Inland Spouce Sponsorship

[basilicious]

Good morning,

I am just in the process of understanding how I sponsor my soon to be husband to move to Canada. As we are christians and do not wish to live together prior to marriage we have a few questions that we are struggling to find answers to...

1. When he crosses the boarder in June just before the wedding does he tell them he is getting married? What is the best answer in this situation. We do not wish to lie but we want him to have a good chance of staying here.

2. Can he move his belongings when he comes across the boarder. An immigration office in USA told us that if either of us is suspected to have anything more than a suitcase they could deny us entry. This is not very comforting to someone moving to be married. If you could clarify this for us.

3. His current employer is interested in setting up a home office. I know there is some regulartions about when he can work. What would you suggest in this situation. If you could also let me understand when he is legally able to work after moving.

We both have been searching for hours on the government website and find it confusing. Answering some of these questions will be a huge help.

Thanks

 

[mikeymyke]

Your fiance is an American, so that will make things significantly easier for you guys, as they easily are granted 6 month stays in most cases.

Since you guys wont live together prior to marriage, common-law is out of the question, as is conjugal, only sponsorship method would be inland or outland. But you should never apply inland as an American, as the processing time is extremely long and the spouse is not supposed to leave Canada during the entire process. Inland is really only good if the applicant expects to have a long processing time, but Americans easily get PR in 3 months by going outland. Outland would be the best way for you guys.

When you cross the border, you should always be honest. If you lie and if they question him further and is caught in the lie, it will cause a lot of problems for him. Always always be honest. Telling them you're getting married won't cause him to be denied at the border, as Americans are very easily permitted to do so. After he crosses the border and gets married, you should file OUTLAND, then your husband can just simply stay in Canada until he gets his permanent residence (he gets 6 month stay, but many outland Americans get their PR in 3 months, so your hubby should be able to get his PR by the time his visitor status expires). At this point, maybe other members can help me, but I believe that then he is supposed to then leave Canada, go to US, and then come back and land as a new immigrant. But some people do a thing called "flagpoling" which saves them lots of time and money. Keep in mind just because you file outland doesn't mean your spouse has to be away from Canada, he can still file outland while in Canada.

He should not take all his worldly belongs with him, just take enough for a month vacation or so, as he will likely be denied entry if they feel he's planning on living in Canada, not visit. Remember, your husband is coming to Canada this time to VISIT, NOT to LIVE, so he should not take all his belongs like if he was going to live there. I know it sounds silly that if the border officers know he's planning on marrying in Canada and eventually living in Canada, why shouldn't he be allowed to take all his belongings to Canada anyway right? Well the border officer doesn't know if your husband will eventually be approved or not, and regardless of that, they have to treat everyone equally as a visitor.

He is permitted to work while as a visitor as long as the company is not Canadian.

 

[Kayaker]

+1 to everything mikeymike said.

I'll add - don't take more than a couple of suitcases, and don't take furniture, appliances, etc. Have him put them in storage or ask friends/family to keep them for a few months. Most likely he's going to get PR in a few months, so the inconvenience is minor. (Compared to the inconvenience of a hassle and possible entry refusal at the border, right? Always minimize your risks.) If there are certain things he really really wants, he can ask friends/family to send them over. Depending on the contents, they may or may not charge import duties. Unless the things are obviously new or obviously expensive (like electronics or smth) I don't think they'd make him pay duties. (I had my mother ship me a few boxes of clothes and books and dinnerware while I was waiting for PR here, and I didn't pay any duties. But that may be because the things were not new or valuable.)

Saying he's getting married at the border should not be a problem. Best be honest. What they're most concerned about is that he will then stay indefinitely - illegally. He should make it clear that he understands the rules, that he is a visitor and that he cannot work or study, or stay beyond the time given him (default is 6 months, but they may give him less.) and if he wants to visit for longer, he needs to apply for an extension. (You can do this online, it's straightforward and costs only 100$.) He can also let them know that he knows that if he wants to move to Canada, he needs to apply for PR, and he is planning to do that. As long as he can satisfy them that he's not going to try to go around the rules or something, they will be ok.

As long as his employer is not Canadian, he should be fine. Also, probably a better idea to have them keep on paying him at his American bank account. He can probably wire himself money over as he needs it, or use his U.S. credit card, or something.

He can work for a Canadian employer after he has been granted PR. For U.S. Outland applicants, that's probably about 6 to 8 months, if your case has no flags (no criminal record, no non-accompanying children, no misrepresentation (which means lying on the forms, or omitting to mention important stuff like having a criminal record) no problems with medical). For Inland applicants, probably he can work after 14 months or so, after he gets stage 1 approval. (The total time for PR Inland is probably around 2 years, but this fluctuates. Lately the wait period has been getting drastically longer, and no one knows if this trend is continuing or not.)

I know mikeymike said this, but apply OUTLAND. Don't even think of Inland. Makes no sense for U.S. applicants.

Good luck!

P.S. FBI background checks seem to be taking 12 weeks now. So bear that in mind when you are getting your application together. (But it must not be more than 3 months old when you submit it, so don't apply for it too early either...)

 

[QuebecOkie]

I am NOT posting this to be negative, but just to try to help make sure you manage your expectations in a realistic way. While it's true that it is much, MUCH better for US applicants to submit an outland application (seriously, an inland app for a US citizen is basically insanity as things currently stand), there is absolutely no guarantee he will get PR in 3 months. Yes, some are getting through the process that quickly. But expecting the process to only take three months is setting yourselves up for disappointment and stress. Plan for the worst, hope for the best, and then you won't be sorely disappointed if his application takes 5 or 8 months, instead. CIC is terribly inconsistent. The rest of what you were told is spot-on.

The only thing that is within your power when it comes to this process is putting together the best application possible to avoid any unnecessary delays. Start now. Start collecting proof of your relationship. Start to read through the forms and get familiar with the application packet. Look at your timeline - date for the wedding, how long it will take to get your marriage certificate after, how quickly you plan to send off your application packet once you have all of that - so that you can start to plan when you need to request his FBI certificate and when to schedule the medical exam (can be done in the US or in Canada - you may want to compare prices; it's good for one year, so you don't want to do it crazy-early, but doing it a month or two before you submit the app wouldn't be a problem).

Good luck! And don't hesitate to ask the forum when you have questions. The folks here are a truly invaluable resource!

 

[mikeymyke]

Yes thanks Quebecokie. She's right. 3 months is probably the fastest you could get if you have no issues or problems, and with a bit of luck. Plan for 6-8 months at the worst.