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Need advice on whether to apply for PR status from US or CN

Mar 16, 2006
3
0
I am a US citizen. My husband is a Canadian citizen. Our child was born in NYC where we currently live. We are moving to Canada (Alberta) in June of this year.
Actually I have 2 questions:

1. Since we are moving to Canada in June, should I wait to apply for PR as sponsored spouse until we get to CN or go ahead and apply from here in the US?

I see the wait-times are shorter if I apply here in the US but I am concerned about receiving in the mail the CIC's response as in 6-19 months time we will already be in Canada.
Side note: I also qualify as a Skilled Worker but that seems to take much longer to get PR status than as sponsored spouse, so I am doing the sponsored spouse application.

2. Since we are moving in June, should I wait to apply for my son's Proof of Citizenship (which he gets b/c dad is CN) which has a 5-7 month wait?
Again my fear is that the CIC would contact us at the NYC address and we will have already moved to Alberta by that time.

Thank you so much for your help!
 
Mar 16, 2006
3
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Addendum to above post

Also, my husband is in NYC now with us. Our place of permanent residence is his parents' house in Alberta where we will reside temporarily until my husband gets a new job (we're looking in Alberta and BC). It seems I won't be able to work until I get my PR status so I'm assuming I will just be there as a visitor or something like that?

I don't know if this extra detail helps you answer my questions but I hope so!
 

peterm

Newbie
Jan 7, 2006
9
0
I received my daughter's citizenship card in approx 2.5 months (although they said it could take longer, I seem to recall). I don't know if I got lucky or this is typical. I applied through the L.A. consulate (not sure if that makes a difference since it is processed in Canada)
 

shahe22

Member
Feb 3, 2006
11
0
Hello, I think the senario should be like this: you'll move to Canada with your husband and apply for your PR (Family Class) from within Canada and this will take longer than if you're applying from Outside Canada (spouses who are away from their families have the greater priority), you won't be able to work, and you won't be able to travel outside Canada either (you can travel but coming back to Canada is not guaranteed) untill you get your PR. So I think that you apply from outside Canada and move with your husband with a visitor visa to Alberta, but you'll have to go back to your home country to complete some procedures (like interview or something) and provide documents maybe they ask you for. the two options will keep you close to your family. don't waste your time in applying for Skilled worker, but on the other hand your husband won't be able to sponsor you unless he get a steady job with a good salary. so frankly things won't be easy for your situation!!
 
Mar 16, 2006
3
0
Work visa

Thanks for the responses so far!
As an American I don't need a visitor visa. I can be in Canada for 6 months at a time as a 'tourist'. That said, I will be applying for jobs in Canada now (am in financial services) and my understanding is that as an American, all I need is a letter from my Canadian employer stating that I work for them to show at the border. Of course that is assuming I will land a job in Canada which isn't a sure thing at this point.
The other odd thing is that my husband doesn't really need to 'sponsor' me per say as I am finanically solvent myself from my own work experience; in fact I would over-qualify in the skilled worker category but as that takes much longer to get, we're going with the Family Class application. Too bad there's not an even higher priority status given to people who are spouses, also qualify as skilled workers, and also don't need finanical sponsorship. Oh well.
Still not sure if we should start the process now in America or wait until we get to Canada in June - I'm thinking it makes sense to start it now and just add it in the application that we're moving as the CIC website also allows you to file address changes and such.