How do I know the sponsorship form that I am working on is inland or outland?

[tommyn79]

I am living in Canada .. and my girlfriend is living in southeast Asia, and we will get married soon, then I have to use the outland sponsorship forms.
I printed the forms from think link http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/fc.asp

Are there forms for outland sponsorship?

Thank you

 

[fandv]

I am living in Canada .. and my girlfriend is living in southeast Asia, and we will get married soon, then I have to use the outland sponsorship forms.
I printed the forms from think link http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/fc.asp

Are there forms for outland sponsorship?

Thank you

The link that you specified above contains all the necessary forms for outland applicants. Make sure to write Singapore (your spouse is from Vietnam right?) instead of Mississauga, in IMM 0008 page 1 question 4 ("Immigration office requested for processing this application").



Inland forms are here (but obviously don't use them...I'm only showing you just in case you're curious):

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/spouse.asp

 

[tommyn79]

The link that you specified above contains all the necessary forms for outland applicants. Make sure to write Singapore (your spouse is from Vietnam right?) instead of Mississauga, in IMM 0008 page 1 question 4 ("Immigration office requested for processing this application").

Good Guess.. but can you please tell me why I have to write Singapore instead of Vietnam, I am totally confused

 

[amikety]

Good Guess.. but can you please tell me why I have to write Singapore instead of Vietnam, I am totally confused

Because there isn't a VO in Vietnam. You write the name of the Visa Office that you want the application to go to - the office your spouse will be able to get to without issues if he or she needs an interview.

A Visa Office and Embassy are different things. Just because Vietnam has an Embassy doesn't mean they have a Visa Office. Only Visa Offices have the personnel and training to process sponsorship files.

 

[tommyn79]

Thanks... ..

So when I am done with my application .. I have to send it to Mississauga Address or to the Visa Office in Singapore?.. ..

 

[Rob_TO]

Because there isn't a VO in Vietnam. You write the name of the Visa Office that you want the application to go to - the office your spouse will be able to get to without issues if he or she needs an interview.

Even though the OP's designated visa office is in Singapore, wouldn't any interview be held in their home country of Vietnam?

Or would CIC demand an applicant do international air travel to attend an interview?

 

[fandv]

Even though the OP's designated visa office is in Singapore, wouldn't any interview be held in their home country of Vietnam?

Or would CIC demand an applicant do international air travel to attend an interview?

I keep wondering about the same thing! I guess it's possible. In 1998 my dad applied under the equivalent of today's FSW class, and he had to fly from Indonesia to Singapore to attend the interview...

Thanks... ..

So when I am done with my application .. I have to send it to Mississauga Address or to the Visa Office in Singapore?.. ..

You send it to the Mississauga address, and that's it. Then once the people at Mississauga are done assessing your eligibility to sponsor your wife, they will forward your paperwork to the Singapore visa office, so you don't need to worry about it.

Good Guess.. but can you please tell me why I have to write Singapore instead of Vietnam, I am totally confused

I am not sure about the background of this whole thing, so let's just say that "it's just the way it is" ;D. My educated guess, though, is probably they do it that way because the sponsor is either a PR or Canadian citizen, so it makes sense that the people doing all the background checks are in Canada. (In case you're not aware, the application consists of 2 parts: the sponsor's part, and the sponsored person's part ).

Whereas, the sponsored person is, well, from a foreign country, so it makes sense that the background checks + permanent resident application are assessed at the sponsored person's country (or at the very least, at a country that is close to the sponsored person's country...that he/she can go to (in case an interview is necessary) without encountering much difficulty (such as in obtaining a tourist visa, if needed at all). This is especially true for applicants from non visa exempt countries...usually they have a hard time getting a Canadian tourist visa.

If you go here:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/offices/apply-where.asp

and scroll down to Vietnam, you'll see that for "Applications for Permanent Resident Visas", it says Singapore.

But yeah, you can trust us. Send the package to Mississauga, and let those guys take care of the rest .

Most importantly, spend a good day or two (or even three), to read every single word here, and sooner or later you'll gain a much better understanding of how everything works....and when in doubt, simply post your question on this forum ;D

 

[tommyn79]

Thanks.. man

 

[Rob_TO]

I keep wondering about the same thing! I guess it's possible. In 1998 my dad applied under the equivalent of today's FSW class, and he had to fly from Indonesia to Singapore to attend the interview...

I've heard both ways then. Some cases the applicant needs to travel to VO, and in other cases the VO travels to do interview at the applicant's home country.

but can you please tell me why I have to write Singapore instead of Vietnam, I am totally confused

Another simple answer here, is that CIC doesn't want to spend the money to have VOs in every single country in the world. They consolidate their offices so 1 main office can process PR applications from the countries close to it. In your case Vietnam might only see a hundred or so applications per year, so it's much cheaper for CIC to send all those applications to Singapore where they already have the overheads and VOs in place. Right now Singapore does applications for around a dozen countries, including Thailand, Malaysia, Laos and others.

CIC tracks the number of applications being done yearly at all the VOs in the world, and is making constant changes on what countries justify the cost of have a dedicated VO vs which get pushed to other countries. i.e. recently Japan and Korea had their own VOs, but they were closed down and now they are processed in Manila.

 

[amikety]

I've heard both ways then. Some cases the applicant needs to travel to VO, and in other cases the VO travels to do interview at the applicant's home country.

I have also heard the same thing. I would speculate it depends on the relative safety of the country for travel (which depends on cultural and political factors as well as the ethnic background of the officer doing the interview) and number of applicants from that country. With so many VOs closing and their applications going to Manila, I guess we'll start to hear more about this as time goes by.

 

[Rob_TO]

I have also heard the same thing. I would speculate it depends on the relative safety of the country for travel (which depends on cultural and political factors as well as the ethnic background of the officer doing the interview) and number of applicants from that country. With so many VOs closing and their applications going to Manila, I guess we'll start to hear more about this as time goes by.

Perhaps CIC gives the applicant an option. They can choose to travel to the VO and have the interview asap, or if they choose to have it in their home country they will need to wait until enough interviews are scheduled that a VO can travel to their home country to do them (i'm sure a VO wouldn't incur travel time/expenses just for a single interview). However in this case the applicant may need to wait many months before they can do their interview.