Hi there I just made an account on this forum as I figured I'd give it a shot, I have done countless of research on the subject but most information seems to be from years ago or not very clear. The situation is this: I am a Canadian citizen and my wife is an American citizen from New York, she is currently living with me since July 8 2015, in late December (don't remember exactly) I sent in an application to extend her visitors visa for another 6 months and am currently waiting on that, I'm quite confident I have given all the correct information and that it "should" be approved however I can't help but worry about the off chance that she would have to go back home. We got married in Canada, B.C. (Where we live currently) November 19 2015 however this doesn't do much for us as she is from America and I can't give her any of my benefits from my work. All we really want to do is be able to live together without worry of being separated. Any help on how I should tackle this situation would be amazing, I'm not sure what would be better to apply inland or outland, which one is less hassle, better success rate, lower processing times. I believe this should be a pretty straightforward case but I have no experience with things like this, we have known each other for 8 years and there is no question that we are genuine, we have no criminal records or bad medical history.
Guidance with sponsoring an american spouse to Canada
- Thread starter hungrydan39
- Start date
DO NOT APPLY INLAND. start your OUTLAND Pr application now, and she can be approved in 4-6 months after submission. Inland takes OVER 2 years, and the Open Work Permit is NOT a reason for a US citizen to apply inland. DO NOT APPLY INLAND. That will restrict a lot of freedom.
as for staying in canada, At this point her only option is to wait to see what happens with her vistitor extension. Again, DO NOT APPLY INLAND just to stay together. that will be a HUGE mistake, especially if she's refused an extension. She will then be in canada illegally and will be at risk for deportation. if she leaves and CIC finds out, then her Inland application will be considered abandoned. If she's denied an extension, then she should go back to the states, figure out how to get some ties to the us, start her pr applicaiton and attempt to come back as a visitor. if she can get a lease agreement from family suggesting she lives with them and pays rent, or if she can find a remote job, then those will be her best chances at proving ties. Whether she is allowed in and for how long is up to the CBSA officer. No one can tell you her chances since it is specific to each person's case. She needs to understand she is not allowed to live or move to canada until she is approved for pr, and she MUST use the right language at the border. she is ONLY a visitor, and if she shows them she has paid at least 1 PR application fee and is working on the app or has sent it in, then they will be much friendlier.
AGAIN... DO NOT APPLY INLAND... THAT WILL BE A HUGE MISTAKE THAT WILL BE REGRETTED DOWN THE LINE. Especially when you see US outland applicants getting approved in as little as 4 months!
as for staying in canada, At this point her only option is to wait to see what happens with her vistitor extension. Again, DO NOT APPLY INLAND just to stay together. that will be a HUGE mistake, especially if she's refused an extension. She will then be in canada illegally and will be at risk for deportation. if she leaves and CIC finds out, then her Inland application will be considered abandoned. If she's denied an extension, then she should go back to the states, figure out how to get some ties to the us, start her pr applicaiton and attempt to come back as a visitor. if she can get a lease agreement from family suggesting she lives with them and pays rent, or if she can find a remote job, then those will be her best chances at proving ties. Whether she is allowed in and for how long is up to the CBSA officer. No one can tell you her chances since it is specific to each person's case. She needs to understand she is not allowed to live or move to canada until she is approved for pr, and she MUST use the right language at the border. she is ONLY a visitor, and if she shows them she has paid at least 1 PR application fee and is working on the app or has sent it in, then they will be much friendlier.
AGAIN... DO NOT APPLY INLAND... THAT WILL BE A HUGE MISTAKE THAT WILL BE REGRETTED DOWN THE LINE. Especially when you see US outland applicants getting approved in as little as 4 months!
This is a no brainer, do not apply inland. Apply outland. You'll just have to wait and see if the visitor extension is approved, you should be getting a decision on that anyday now.
And one more time...do NOT submit an Inland application. Even with the lure of having an Open Work Permit (OWP) in ~ 4 months, which is not available with an Outland application, it will be a living hell!
Follow this thread to see how quickly American citizens are completing the process:
http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/us-outland-applicants-thread-t106068.6270.html
I know it might seem confusing, but a person that is currently IN Canada can certainly submit an Outland application.
Good luck!
Follow this thread to see how quickly American citizens are completing the process:
http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/us-outland-applicants-thread-t106068.6270.html
I know it might seem confusing, but a person that is currently IN Canada can certainly submit an Outland application.
Good luck!
Why didn't you apply for sponsorship right after getting married? American apps average around 6-8 months, with some done in as little as 4 months, so she could have been well into the process by now.hungrydan39 said:
As the others have said, submit an outland app now.
Yes wondering that as well, outland app through Ottawa was/is almost taking the amount time it is for visitor extensions (recently they have cleared a big backlog it seems). But you would have quite likely seen DM or be close to it if you had applied soon after the wedding.
Thank you for all the helpful replies, I didn't know I could apply outland while she still is in Canada, one of the biggest reasons we didn't apply yet for the spousal sponsorship is because I don't exactly understand the fees and which ones apply. Another concern is that we didn't have an actual wedding we just got married by a marriage commissioner and one of the attachments for filing an application is to have pictures of your wedding, we don't want to have a wedding yet as it would be too difficult for both our families to attend, will it be an issue that we don't have pictures of a wedding, is there anything we could use instead?
PR fees:hungrydan39 said:
Sponsorship application $75
Principal applicant fee $475
Right of Permanent Residence Fee $490
Total $1040
In place of the photos, provide a solid explanation of why you had a civil marriage without any ceremony, i.e. you are waiting for your families to be together before you have a proper wedding. Many people have done this and been approved without issue. Provided your other relationship proofs are strong, you should be fine.
Thank you canuck, now just to have this all straight to see if I fully understand. Apply for the Spousal Sponsorship now, pay all the fees and send it all in. Then wait for the extension to be approved or denied.
If Approved Extension:
I will need to extend it once more for another 6 months until the first level of approval is achieved with the sponsorship, and after that I wont have to extend her visa anymore and we just apply for the PR?
If Denied Extension:
She goes back to US and waits until first level of approval and then she can enter Canada without a visitors visa or do we still need to apply for one, and once she is in the country with me again do we apply for the PR?
Let me know if I understand anything wrong, I'd like to do it the right way the first time, and with an outland application does it still take 2 years to get the PR card of living with me?
If Approved Extension:
I will need to extend it once more for another 6 months until the first level of approval is achieved with the sponsorship, and after that I wont have to extend her visa anymore and we just apply for the PR?
If Denied Extension:
She goes back to US and waits until first level of approval and then she can enter Canada without a visitors visa or do we still need to apply for one, and once she is in the country with me again do we apply for the PR?
Let me know if I understand anything wrong, I'd like to do it the right way the first time, and with an outland application does it still take 2 years to get the PR card of living with me?
hungrydan39 said:
I'll break it down for you.
Apply ASAP outland. The whole PR process will likely take 4-8 months. If she is denied the visitor extension there is no 'visitor visa' for Americans, she will have to go to the border with proof of the PR application and take her chances with whatever CBSA guard she gets, I would personally wait a while after returning to the states to do that
Make sure you have a solid documentation as you only married recently.canadausa#11 said:
Another poster in the HK forum is going through strange circumstances...SA not approved, but the case was passed over to VO. He actually never got SA email, but he could log in his own UCI and see his spouse's side that case was transferred, medicals were received...so he thought everything was ok. Not sure if sponsor has some issues with past sponsoring, but this is not logical.
Many applicants here got married recently and applied and face more scrutiny. The more you prepare for your case, the background of the relationship, the whole love story if you have to, the more logical the whole thing is, the less chance you get delayed or even refused.
Good luck.
cheng9999 said:
CIC sometimes forgets to send out letter/email notifying SA, probably what has happened in his/her case.
You are seriously misunderstanding one thing: applying for sponsorship IS applying for PR. It is all one application that is sent in at the same time.hungrydan39 said:
She needs to maintain her status until she actually lands as a PR.
Sponsor approval doesn't give her the right to enter Canada. if she is refused, she can apply for Restoration of status, showing proof that she has applied for PR.
As said above a few times, it takes 4-8 months for Americans.
canadianwoman
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You have had a wedding - getting married by a marriage commissioner is a wedding, just a small one. It would be better if you had taken pictures then; did any of the witnesses take photos? In any case, you can just explain on the forms that you had a small civil wedding, and that you hope to have a bigger reception later when finances improve and both your families will be able to attend.hungrydan39 said:
It is not a disaster to not have photos of the ceremony. You have lots of evidence that your relationship is genuine, so that helps to make up for it. In addition, American and Canadian couples have an easier time getting approved, simply because Americans are not usually suspected of marrying just so they can stay in Canada.
You can apply right away, once you have filled out the forms and gotten the necessary documents.
Well the commissioner did take a picture so I will call her to see if she can forward a copy to my e-mail for use in the application, thank you everyone for your comments its definitely making me feel more confident in all this and lifting a lot of our anxiety with this whole process. One thing still escapes me, what happens after the 4-8 months, if its approved does she get her PR, the reason I am confused about this is because when I read about the inland application (which before I thought was the one I should be going with) it had a 2 year processing time to achieve first level of approval in which she would then have to live with me in the country for another 2 years to actually receive her PR, is it different for an outland application besides the processing times, or do I have the wrong information entirely?canadianwoman said: