Husband working in USA but wants to immigrate to Canada with me.

[XiningMAMA]

Greetings.

I've been married to my American husband for 13 years. We have three kids. We've been living overseas in Asia up till last year. I moved to Canada with the kids while he finished a job up in Asia. I have a good job in Canada and want to stay here (I am Canadian by birth). We are now looking at how to proceed with husbands status in Canada.

He would like to work in the States, commuting over the border since we are so close.

Should we apply for PR from OUTSIDE Canada? If so, will he be able to come in and out of Canada or is there the possibility that a border agent could put a stop to it.

If he applies from inside Canada, he will not be able to leave the country for over a year?

Any suggestions for what we could do?

Thank you.

 

[amikety]

You're correct about applying Inland. It's not recommended to leave Canada. If he's denied entry into Canada for any reason, it will abandon the application.

Outland sponsorship for you should be relatively fast (if you both have clean backgrounds, etc). You can sponsor him now, even though he's living in Asia. Ottawa posts their 80% processing time at 13 months. This means 80% of all applications are procesesed in this time or less. Many are done in 7-8 and some are even faster. (You can check out the Ottawa spreadsheet in my signature.)

Before he has his PR card, he may have issues commuting everyday back and forth across the border. I would suggest he carries proof of the PR application, the address in Canada, and his job in the USA for each crossing. A lot of other users also recommend a Nexus card. (I don't know a lot about them because I don't have one.)

He should be realistic about it however. He may be denied entry from time-to-time. Having a backup plan would be a good idea.

 

[XiningMAMA]

So I would then apply "outside Canada" for my husband, even though I am living in Canada and would be his sponsor?

He would continue to cross over to spend time with us as he's allowed and work in the States/Asia?

Amy

 

[amikety]

So I would then apply "outside Canada" for my husband, even though I am living in Canada and would be his sponsor?

He would continue to cross over to spend time with us as he's allowed and work in the States/Asia?

Amy

Yes, that's the idea. Just remember, frequent crossing may draw extra scrutiny. Americans usually don't have issues crossing, especially with proof of the PR application (since he's working outside Canada, I strongly advise him to carry that proof too). However, there's always a chance he'll run into an IO having a bad day. His entry into Canada isn't guaranteed until he's a PR.

I wouldn't let that hinder your plans though. If he wants to move to Canada, go ahead and get the process started. Start with police certificates - he'll need one for any country he's lived in for 6 months or more. They took me about 5 weeks for the USA (and I was inside Canada). Check into times for the Asian certificates and try to time things well. I say try because that's all you can do!

Medicals should be the last thing you do because they expire after a year.

 

[XiningMAMA]

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!