Is it okay to have your mailing address different than your residential address?

[countrygal]

The title pretty much explains it all. I sent in my app on January 8th and on our forum I have seen some concerns. Is it okay to have your mailing address different than your residential? I guess someone had their app sent back because of this. I put my mailing address as my parents residence in Canada due to the fact that I live on a dusty road in Mexico and they just throw the Mail on the streets so that is why I listed my parents address for mailing. So is it okay that they are different??? Thank you in advance.

 

[scylla]

Yes - it's fine. We had two different addresses.

 

[countrygal]

Yes - it's fine. We had two different addresses.

Okay thank you very much!

 

[canusa13]

I'm guessing you're the sponsored spouse? I put a different residential and mailing address for my sponsored spouse and our application got sent back. So...

 

[jr4210]

I'm guessing you're the sponsored spouse? I put a different residential and mailing address for my sponsored spouse and our application got sent back. So...

What's the reasoning behind that? And why would someone else then have two different addresses and not face any issues?

If someone receives their mail to one address, say where they work as it is here, and they live somewhere else, shouldn't this be fine?

 

[scylla]

There are many reasons why the two addresses could be different.

I can only speak from my personal experience. My husband (American) had a primary residence in the US (i.e. property he owned and had lived in) which we listed as his residential address - since that's what it technically was. However for several years, he had been spending the majority of his time staying in Canada as a tourist with me (he's a consultant and has flexibility in location and travel) and didn't have access to his home mail consistently. So we listed my home address in Toronto as his mailing address. We had supporting evidence in the application that demonstrated the US address was in fact his home and his primary address while in the US. In our relationship letter (or whatever the heck that thing is called), we were transparent in saying that my husband had been spending a great deal of time (most of his time) in Canada staying with me in my home. CIC was perfectly fine with this and all of his mail was sent to my address.

 

[jr4210]

So is it safe to assume that the returning of an application is because residential and mailing addresses are listed in different countries?

That I can understand, since technically you're not physically there to receive your mail, so would need a representative.

 

[scylla]

So is it safe to assume that the returning of an application is because residential and mailing addresses are listed in different countries?

That I can understand, since technically you're not physically there to receive your mail, so would need a representative.

No - I don't think it's safe to assume that at all.

My husband listed a residential and mailing address that were in two different countries. His application was processed in four months without being returned.

We listed no representative.

 

[biag_ni_lam-ang]

The title pretty much explains it all. I sent in my app on January 8th and on our forum I have seen some concerns. Is it okay to have your mailing address different than your residential? I guess someone had their app sent back because of this. I put my mailing address as my parents residence in Canada due to the fact that I live on a dusty road in Mexico and they just throw the Mail on the streets so that is why I listed my parents address for mailing. So is it okay that they are different??? Thank you in advance.

Yes:
In my application i put different address mailing and current home address but it works fine.

 

[mandiebraxton]

I believe it all boils down to being consistent throught the application. Sometimes postal addresses are different from residential addresses. For instance Q12 on IMM5669 requires a physical address, and this address should correspond with Q2 of IMM0008 under contact information and Section A of IMM5406 (present address).

I believe people's application are being retunred because of the inconsistencies in the address on the various forms.

*Mandie*

 

[canusa13]

I can only speak from my personal experience. My husband (American) had a primary residence in the US (i.e. property he owned and had lived in) which we listed as his residential address - since that's what it technically was. However for several years, he had been spending the majority of his time staying in Canada as a tourist with me (he's a consultant and has flexibility in location and travel) and didn't have access to his home mail consistently. So we listed my home address in Toronto as his mailing address. We had supporting evidence in the application that demonstrated the US address was in fact his home and his primary address while in the US. In our relationship letter (or whatever the heck that thing is called), we were transparent in saying that my husband had been spending a great deal of time (most of his time) in Canada staying with me in my home. CIC was perfectly fine with this and all of his mail was sent to my address.
[/quote]

That was exactly our situation. My husband maintains a residence in the US where his mail comes in but he is staying with me in Canada as a visitor. We put his American address as residential address and my Canadian address as his mailing address (so that we get the mail faster, without his brother having to forward it to my address). CIC returned the application. Following advice from this board's members, we filed a new application with my Canadian address as his residential and mailing address (with a note that he's staying here as a visitor). It's been almost 2 months and they haven't returned it. I'm expecting the AOR any day now.

I honestly believe that it all depends who processes your application. Our first version perfectly made sense, with plenty of explanations, in several places re: his address. It didn't work for that particular officer. I know that some people (like scylla, who provided plenty of advice when I was filling out our application and had it subsequently returned) had their application go through smoothly. I wasn't this lucky and got put behind a few weeks. I'm just sharing my experience and having read multiple threads about this issue, CIC is pretty inconsistent when it comes to the address issue, which results in a lot of frustration because there's no clear guidelines.

 

[canusa13]

I believe it all boils down to being consistent throught the application. Sometimes postal addresses are different from residential addresses. For instance Q12 on IMM5669 requires a physical address, and this address should correspond with Q2 of IMM0008 under contact information and Section A of IMM5406 (present address).

I believe people's application are being retunred because of the inconsistencies in the address on the various forms.

*Mandie*

That wasn't the case in our application. We put my husband's American address as his residential address on every single form (current address, list of addresses in the past years etc). The only place we put my Canadian address was the line with mailing address. In several places (relationship history etc) we explained that he is currently a visitor in Canada staying with me. Which, in my opinion, was a good enough explanation why the mailing address is my address and not his residential address. Anyway, it didn't work out and I wanted the OP to be aware of it.

 

[mandiebraxton]

That wasn't the case in our application. We put my husband's American address as his residential address on every single form (current address, list of addresses in the past years etc). The only place we put my Canadian address was the line with mailing address. In several places (relationship history etc) we explained that he is currently a visitor in Canada staying with me. Which, in my opinion, was a good enough explanation why the mailing address is my address and not his residential address. Anyway, it didn't work out and I wanted the OP to be aware of it.

Thanks for that clarification. I am speaking fromt the point of view where both addresses are in the same country. Looks like they frown upon listing addresses from two different countries. Hope others can shed more light on their experience so that future applicants don't go through the same frustration

*Mandie*

 

[scylla]

That wasn't the case in our application. We put my husband's American address as his residential address on every single form (current address, list of addresses in the past years etc). The only place we put my Canadian address was the line with mailing address. In several places (relationship history etc) we explained that he is currently a visitor in Canada staying with me. Which, in my opinion, was a good enough explanation why the mailing address is my address and not his residential address. Anyway, it didn't work out and I wanted the OP to be aware of it.

I think that was your problem and why your application was returned. My Canadian address was listed in two places - as my husband's mailing address and also as his current address (i.e. where he was technically living at the time the application was submitted - albeit as a tourist). You can't just list a separate mailing address without that address either being the address of your representative (in which case you'd have to include a signed representative form) or that address where the applicant is living now. I think that was the inconsistency that caused your application to be returned (at least that's how I think CIC would have seen it).

 

[canusa13]

I think that was your problem and why your application was returned. My Canadian address was listed in two places - as my husband's mailing address and also as his current address (i.e. where he was technically living at the time the application was submitted - albeit as a tourist). You can't just list a separate mailing address without that address either being the address of your representative (in which case you'd have to include a signed representative form) or that address where the applicant is living now. I think that was the inconsistency that caused your application to be returned (at least that's how I think CIC would have seen it).

That may have been the case. Obviously, I'll never find out.
It's not like I provided some random address though. It was the sponsor's address (mine). If they needed me to be a representative (why? doesn't make any sense), they should have clarified it in the guideline. The guideline is SO vague that unless your case is cut and dry, you are bound to make mistakes. It's very frustrating.