Moving to Canada when Husband has Canadian citizenship but never lived in Canada

[Kasia19.12]

Hi

I hope this is ok to post. We are a bit confused where to start. My husband has Canadian citizenship threw his mum and British citizenship, he never lived in Canada and I am a Polish citizen, our son is a British citizen.
We have been married for almost 7 years and have a 5 year old son, we live in UK.
What sort of visa should I apply for to be able to live and work in Canada while we're going threw the sponsorship procedure?
Thank you!

 

[21Goose]

Your husband needs to get a certificate of citizenship from the Canadian Consulate.

Once he has that, he can apply to sponsor you and your son under the Spousal Sponsorship program - however, he will need to show how you will all live in Canada once you become permanent residents. This may be a bit tough since he has no ties to Canada, but it's not impossible.

You don't necessarily have to be in Canada through this process, but if you do come to Canada and start the process here, you can get a work permit after about four months. If you stay outside Canada, you will have to wait till the process completes, which is about 12 months or so.

 

[21Goose]

If you do want to come to Canada, you and your son can fly in on an ETA, while your husband uses his certificate of citizenship to enter.

Then, once you're here, you begin the sponsorship process and wait 4 months to get your work permit. Once you have the work permit, you can start working while you wait to become a PR.

 

[Kasia19.12]

Thank you for a quick reply that is really helpful.
My husband has his certificate already and a Canadian passport he is currently in a process of getting a job as well so fingers crossed it all works out.
Is there any requirements for the sponsorship a minimum pay etc?

 

[21Goose]

Thank you for a quick reply that is really helpful.
My husband has his certificate already and a Canadian passport he is currently in a process of getting a job as well so fingers crossed it all works out.
Is there any requirements for the sponsorship a minimum pay etc?

There are no financial requirements to sponsor a spouse and dependent children. You will only have to show a reasonable plan to settle permanently in Canada.

 

[21Goose]

Read all about it here -> https://www.canada.ca/en/immigratio...ship/spouse-partner-children/eligibility.html

 

[Kasia19.12]

Thank you!

 

[vensak]

we technically, there is "financial" requirement. He just cannot be using social support in order to be able to sponsor you (of course that applies for Canada only).
Also criminal inadmissibility does still fully apply.
Medical inadmissibility would only be triggered if you or your son had an illness endangering public (think something heavily contagious like Ebola for example). Other than that no problem.

And actually your son should have dual citizenship (I do not recall Poland to be harsh when the second acquired citizenship is by birth or by descent). So you can import him to any EU country of your choice as long as you will be the first to find work there (or if you hurry, he can make it before Brexit). Good luck.

 

[Kasia19.12]

we technically, there is "financial" requirement. He just cannot be using social support in order to be able to sponsor you (of course that applies for Canada only).
Also criminal inadmissibility does still fully apply.
Medical inadmissibility would only be triggered if you or your son had an illness endangering public (think something heavily contagious like Ebola for example). Other than that no problem.

And actually your son should have dual citizenship (I do not recall Poland to be harsh when the second acquired citizenship is by birth or by descent). So you can import him to any EU country of your choice as long as you will be the first to find work there (or if you hurry, he can make it before Brexit). Good luck.

Thank you financially, criminal or medically it should not be an issue.
I never applied for polish citizenship for our son as he was born in UK and we don't plan to move to Poland, it's not brexit that is making us move it's more of a dream to live in Canada.

 

[vensak]

Thank you financially, criminal or medically it should not be an issue.
I never applied for polish citizenship for our son as he was born in UK and we don't plan to move to Poland, it's not brexit that is making us move it's more of a dream to live in Canada.

Lets believe, that just like for Japanese car manufacturers, Brexit has nothing to do with your decision.

Ok as long as you are OK with following, no problem:
1. You will be most likely worse off than in UK (also this is a bit debatable depending how will UK look in few years), but unless you or your husband are very specific professions, you will be worse off.
2. If your spouse was borne outside Canada and he has obtained his citizenship by descends, your son does not have right for Canadian citizenship (second generation abroad). From what you have told so far, it looks that way
3. If you decide for inland spousal sponsorship, you will have to come to Canada with your son and live there until your spousal sponsorship. Be aware that as a visitor you have no right to enter Canada. So technically either your ETA request can be denied or your can be denied on borders. Also this is not very probable, but still possible. In that case you will have to use outland spousal sponsorship and live abroad (UK or Poland) until decision is made.
4. You can get work permit for the time of inland sponsorship. However it takes around 3-4 months to get it after you will apply for it. But while you will be just a visitor you have no right for Canadian health insurance. Be ready for that.
5. Be aware that Canadian health insurance system is worse than one in Poland and most likely worse than in UK. (for example unless you have additional health insurance given by your employer or a private health insurance, you have to pay everything by dentist, optometrist, chiropod - one dealing with legs problems).
6. your diploma from studies from Poland, will be most of the cases worth almost nothing (it depends on your profession, but most of the time you have to redo certain exams and additional certification).
7. Similar will go for your husband (also he has higher chances for something to be recognized).
8. Your husband, despite being Canadian, will be treated as a newcomer when it comes to getting first job (simply because for some magical reason foreign work experience is worth much less).
9. Prepare that from certain age you will have to pay for education for your child (from app 16-17 years old and even sooner if it will be a private school). Compared to almost free European universities, education can really get expensive.
10. If you are looking forward to a better house market, well not really. If it will be cheaper, then it will be far away from any decent job opportunity. If it will be close to a job opportunities (except of some professions), then it will be in par or maybe more expensive when compare to the local salary situation.
11. Food price will be comparable to higher, but with a generally lower quality when compared to EU regulations.
12. Internet and phone call prices will be over the roof.
13. Gas prices on the other hand will be a bit cheaper.
14. Public transport is comparable to the public transport in EU cities of app. 1/5 to 1/10 size (for example GTA area that has decent public transport network, would equal with it Public transport level in Prague (total quantity); however GTA has app. 4-5 millions, while Prague has only around 1 million.
15. Flight tickets are expensive (again compared to options in EU).
16. Yes people are friendlier and nicer (at least on the surface). But at the end of the day they do not really care (so more or less same as in any bigger city in EU).
17. Nature can be nice, as long as you agree to live far away from any bigger city.

So in a nutshell it depends what you seek.

 

[hawk39]

Lets believe, that just like for Japanese car manufacturers, Brexit has nothing to do with your decision.

Ok as long as you are OK with following, no problem:
1. You will be most likely worse off than in UK (also this is a bit debatable depending how will UK look in few years), but unless you or your husband are very specific professions, you will be worse off.
2. If your spouse was borne outside Canada and he has obtained his citizenship by descends, your son does not have right for Canadian citizenship (second generation abroad). From what you have told so far, it looks that way
3. If you decide for inland spousal sponsorship, you will have to come to Canada with your son and live there until your spousal sponsorship. Be aware that as a visitor you have no right to enter Canada. So technically either your ETA request can be denied or your can be denied on borders. Also this is not very probable, but still possible. In that case you will have to use outland spousal sponsorship and live abroad (UK or Poland) until decision is made.
4. You can get work permit for the time of inland sponsorship. However it takes around 3-4 months to get it after you will apply for it. But while you will be just a visitor you have no right for Canadian health insurance. Be ready for that.
5. Be aware that Canadian health insurance system is worse than one in Poland and most likely worse than in UK. (for example unless you have additional health insurance given by your employer or a private health insurance, you have to pay everything by dentist, optometrist, chiropod - one dealing with legs problems).
6. your diploma from studies from Poland, will be most of the cases worth almost nothing (it depends on your profession, but most of the time you have to redo certain exams and additional certification).
7. Similar will go for your husband (also he has higher chances for something to be recognized).
8. Your husband, despite being Canadian, will be treated as a newcomer when it comes to getting first job (simply because for some magical reason foreign work experience is worth much less).
9. Prepare that from certain age you will have to pay for education for your child (from app 16-17 years old and even sooner if it will be a private school). Compared to almost free European universities, education can really get expensive.
10. If you are looking forward to a better house market, well not really. If it will be cheaper, then it will be far away from any decent job opportunity. If it will be close to a job opportunities (except of some professions), then it will be in par or maybe more expensive when compare to the local salary situation.
11. Food price will be comparable to higher, but with a generally lower quality when compared to EU regulations.
12. Internet and phone call prices will be over the roof.
13. Gas prices on the other hand will be a bit cheaper.
14. Public transport is comparable to the public transport in EU cities of app. 1/5 to 1/10 size (for example GTA area that has decent public transport network, would equal with it Public transport level in Prague (total quantity); however GTA has app. 4-5 millions, while Prague has only around 1 million.
15. Flight tickets are expensive (again compared to options in EU).
16. Yes people are friendlier and nicer (at least on the surface). But at the end of the day they do not really care (so more or less same as in any bigger city in EU).
17. Nature can be nice, as long as you agree to live far away from any bigger city.

So in a nutshell it depends what you seek.

Seeing as how that OP has already stated that she is not worried financially or medically, it seems like you are trying to dissuade the OP from her dream of moving to Canada .

Also, under your 2nd point, the OP implied that her husband is a citizen by descent and that her son is just a British citizen and that they are intending to go through the family sponsorship procedure, so it can be implied that she knows that her son is not Canadian by descent.

 

[vensak]

Seeing as how that OP has already stated that she is not worried financially or medically, it seems like you are trying to dissuade the OP from her dream of moving to Canada .

Also, under your 2nd point, the OP implied that her husband is a citizen by descent and that her son is just a British citizen and that they are intending to go through the family sponsorship procedure, so it can be implied that she knows that her son is not Canadian by descent.

I guess you misunderstood.
She is not worried about her spousal sponsorship application to be rejected because of criminal, medical, financial. Meaming, that she does not have criminal record, public threatening illness or her husband is not using social support in Canada.
However it has nothing to do with her potential expectation to Canada which she did not state at all. That is why I have stated whole list with back-draws she needs to count with. Where she is coming from, Canada does not look that shiny and it is not about choice of a better life (she already has that in EU), but about preferences of a country and environment.

As for her spouse. She mentioned that he is Canadian despite never been in Canada. So that would rule out pretty much being Canadian by birth (he was never in his life in Canada) and also being Canadian by naturalisation (again he was never in his life in Canada to activate PR and get citizenship)
So unless he is a special case (of a Canadian born to a Canadian in official governmental service) or unless he just does not know (he was taken out shortly after he was born), he would be first generation born abroad. Which would make her son second generation born abroad. So her son most likely does not have right for Canadian citizenship and has to be sponsored first.

 

[hawk39]

I guess you misunderstood.
She is not worried about her spousal sponsorship application to be rejected because of criminal, medical, financial. Meaming, that she does not have criminal record, public threatening illness or her husband is not using social support in Canada.
However it has nothing to do with her potential expectation to Canada which she did not state at all. That is why I have stated whole list with back-draws she needs to count with. Where she is coming from, Canada does not look that shiny and it is not about choice of a better life (she already has that in EU), but about preferences of a country and environment.

As for her spouse. She mentioned that he is Canadian despite never been in Canada. So that would rule out pretty much being Canadian by birth (he was never in his life in Canada) and also being Canadian by naturalisation (again he was never in his life in Canada to activate PR and get citizenship)
So unless he is a special case (of a Canadian born to a Canadian in official governmental service) or unless he just does not know (he was taken out shortly after he was born), he would be first generation born abroad. Which would make her son second generation born abroad. So her son most likely does not have right for Canadian citizenship and has to be sponsored first.

I just felt that your list of cons was an attempt to dissuade the OP after she responded that she was not worried about being inadmissible; she did not ask for the pros or cons of living in Canada compared to the EU, just that it is her dream to move to Canada and if she could live and work in Canada while her sponsorship application was being processed, which 21Goose pretty much answered. She may or may not be happy living in the EU, we don't know that; she just wrote that "it's more of a dream to live in Canada" and since she has a very plausible path already set out on how to achieve this goal, writing out a list of cons can seem like a very pessimistic way of derailing her efforts; I feel that wishing her 'the best of luck' would have been a more appropriate response.

As for your 2nd point, I felt she already knew that her son is not a citizen by descent ("while we're going threw the sponsorship procedure"), so pointing this out was not necessary.

 

[vensak]

I just felt that your list of cons was an attempt to dissuade the OP after she responded that she was not worried about being inadmissible; she did not ask for the pros or cons of living in Canada compared to the EU, just that it is her dream to move to Canada and if she could live and work in Canada while her sponsorship application was being processed, which 21Goose pretty much answered. She may or may not be happy living in the EU, we don't know that; she just wrote that "it's more of a dream to live in Canada" and since she has a very plausible path already set out on how to achieve this goal, writing out a list of cons can seem like a very pessimistic way of derailing her efforts; I feel that wishing her 'the best of luck' would have been a more appropriate response.

As for your 2nd point, I felt she already knew that her son is not a citizen by descent ("while we're going threw the sponsorship procedure"), so pointing this out was not necessary.

Ok I do admit I went further mile to give her a very realistic insight. Truth is that Canada does not have that much shine when compared to 28 countries of EU. Why so many countries? Because that is where she has access with her current citizenship.
Now despite her husband being Canadian, he was never around to get any first hand experience from Canada. So unless he has strong contacts in Canada already, he would be in very similar position of every other newcomer.
With that said chances are higher that they will get their life standard lowered for certain period of time (given the fact that they are now living in UK).
And having an easy option to immigrate will not prevent her from potential disappointment Actually it might even deepen it, if the relative investment to the process was less significant (for example compared to EE) and if the life left behind was very good.
So if she wants to live in Canada because of Canada, sure. But it is more about better life, then she already has that in EU.

What it would be good for (which has of course nothing to do with "dream to live in the country") is to get in, get citizenship for her and her son and get out (USA for example). And yes living in Canada before getting PR does count as 1/2, so that will get her even faster to this goal (albeit maybe not, because inland sponsorships do take longer, so at the end of the day it might be the same thing).
That would also explain her reluctance to get Polish citizenship for her child (also it does not really matter, as he has right for it from the time he was born, so whatever prohibitive law for a dual citizenship might be there, might still affect him).
But of course, stating such reason openly on the forum would be much less appealing.

 

[Kasia19.12]

Hawk39 thank you!!
Well this is a very grim conversation right now.
Vensak your posts are very negative.
I know my son will need to get citizenship threw sponsorship. My choice for not getting him polish citizenship is just that my choice, he's 5 atm when he's older he can make his own choices.
List of cons as there were not many pros is really not that bad living in Poland and UK I think I seen it all by now.
I am aware it won't all be flowers, butterflies etc. It's life and it's hard but if you're willing to put hard work into it I'm optimistic we will be just fine.
I'm not looking for a handout I always worked for a living and if my polish bachelor degree won't be accepted I won't cry about it there's plenty of other jobs I can do.
If you were trying to put me off you failed. Also I'm not planning to move to US and use Canada as a stopping point no idea where you got that from...