Help sponsoring European husband - I don't have bank statements!!!

[Mrs.Purcy]

Hello. I have a few questions about the application process. I am a Canadian citizen married to a European (I will not say where but, his closest visa office is in London, UK) we left Canada and I came with him here in December 18 2013. Because his visa ran up and other reasons that were personal. We are gathering things and such for our application but I have questions that really need to be answered:

1. Bank statements. As the sponsor.. I don't know how I can provide this because before I left I shut down my TD bank account. My reasoning was I had no money left since I changed it to euros, I don't like TD, and my husband and I already have a joint account with BMO bank (which has nothing in it right now since we left) i have my option C letter from the previous tax year.. How can I provide this information? I did a few digging and some users suggest we use information about our joint account, like proof that we set it up under our names? My husband thinks we should write a letter.. Explaining why I can't account for the bank statements. Please help what do I do?

2. Proof of returning back to Canada. This only proof I can think of is my plane ticket (returning back in June of 2014 this year) and before I left, I wanted to renew my health card because it was set to expire the month after we left Canada. The woman gave me a sheet of paper pretty much proving when I have to be back in Canada which is December 2014.. Is this enough? I'm also going to be living with my family/mom when I return get work and save up. I'm not a student but will be doing a few classes so I can eventually go to post secondary.

3. We are adding a lot of pictures of ourselves such as wedding, wedding after party, travels, pictures with my family mom, sister, friends, etc. We can't date all of them, is that okay? I also have text messages of us being goofy, sappy and lovey dovey. They span into a year and I can't get everything because my blackberry fell in the water almost 6 months ago . The texts show us talking about anything from cooking dinners, him contacting me when he travelled, talking about our future, our marriage, all that stuff and more. I also have skype pictures of us skyping whenever he was away. Cards that people sent us for our wedding. Also his sister travelled all the way with her fiancé 3000 miles to be in our wedding! We have pictures to prove it. Is this enough or should we do more?

Finally how long will this take? I hear 6 months but when I went on the site about the processing time.. It said for my husband since his closest visa office is London in the UK is 11 months?! Really? Even though we are applying Outland? I am just curious because I will have to head back in June and I'm going to really miss my husband !

Also, is it true that you have to live with your spouse for 2 years once they get PR as a term of condition? I'm just curious. I ask because his sister Is marrying next summer. If he gets his PR before the summer of her wedding does he have to automatically come back to Canada or can he wait to attend his sisters wedding? Just need clarification on how stringent the condition is...

 

[Mrs.Purcy]

Anyone?

 

[fandv]

Hello. I have a few questions about the application process. I am a Canadian citizen married to a European (I will not say where but, his closest visa office is in London, UK) we left Canada and I came with him here in December 18 2013. Because his visa ran up and other reasons that were personal. We are gathering things and such for our application but I have questions that really need to be answered:

1. Bank statements. As the sponsor.. I don't know how I can provide this because before I left I shut down my TD bank account. My reasoning was I had no money left since I changed it to euros, I don't like TD, and my husband and I already have a joint account with BMO bank (which has nothing in it right now since we left) i have my option C letter from the previous tax year.. How can I provide this information? I did a few digging and some users suggest we use information about our joint account, like proof that we set it up under our names? My husband thinks we should write a letter.. Explaining why I can't account for the bank statements. Please help what do I do?

2. Proof of returning back to Canada. This only proof I can think of is my plane ticket (returning back in June of 2014 this year) and before I left, I wanted to renew my health card because it was set to expire the month after we left Canada. The woman gave me a sheet of paper pretty much proving when I have to be back in Canada which is December 2014.. Is this enough? I'm also going to be living with my family/mom when I return get work and save up. I'm not a student but will be doing a few classes so I can eventually go to post secondary.

3. We are adding a lot of pictures of ourselves such as wedding, wedding after party, travels, pictures with my family mom, sister, friends, etc. We can't date all of them, is that okay? I also have text messages of us being goofy, sappy and lovey dovey. They span into a year and I can't get everything because my blackberry fell in the water almost 6 months ago . The texts show us talking about anything from cooking dinners, him contacting me when he travelled, talking about our future, our marriage, all that stuff and more. I also have skype pictures of us skyping whenever he was away. Cards that people sent us for our wedding. Also his sister travelled all the way with her fiancé 3000 miles to be in our wedding! We have pictures to prove it. Is this enough or should we do more?

Finally how long will this take? I hear 6 months but when I went on the site about the processing time.. It said for my husband since his closest visa office is London in the UK is 11 months?! Really? Even though we are applying Outland? I am just curious because I will have to head back in June and I'm going to really miss my husband !

Also, is it true that you have to live with your spouse for 2 years once they get PR as a term of condition? I'm just curious.

Hey! =)

1. No need to provide a bank statement....I didn't provide it and got approved to sponsor. You do need to provide the Option C printout though.

A bank statement is normally necessary only for sponsors who need to satisfy the minimal income requirement (such as if you're sponsoring parents, children, and other relatives. But spousal sponsorship doesn't have this requirement.) A sponsor can even be jobless and still be eligible to sponsor AS LONG AS he/she is not on welfare.

For more info, read item 19 here:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/kits/forms/IMM5491E.pdf

2. Perhaps not enough....you need to provide more proofs. Here are some ideas:

- a detailed letter explaining your reestablishment plan in Canada, your future plan with your husband once he's in Canada, etc. You can also mention your plan to study again in Canada.

- a letter from your mum other relatives, testifying of their awareness of your planned return to Canada. And the fact that your mum is willing to let you stay at her house.

- copies of anything Canadian, such as an active Canadian driving licence, bank account (just open a new one since you closed yours), health card, etc.

But hold on, you said you're returning to Canada in June right? To save yourself from getting headaches, why not start the sponsorship process once you're back in Canada? That way you don't need to provide those proofs of intent to return to Canada, since you'll then ALREADY be back in Canada =)

3. If I were you, I would provide more, especially the proofs of ongoing communications. Our application had around 1000 pages because we provided crazy amount of proofs (you might not to be that extreme though, haha!)

Take a look at what this lady did...she provided some amazing details, so you can just follow what she did:

http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/how-i-organized-our-applcation-and-a-summary-of-all-helpful-tips-i-have-learned-t92449.0.html

4. Not sure how long this will take, but European applicants normally get approved within 6 to 9 months, so you're pretty lucky. It's been 15 months since my wife (not European though) and I applied, and the process is not even done yet. But thankfully according to eCAS, the process has been finalised, and my wife should get her visa soon.
Plus, being European, your husband is most likely visa exempt, which means he can visit you in Canada anytime he wants, while the application is being processed.

5. Correct about the 2 years thing.

Here's the short version about it (the top part within grey box, that starts with "Effective October 25, 2012...")
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/sponsor/spouse-apply-how.asp

And here's the longer, more detailed explanation:
http://news.gc.ca/web/article-en.do?nid=703499&_ga=1.201331346.2074656700.1374341913

By the way, once your husband is approved, he will get a document called COPR (Confirmation of Permanent Residence), which will have a date by which he must land in Canada. That date is usually 1 year after the last medical exam. So if he gets the PR before the summer of his sister's wedding, he does not have to land in Canada immediately, and just land in Canada after attending his sister's wedding. But be very careful of the COPR deadline....he will have to land in Canada before that date. And ifffff that COPR date happens to be before his sister's wedding, then he will have no choice but to land in Canada before that date (and then go back to Europe to attend his sister's wedding). Normally the COPR deadline is 1 year since the last medical exam, but there have been rare cases where people's COPR deadline was only 2 to 3 weeks away (usually happens to people who got approved very close to their medical exam's expiration).

Hope that helps

 

[mikeymyke]

You don't need a bank statement. Also the amount of proof you have is good because UK citizens have a very high success rate of being approved (98%). At 98%, you're pretty much golden. Only extra thing I would add is a detailed letter stating your intentions to live in Canada, who will support you, where you will live, what your job will be, etc. Give specifics and provide a plan.

fandv had to go crazy because we both get Singapore VO, which has the 2nd longest processing time in the world and one of the lowest approval rates in the world (72%). So you see, 98% vs 72%, we're both actually the ones who need to worry more than you.

 

[Mrs.Purcy]

@fan

I can't quote for some reason. Hope you get this.

Thank you so much! Very informative! I added a but more about the two year bit, and if you don't mind could you give me some feedback? I decided to bold it in my original paragraph.

Also we prefer not to send in the application in June when I return because we already have been delaying the process for 2 months now getting things together. Our mindset is, the sooner the better. Hm.. Would service Ontario sending me a letter that I must renew my health card by December 2014 not be enough? A plane ticket? Those aren't enough? I don't know if I can get my mom to send me a letter from Canada to Europe in a fast time bracket because we want to send everything out early Monday.. I wonder if there are any other ideas...? I don't have a drivers license. I do have that photo I.d card from Ontario that is a replacement form of I.d for people that don't have drivers licenses.. It's purple and has my former address on it and everything.

Could I get my sister to write a letter and take a photo of it with her signature also my moms signature would that be sufficient?

I am the one that wants to have literally hundreds of pages of proof of communication. But my husband things it's too much whereas in my eyes it's not too much... He's being silly aha. Even though we live together here right now, should we still include proof of communication? For example we still text and send emails even though we are in Europe together right now. Sorry for being redundant!

Going by the 6-9 month approval rate, after he is approved does that mean he will get his PR card and he would have to come back to Canada and live with me/we can start our lives together again? Or can he stay a few months longer because his sister is actually getting married next summer which sucks haha. The whole living 2 years with your sponsor is very vague and I wish they were specific! Or the fact that he warns to work in calgary while I am in toronto working and in school.. Would that work or would that be some type of violation of the term? Would it be better to buy an apartment together both names on the lease but he go back and forth from calgary to toronto?

Also we are considering using an immigration lawyer just to make sure everything is on point. Do you recommend that?

Once again thank you so much. I'm crying haha you are so kind and helpful.

 

[fandv]

@ fan

I can't quote for some reason. Hope you get this.

Thank you so much! Very informative! I added a but more about the two year bit, and if you don't mind could you give me some feedback? I decided to bold it in my original paragraph.

Also we prefer not to send in the application in June when I return because we already have been delaying the process for 2 months now getting things together. Our mindset is, the sooner the better. Hm.. Would service Ontario sending me a letter that I must renew my health card by December 2014 not be enough? A plane ticket? Those aren't enough? I don't know if I can get my mom to send me a letter from Canada to Europe in a fast time bracket because we want to send everything out early Monday.. I wonder if there are any other ideas...? I don't have a drivers license. I do have that photo I.d card from Ontario that is a replacement form of I.d for people that don't have drivers licenses.. It's purple and has my former address on it and everything.

Could I get my sister to write a letter and take a photo of it with her signature also my moms signature would that be sufficient?

I am the one that wants to have literally hundreds of pages of proof of communication. But my husband things it's too much whereas in my eyes it's not too much... He's being silly aha. Even though we live together here right now, should we still include proof of communication? For example we still text and send emails even though we are in Europe together right now. Sorry for being redundant!

Going by the 6-9 month approval rate, after he is approved does that mean he will get his PR card and he would have to come back to Canada and live with me/we can start our lives together again? Or can he stay a few months longer because his sister is actually getting married next summer which sucks haha. The whole living 2 years with your sponsor is very vague and I wish they were specific! Or the fact that he warns to work in calgary while I am in toronto working and in school.. Would that work or would that be some type of violation of the term? Would it be better to buy an apartment together both names on the lease but he go back and forth from calgary to toronto?

Also we are considering using an immigration lawyer just to make sure everything is on point. Do you recommend that?

Once again thank you so much. I'm crying haha you are so kind and helpful.

Yup I replied your bolded part about the 2 year thing...I put it in lime green colour, just for fun, lol

Ah I see, I totally understand your reasoning then.....the sooner the better indeed! Well the CIC unfortunately doesn't exactly state what is "enough" in their eyes. The way I see it is: if I can provide more proofs, then I'd just provide more. Also, there are many different officers who process sponsorship applications, and there are some who are lenient, and some who are strict. Some may be in good mood, and some may be in bad. So just to be on the safe side, it's better to provide more, as opposed to less =).

So yeah, do send a copy of that purple ID card you told me about.

About the letter from your sister and mum, it's highly advisable that you send the original version though, as opposed to a photographed version.

I understand that you want to send the application soon (early Monday), however can't your mum and siter send you the letter using a courier service, such as DHL or FedEx? These courier services have a 1 day service (costly though), and I don't think a 1-day delay would hurt you, wouldn't you agree?

Another option is you can perhaps send the application package to your mum, and get her to join her letter (and your sister's letter) with your application (do provide a detailed instruction to your mum though, to make sure she joins the letter with the sponsor's (your) forms and supporting documents). And once that's done, she can then mail the whole thing to CPC Mississauga.

Well it's up to you....I just provided some ideas

And yes, you should still provide communication proofs, even though you are living together with your husband. The CIC wants to see how genuine your relationship/marriage is...and btw, good that you send emails to each other you should include some email printouts too. We did include email printouts too, and the email timeline spanned from the time we got to know each other, up till a few days before we submitted the application. No need to provide ALL emails though....just pick some good ones from each month; that's fine.

Yes he will get a PR card, but that can take up to 2 months since he landed in Canada as PR. And as I mentioned before (in the lime green text, lol), he can delay his landing in Canada (in order to attend his sister's wedding) as long as when he comes to Canada, it's still before the COPR deadline.

Indeed the 2 year conditional PR thing is vague...(I heard that the CIC intentionally made it vague!) Unfortunately I can't really answer whether that (you guys going back and forth between Toronto and Calgary) will work, simply because the rules are vague . But if you buy a house with your names on it, and have a joint bank account, bills, etc, that'll greatly help. It's a grey area, I know...! And btw, make sure that 2 years after he gets his PR, document your communication proofs, and regularly take pictures together (make sure you set your camera to show the date on the pics), just in case later on CIC wants proofs that you're still together after 2 years. Nobody knows how the CIC enforces the conditional PR, because 2 years haven't passed since 25 Oct 2012 (which was when the conditional PR thing came into effect).

I wouldn't suggest using an immigration lawyer, due to these reasons:

1. They're costly (lol!)
2. You seem to have a straightforward relationship
3. Your husband's from Europe, and Europeans have it easy as they don't get scrutinized as much as applicants from, say, Asia, Africa, middle east, etc...

Lots of us here got approved just fine without hiring an immigration lawyer, just by implementing the tips from this forum =).

Cheers!

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Your health card needing to be renewed won't be considered proof and neither would possession of a Canadian ID. A plane ticket is good but can always be cancelled, so you should try to include additional evidence. You should write up a detailed plan of what you are going to do when you return to Canada. It's perfectly fine for your mother to just scan and email a letter confirming that you are moving back to Canada in June; it doesn't need to be an original. Have your sister and a few other family members or friends write letters confirming your move to Canada as well.

I lived with my partner, we saw each other every day, so we didn't bother to include any emails/texts/chats/phone records/skype records etc. For the communication questions, we simply put "We live together"; CIC never requested more info from us. Most partners that have lived together for awhile don't bother to include that kind of evidence unless they believe they are lacking in other evidence of a genuine relationship.

The conditional PR rule requires that you cohabit for a period of 2 years after he becomes a PR. This means you have to actually live together; him living part of the time in Calgary and part of the time in Toronto will violate the rule, regardless of whether you own an apartment together. As said above, it's not know how CIC will enforce the rule, especially in situations where a couple is still together but living apart for employment or education reasons. They may well only enforce it if the sponsor reports their spouse has left them, or they may enforce it if any person reports that a couple is not cohabiting. Until it is known how CIC will enforce, living apart, even for part of the time, is a risk.

 

[angryrectangle]

Hello!

I am in sort of the same situation.. I live outside of Canada with my husband, and we have been living together for the duration of my marriage.

- For financial proof: You can include only the Option-C printout and be done with it, or you can include other kinds of financial proof. I did not include the Option-C printout, and I was also unable to include bank statements. ANYTHING you can think of to show you have an income/some savings/etc will work in your favor. You really only need to convince them you're not taking welfare. I included a letter from my employer, showing how much I'm paid, and how long I've been working there + a t4 showing some investment income. It's tax season, so you should be getting some t4s now. Even if you weren't working, you might get one from the bank if you gained any interest on your account. If you do not include the Option-C printout, then be sure to write a short letter explaining why. You can also include other information that you're unable to prove in this letter (such as, we had a joint account but recently closed it, my husband supports me financially, whatever).

- For proof of intent to return: I mentioned in another post recently that I find this a bit silly.. for those of us who are living outside of Canada with our spouses, how are we meant to plan our return when we have NO IDEA how long the application will take? Try including any printouts of emails/texts/chats/etc where you discuss your plans to come back. I included: copies of emails discussing our plans to return + a (notarized) letter from my father saying he's expecting us, and we'll stay with him + a detailed letter discussing our reasons for being committed to returning together, our plans to re-establish in Canada, and why our current living situation should serve as proof that we want to re-locate. You mentioned you'll be living with your mom, and you want to go to University (my plans, exactly! haha) so write a letter explaining all of this, and have your mom write a letter saying she's expecting you BOTH and will be responsible for you. This will also help serve as proof of relationship!

- For proof of relationship: You will have to include proof of relationship + proof of communication. Since I've been living with my husband the whole time we've been together (which is basically as long as we've known each other!) I simply wrote: we live together. However, I went on a 3 month trip to Canada last summer, so I included the Skype records from that time. How did people prove all this in the days before Skype??
Proof of relationship, as they say, is quality over quantity. Try to include lot's of pics from the wedding, and other pictures of you guys together with friends, on vacation, on special occasions, etc. Things that couples should be doing together. If you can't give an exact date, give a time frame, ex. "this picture was taken in June or July 2013"

Sorry if I'm repeating information from others (I only skimmed the posts), just thought I'd share what I've learned so far..

As for the 2 years, I do believe that him going back to his home country for a holiday will not violate the 2 year rule. You are still living together, he is only temporarily out of the country.

Best of luck to you!

 

[Mrs.Purcy]

I have a question when printing photos of us, should they all be in colour or will black and white suffice?

 

[Mrs.Purcy]

Yup I replied your bolded part about the 2 year thing...I put it in lime green colour, just for fun, lol

Ah I see, I totally understand your reasoning then.....the sooner the better indeed! Well the CIC unfortunately doesn't exactly state what is "enough" in their eyes. The way I see it is: if I can provide more proofs, then I'd just provide more. Also, there are many different officers who process sponsorship applications, and there are some who are lenient, and some who are strict. Some may be in good mood, and some may be in bad. So just to be on the safe side, it's better to provide more, as opposed to less =).

So yeah, do send a copy of that purple ID card you told me about.

About the letter from your sister and mum, it's highly advisable that you send the original version though, as opposed to a photographed version.

I understand that you want to send the application soon (early Monday), however can't your mum and siter send you the letter using a courier service, such as DHL or FedEx? These courier services have a 1 day service (costly though), and I don't think a 1-day delay would hurt you, wouldn't you agree?

Another option is you can perhaps send the application package to your mum, and get her to join her letter (and your sister's letter) with your application (do provide a detailed instruction to your mum though, to make sure she joins the letter with the sponsor's (your) forms and supporting documents). And once that's done, she can then mail the whole thing to CPC Mississauga.

Well it's up to you....I just provided some ideas

And yes, you should still provide communication proofs, even though you are living together with your husband. The CIC wants to see how genuine your relationship/marriage is...and btw, good that you send emails to each other you should include some email printouts too. We did include email printouts too, and the email timeline spanned from the time we got to know each other, up till a few days before we submitted the application. No need to provide ALL emails though....just pick some good ones from each month; that's fine.

Yes he will get a PR card, but that can take up to 2 months since he landed in Canada as PR. And as I mentioned before (in the lime green text, lol), he can delay his landing in Canada (in order to attend his sister's wedding) as long as when he comes to Canada, it's still before the COPR deadline.

Indeed the 2 year conditional PR thing is vague...(I heard that the CIC intentionally made it vague!) Unfortunately I can't really answer whether that (you guys going back and forth between Toronto and Calgary) will work, simply because the rules are vague . But if you buy a house with your names on it, and have a joint bank account, bills, etc, that'll greatly help. It's a grey area, I know...! And btw, make sure that 2 years after he gets his PR, document your communication proofs, and regularly take pictures together (make sure you set your camera to show the date on the pics), just in case later on CIC wants proofs that you're still together after 2 years. Nobody knows how the CIC enforces the conditional PR, because 2 years haven't passed since 25 Oct 2012 (which was when the conditional PR thing came into effect).

I wouldn't suggest using an immigration lawyer, due to these reasons:

1. They're costly (lol!)
2. You seem to have a straightforward relationship
3. Your husband's from Europe, and Europeans have it easy as they don't get scrutinized as much as applicants from, say, Asia, Africa, middle east, etc...

Lots of us here got approved just fine without hiring an immigration lawyer, just by implementing the tips from this forum =).

Cheers!

You guys are all so helpful. Thank you for the bottom of my heart. I just wrote a detailed letter for my going back to Canada like schooling, work, my future with my husband, what he will be doing etc. I'm also going to get my sister and mother to write a letter confirming me staying there with their handwritten signatures.

I have a question for you fan, how do you know the European people awaiting spousal sponsoring in Canada have a much higher success rate? Just for my own mind, is there any evidence of that I can read? Also about the 6-8 month wait is there any evidence of that? Anything I can read? It'll help both my husband and I.

 

[angryrectangle]

I have a question when printing photos of us, should they all be in colour or will black and white suffice?

CIC doesn't specify how they want the photos, but I'd print them in colour just to be on the safe side. We printed ours out as photos, then glued them to pre-captioned pieces of paper. The captions should mention who's in the photo (full names!), what's going on in the photo, who took the photo, and when it was taken.

I forgot to mention - for proof of relationship I also included tonnes of emails between my friends/family and I where I referenced our relationship. Example, I included an email written to my Grandma where I talked about what my husband and I did for Christmas, and that his family came over, etc.

 

[fandv]

I have a question for you fan, how do you know the European people awaiting spousal sponsoring in Canada have a much higher success rate? Just for my own mind, is there any evidence of that I can read? Also about the 6-8 month wait is there any evidence of that? Anything I can read? It'll help both my husband and I.

Success Rate

In the past people posted the data....for example this (but the numbers are kind of old though (from year 2011), but nowadays the numbers remain pretty much similar, I think):

http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/spousal-success-rates-by-processing-centre-t106766.0.html (as you can see, the London office has a 93% success rate)

And here's the latest statistics (updated in Sept 2013), provided by the CIC:

http://data.gc.ca/data/en/dataset/fd6f93ed-6249-42a4-ac30-5a1a7aa48389 (huge Excel file: 45 Mb)



Processing Time

Official, current numbers from the CIC:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/perm/fc-spouses.asp

And just for fun, here's a site that keeps track of people's self-reported processing times:

http://tinyurl.com/lwd2qy3

For your case, set the filter as follows:

Nationality = All
Canadian Visa Office = London, UK
Family Program = Spouses & Partners
Application Status = Approved

and then click "Go".

Using the above filter, I calculated the average processing time of the first 10 entries (I picked 10 arbitrarily), and it's 221.5 days which is 7.38 months.

And the processing times of people in this forum (CanadaVisa.com) (average processing time of first 10 entries = 6.63 months)

http://tinyurl.com/lmzd5pg (you can submit yours too if you wish...just ask someone on this London thread how you can submit yours too )