Have received visa, but the validity is only a couple of months

[marabsky]

My husband has received his visa!!! My sister in law collected it from the High Commission in Pretoria for us.... and immediately noticed that the validity is only until some time in May, which won't be enough time from me to wrap up my job and for us our sell out house... we only put it on the market (bad time to sell but oh well!) when we knew the visa was granted...

The validity is obviously linked to when he did his medical.

The letter that came when my sister in law picked up the passport says if you can't enter canada by the time of the expiry, to contact them (we will do that tomorrow, but we are anxious so I thought I would ask the question here incase anyone has a speedy answer!). They say if you don't enter by expiry and don't contact them you have to apply all over again....

I assume we can contact the High Commission and request an extension, and that they might (probably) will need my husband to do another medical? So I am assuming the worst case scenario is the cost of another medical and the time to process it (which should only be a few months, I think).

Any knowledgeable opinions out there?

Thanks very much.....!!

 

[boujasim]

how about ur husband goes and "land" wait for a 3-4 weeks to get his pr card and then come back and sell things

 

[RobsLuv]

Well, you're not giving us much info to go on but it sounds like your husband is not currently in Pretoria - and that possibly the two of you are somewhere together (maybe the States) getting ready to close up shop and move to Canada. If that's the case, you should know that it's absolutely allowed for your husband to enter Canada to "land" and validate his PR, and then return home to settle his affairs. He does not have to stay in Canada - although, at his landing interview, he will need to provide them with an address in Canada where they can mail his PR card, so if you have family in Canada who can receive it for him and then forward it to him, that's fine. He doesn't have to wait in Canada for it. He also doesn't need to mention his plans to leave Canada again to settle his affairs. They don't care.

If you can avoid involving CIC in having to extend medicals or extend the validity of the COPR, you're in a much better position. That will only complicate matters, and they're not known for being cooperative or efficient in that regard. Better to do whatever you have to do to get him landed so that his PR is valid - and then get back to tying up loose ends so you can eventually get back to Canada.

 

[cchabert]

Agree with Rob :-D

 

[marabsky]

We are all living in Durban, South Africa (I am Canadian, and so is our SA-born 2 year old, we have obtained a citizenship card for her already).

Maybe he goes early... the problem is we will all be ready to leave only about 1 month later (of course house selling is inexact - but worst case scenario is we drop our price til someone buys & cry....). My work is a bit of a problem for me to leave earlier.

It would be prohibitively expensive for him to go to Canada & come back. If he went, it would be ahead of me to stay, & our daughter would stay back with me. Although she could go as well... uggh its not a great option either.

We do have family in Canada (the lucky folks whose house we will be living in until we get established!)

Would it really be so difficult to get the medical extended/redone? It took from Aug 23 to Jan 21 to process husbands part of the visa in Pretoria, so not so fast but not so slow either. The medical only went to the regional office in Nairobi for assessment end of Nov.

Thanks for the advice - its much appreciated.

 

[marabsky]

Hmmm but thinking about it.... maybe it is worth it for him to go, with our daughter. Her grandparents are just jumping out of their skins to see her, and on the big scale of things they could fly there & back for (hopefully) what we could save on not having to "fire-sale" our place....

Its still a lot of cost and logistics (and having them away from me) which I would love to avoid. It would be cheaper if one or both went on ahead, but it would really really (really) suck being left behind and having either one or both so far away... and if just he went on ahead, our poor daughter will be very upset. She's only two and dad is her favorite right now....

 

[stealth]

I highly suggest he lands in Canada, do not delay. Just make it a round trip.

 

[marabsky]

So when I finally got the letter and read through it - the bottom line is if you don't go by the expiry date, you have to apply again (all processing times & fees all over again....)

So my husband is flying out for a week in April round trip, then we all fly as a family one way in June! Can you believe it! So an extra R17K down the tube (almost my entire after tax salary for 1 month, and my husband isn't working so its a big chunk of out of our cashflow). It hurts, but anyway... it seems there was nothing we could do so its all booked & paid for.

I assume he will leave Canada before his immigration card is posted to my family (where he will be staying when he is there for the week). Does he need to have it with him when he comes back in June e.g. must I get my family to send it out to us in South Africa? Or can they just hang onto since he has all his relevant stamps & visa etc in his passport.... Its not that I don't trust the postal services, but things do go astray. And I can't afford to keep shelling out big buck for things like couriers!