First off, congrats to everyone whose applications have moved forward. Its an extremely long process...my wife and I were not able to stay apart for even 2 months, and I know so many people have been apart far longer than that. We were lucky enough to get TRV applications approved not once, but twice!!
We applied for my wife's PR in September 2014, and she is in Canada right now on a TRV which is valid until her passport expires. She of course can't stay longer than 6 months at a time, but I anticipate that her PR
should come before that time expires. Worst case, we'll just apply to have her visit extended.
I was reading natrajs35's post (congrats once again!), and it seems that their situation is similar to ours. We have not had any contact with CIC, and my wife's medical results expire later this month.
I realize most of what I am about to ask has been asked already, so please forgive me.
- Should we go ahead and get her medical exam re-done before it expires? Or should we wait until CIC requests them again?
- I have been reading on this forum that when CIC sends you the PPR, you have the choice to send your passport to either New Delhi or Ottawa, if the applicant is already in Canada (on a TRV or a work/student visa), EVEN IF the application was sent outland.
I called the CIC call center to ask if this was true, and I was told that its not. Apparently we are supposed to write to NDVO asking that the file be transferred to Ottawa, and IF the request is approved, then it will take time for all the paperwork to be transferred. The call center agent made it seem like its better to just send the passport to NDVO.
We have decided to just wait for the PPR, and if the letter says it can be sent to Ottawa, we'll do that.
So what is the truth? Can anyone post a sample PPR letter (with their details removed/redacted?) so I can see what their wording is? Can the passport actually be sent to Ottawa?
- This is along the same lines as the last question, and someone can correct me if I am wrong. But as far as I understand it, when my wife first officially enters Canada as a permanent resident, she is allowed to bring as much stuff as she wants duty free, correct?
If we send the passport to Ottawa, and then drive to the US border and back to complete her landing, would she "lose" this right? In other words, she has some clothes and stuff still back home in India. So if we go with the US border route, would that be "wasting" or "using" that first "duty free" entry? I had asked the CIC call center about this too, but the agent had no idea, and said I should check with CBSA.
Thanks!