OHIP Eligibility if planning to leave Ontario

[immi2grate]

I have been a PR since 5 years, but my wife landed on March 1st and got her OHIP on 1st June, 2013.

She is pregnant and we wanted to go to Pakistan for at least 3 months before returning. I called the OHIP helpline to make sure that she will still be eligible as per the requirements of 153 days residence in Ontario out of the first 183 days.

According to the website it says:

- be physically present in Ontario for 153 days in any 12-month period; and
- be physically present in Ontario for at least 153 days of the first 183 days immediately after establishing residency in the province; and make your primary place of residence in Ontario.

Now she got her residency on 1st March, so according to that she has fulfilled the 153 days out of 183 days requirements. But the operator told me that the date starts from when she got her OHIP, that is, June 1st. If that is the case, then the official website has got it wrong, they should list 153 from the first day of receiving OHIP and not establishing residency in the province.

Who is in the wrong here? Was it an uninformed operator or the website is wrong? Or Am I reading it wrong?

 

[Leon]

Call again and see if you get another operator that tells you something else. Maybe you are reading it wrong. In any case, it's the people at OHIP who will decide that and not the members of this forum. If the next operator tells you that it's her landing date that counts, you should ask for her name and write that down with the date she told you that so you can claim that later on if you need to.

Personally, I think it is risky to let your wife travel to Pakistan for 3 months while pregnant. If she has some complications with her pregnancy and can not fly back, your baby will be born in Pakistan and will be stuck there for quite some time while you sponsor it.