flag us, no criminal convictions, deportations, living as a family consistently for entire marriage up until the move, not a new relationship etc.

Thanks for any advice!

 

[scylla]

Hello,

I (US Citizen holding certificate of Indian Status) am finalizing the application documents for my family, but I want to make sure we are filing correctly. My family (spouse, 2 type A dependents, all Dutch passport holders) lived together in the Netherlands. I hold a certificate of Indian Status which meant I needed to be in Canada in order to sponsor them in. Due to the children's ages and my spouse's job (at sea), the kids have relocated with me to Canada and are currently staying on a visitor's visa. My spouse works 1 month on and one month off at sea and has been coming to Canada to visit us on a visitor's visa.

1. Do I have to file for everyone on the application under a single path (i.e everyone outland or everyone inland) or can I do mixed (Spouse outland, kids inland)? Or is it better to file with spouse on one application and kids on the other?
2. Does it make sense for me to file for my spouse inland? He will need to continue to work until we can sell our house in the Netherlands because I don't make enough to cover two households' expenses. Would he need a work visa since he never works in Canada but from a boat that launches from and returns to Europe? Currently we intend for him to leave his job in March 2025 and would want him to be able to live full time in Canada with us.

We don't have anything that would red flag us, no criminal convictions, deportations, living as a family consistently for entire marriage up until the move, not a new relationship etc.

Thanks for any advice!

Spouse is outland so the full application needs to be outland.

There is no inland process for minor dependents so you might as well make it one application.

You cannot apply inland unless your spouse has come to Canada and will remain here while the application is processed.

 

[Ponga]

Hello,

I (US Citizen holding certificate of Indian Status) am finalizing the application documents for my family, but I want to make sure we are filing correctly. My family (spouse, 2 type A dependents, all Dutch passport holders) lived together in the Netherlands. I hold a certificate of Indian Status which meant I needed to be in Canada in order to sponsor them in. Due to the children's ages and my spouse's job (at sea), the kids have relocated with me to Canada and are currently staying on a visitor's visa. My spouse works 1 month on and one month off at sea and has been coming to Canada to visit us on a visitor's visa.

1. Do I have to file for everyone on the application under a single path (i.e everyone outland or everyone inland) or can I do mixed (Spouse outland, kids inland)? Or is it better to file with spouse on one application and kids on the other?
2. Does it make sense for me to file for my spouse inland? He will need to continue to work until we can sell our house in the Netherlands because I don't make enough to cover two households' expenses. Would he need a work visa since he never works in Canada but from a boat that launches from and returns to Europe? Currently we intend for him to leave his job in March 2025 and would want him to be able to live full time in Canada with us.

We don't have anything that would red flag us, no criminal convictions, deportations, living as a family consistently for entire marriage up until the move, not a new relationship etc.

Thanks for any advice!

Can you clarify the following:
I hold a certificate of Indian Status which meant I needed to be in Canada in order to sponsor them in.

Are you referring to status in the U.S. as a member of a recognized tribe, or one in Canada?

 

[Pigeonsrcool2]

Can you clarify the following:
I hold a certificate of Indian Status which meant I needed to be in Canada in order to sponsor them in.

Are you referring to status in the U.S. as a member of a recognized tribe, or one in Canada?

It's not common, but I am solely a US citizen that holds a Canadian Certificate of Indian Status (this type of document is only issued by the Canadian government, not the US). Usually a certificate holder uses their status to be able to live or work in the US, although technically it works both ways. Indians (as defined by Canadian Indian Act) that are not already Canadian citizens, are generally treated similar to Permanent Residents, which means I couldn't start our application from the Netherlands. I had to be living in Canada to begin the process. All of the border agents I encountered seemed aware of the situation and I had no issue getting myself setup in Canada. Now I just need to finalize it for my family.

 

[Pigeonsrcool2]

Spouse is outland so the full application needs to be outland.

There is no inland process for minor dependents so you might as well make it one application.

You cannot apply inland unless your spouse has come to Canada and will remain here while the application is processed.

So should I list the children as accompanying him, and then immediately file to have them processed as inland? Or say they aren't accompanying and explain they are already in Canada with me?

 

[armoured]

So should I list the children as accompanying him, and then immediately file to have them processed as inland? Or say they aren't accompanying and explain they are already in Canada with me?

Respectfully, you're overthinking a bit.

Yes, apply with the children accompanying. (Non-accompanying means the children are not going to immigrate right now).

There is no 'inland' for the children. There's only a virtual landing procedure later when all is ready. Don't worry about that now; the primary difference is that for your spouse, he cannot apply inland because he won't be in Canada throughout the process; that's the only difference of significance in your case. No impact on the children as there's no inland/outland difference for minors.

If you wish, you can include a short letter of explanation that the children are in Canada with you but included as dependants of your spouse.

Theoretically you could do a separate application for the children but I don't see any advantage and that would likely complicate things.

Note: as a status Indian, I should think that your children are eligible for schooling and healthcare right away, but I'm not an expert.