Hopefully Helpful Tips from Manila with in Family Class/Spouse
Background: My wife and I live in Metro Manila, Philippines. I am a Canadian citizen and she is Filipina. We were married in the Philippines in July 2007, we are now in the process of readying to move to Canada. We are waiting for her Permanent Residence from the Visa Office in Manila.
As a matter of record-keeping and perhaps to provide some small advice for anyone wishing to do the same, we have compiled some notes from our experience. Some of this may apply to your case, while other items may not. We are in a unique situation in that myself, the sponsor, resides outside of Canada. This is different from most situations where the sponsor resides in Canada. We have had to clarify many nuances that did not appear to be clearly spelled out at the CIC web site. Hope this is of use to anyone in a similar situation in the future.
Good Luck!
Dan & Carol
Philippines
Getting Documents:
Contrary to what the CIC web site states, there are NO immigration forms or guides available at the Canadian Embassy in Makati. We were told to print all the required forms from the CIC web site. After getting the right kit information, we downloaded all the PDF files and had them laser printed. We then made xerox copies of everything we printed. It worked best to have a rough draft copy and work out all the kinks on that copy, making notes as we went.
By the way, don't try calling the embassy for immigration matters. The recorded message simply tells you to visit the CIC web site. Unless you have a lot of time, don't bother emailing Manila either. We emailed, stating that I was a Canadian citizen, asked a basic question and they replied 25 days later. If you must, visit in person. They are only open until 11A.M. and don't expect any results. They have an elaborate system in place to keep the masses out of their offices.
Sponsor's Documents:
Getting my documents was fairly easy as I already had my full birth certificate from Canada and my passport had been recently renewed. I did three things to help our case a little though;
1: I requested that my parents (in Canada) write us a letter of support. The letter basically says "We're looking forward to having you back home. The job market is good. Best wishes, Mom & Dad, Signed & Dated." This came in the mail about a month after we requested it. Remember to give yourself some time to allow for mail delivery from overseas.
2: I had my friend in Canada write up an offer of employment for me. After reading the fine print and understanding that we have to provide evidence that we will successfully settle, I think the job offer was a good idea.
3: I wrote a letter addressed to the CIC Caseworker explaining our plans to settle in Canada. I included my employment experience, job prospects, family and extended family in the area we plan to settle and my relationship history with my wife.
Applicant's Documents:
Getting all the papers in order here took a considerable effort and a lot of waiting and travel time. Here are the basics that may help you on your journey.
National Statistics Office - NSO
Go to the NSO office and request the following documents of you/your spouse does not have them updated already:
Certificate of Live Birth
Certificate of Marriage
For us, as we were married in the Philippines, we had to obtain a Certificate of Marriage from the NSO. OK, easier said than done. Expect this to take upwards of three months if you have recently married in the Philippines.
You may also need a Certificate of No Marriage Recorded (CENOMAR) if this applies to you/your spouse's situation.
ALL DOCUMENTS MUST BE ON NSO SECURITY PAPER
Ignore all the fixers at the door who offer you any faked documents. Be patient and wait it out.
National Bureau of Investigation - NBI
A valid, recent NBI Clearance certificate is required. The submitted NBI Clearance must include the thumbprint and the dry seal. Apparently there are two kinds of NBI certificates. One is not suitable for travel abroad and the other type is. If it is expired, not noted for "travel abroad" or missing the dry seal or thumb print you WILL be asked to provide this to the Visa Office in Makati later and the delay could slow your processing time.
Note: There are two sections on the NBI Clearance. The top section is for your personal records and the bottom section is the real certificate. Although they look similar, send only the bottom section with the dry seal and thumbprint.
Department of Foreign Affairs
Valid Passport - The passport was pretty straight forward, but there was more to leaving than we first thought. There is a requirement from the DFA that all persons intending to emigrate or work abroad to take a single day orientation seminar and receive a special exit clearance from the DFA. Sounds like a scam to me, but it's a requirement. The DFA will issue a certificate after the Philippine National pays the fees and attends the seminar. My wife said it was pretty good and they offer one-on-one counseling in Tagalog and English. The counselor explained what life may be like in Canada, how to get a driver's license, employment, cost of living, climate and much more. Perhaps it was worth the cost of the certificate.
Evidence of Genuine and Enduring Relationship
This is pretty broad and the Applicant's forms spell it out quiet well. Basically you are trying to prove that you and your partner have a genuine relationship and that you are not abusing the spouse/partner avenue for the purposes of immigration.
What we provided:
Significant Photographs - Wedding photos, photos of us together with family and friends. Date the photos and describe the places and people on the back in ball pen.
Proof of maintaining contact - If you and your partner were separated, provide print outs of emails, chat, photocopies of phone records, birthday cards, letters. Basically anything that has been dated and has your names on it. We provided copies of phone bills showing my wife's cell phone number, email printouts, chat printouts, birthday cards, airline tickets, receipt from flower delivery etc. If you are in the process of getting your documents organized, KEEP EVERYTHING! Go through each piece one-by-one and try to show that you maintained a relationship over the period of time. E.g. try to have something for every month whether it be a card, email, telephone bill or receipt. In our situation, we have been living together for a year, so it is easy to show rental contracts, airline & ferry tickets, invitations, cards and that kind of stuff. Make photocopies of everything. We did submit some original photographs and cards, we sent photocopies of everything else. There are only a few original documents required, these are NSO, NBI (those security paper certificates) and the actual application forms filled up in ink.
Medical Certificate
Your Filipina/o partner will have to undergo a medical. This was a little confusing for us as certain areas of the CIC web site says you need a document from the local Visa Office. We contacted a doctor's office here in Manila and they also said that we needed a form from the Embassy before they could do the medical. Not sure what to do, we emailed the Canadian Embassy. (Don't expect a hurried reply. We got an email back in 25 days telling us to look at the web site!).
After waiting for a few days, we said screw this a printed the APPENDIX D form from the web site and took it to the doctor's office. For 4000 pesos ($100) and a half day at the doctor's office we were told to come back in a week. The doctor/medical tech. does a physical, takes some samples and does a chest x-ray in the same building. We did not receive a report, only a simple receipt stating that the medical had been done. Just a side note, there are only approved panel doctors in Cebu and Metro Manila. You must have your exam at one of these doctor's offices. We went to the Makati Medical Plaza which was convenient for us as my wife knows some people who work in the building. Go early in the morning, be there at 7AM, watch some TV and you should be out by noon. We met a few others who were going to Canada and it was cool to talk with them.
Processing Fees
No applications will be accepted without proof of payment made to the Receiver General of Canada. For our situation the three fees totalled to $1,040 CAD. From what I understand there three ways to make a payment.
1: Pay with credit card via the Internet. Print the receipt page and include it with your application as proof of payment.
2: Make payment Receiver General at any financial institution in Canada. If you do this, you have to request for a special security receipt paper from the CIC. CIC will only post this paper to an address within Canada and it takes about 2 weeks to arrive. Take this receipt paper to any bank in Canada and pay the fees. The bank will validate the receipt and you MUST include this with your application. The bank does not charge for validating/stamping the receipt.
3: We discovered later that it is possible to pay at the Canadian Embassy in Philippine Pesos. Ask the guards at the main level about this. They are really helpful.
What we did:
We had a relative in Canada receive the receipt paper and make a payment at a bank on our behalf. We couriered all the documents to them (was P1,800, door-to-door via LBC) and they put the receipt in the envelope and forwarded it to the Case Processing Centre in Mississauga. It worked good for us.
So now you wait.
In about a month and a half we recived two letters. The letter to me (sponsor) was from the CIC in Missauga and confirmed that I was eligible to sponsor. It contains a Client ID number that you can use to lookup the application status online with. The letter to my wife was from the Canadian Embassy in Makati. This letter was a confirmation that they received her documents requested that she bring her passport to the Visa Office (Embassy). It also contains some bar-code sitckers to attach to any correspondence that we may have with the Visa Office regarding her case. We took her passport to the Embassy and the guards directed us to the drop box in the underground parking area. A guard attached a barcode sticker to the passport, gave us a blank envelope and put another sticker on it. We filled out the envelope like we were going to post a letter. We dropped it in the box marked "Family Class."
Now we wait some more. If you wish to check online, you can use the sponsor's Client ID.
Processing times are updated online as well.
At the time of me writing this they are:
Decisions Months
30% 3
50% 4
70% 5
80% 6
These times are estimates and vary for each visa office, application class, time of year etc. Take a look at the CIC web site for all the details.
Hopefully these can save anyone interested a few hours of waiting in Manila traffic or a week of waiting for something to happen. We can sympathise with those waiting.
Best of luck in Canada!
Background: My wife and I live in Metro Manila, Philippines. I am a Canadian citizen and she is Filipina. We were married in the Philippines in July 2007, we are now in the process of readying to move to Canada. We are waiting for her Permanent Residence from the Visa Office in Manila.
As a matter of record-keeping and perhaps to provide some small advice for anyone wishing to do the same, we have compiled some notes from our experience. Some of this may apply to your case, while other items may not. We are in a unique situation in that myself, the sponsor, resides outside of Canada. This is different from most situations where the sponsor resides in Canada. We have had to clarify many nuances that did not appear to be clearly spelled out at the CIC web site. Hope this is of use to anyone in a similar situation in the future.
Good Luck!
Dan & Carol
Philippines
Getting Documents:
Contrary to what the CIC web site states, there are NO immigration forms or guides available at the Canadian Embassy in Makati. We were told to print all the required forms from the CIC web site. After getting the right kit information, we downloaded all the PDF files and had them laser printed. We then made xerox copies of everything we printed. It worked best to have a rough draft copy and work out all the kinks on that copy, making notes as we went.
By the way, don't try calling the embassy for immigration matters. The recorded message simply tells you to visit the CIC web site. Unless you have a lot of time, don't bother emailing Manila either. We emailed, stating that I was a Canadian citizen, asked a basic question and they replied 25 days later. If you must, visit in person. They are only open until 11A.M. and don't expect any results. They have an elaborate system in place to keep the masses out of their offices.
Sponsor's Documents:
Getting my documents was fairly easy as I already had my full birth certificate from Canada and my passport had been recently renewed. I did three things to help our case a little though;
1: I requested that my parents (in Canada) write us a letter of support. The letter basically says "We're looking forward to having you back home. The job market is good. Best wishes, Mom & Dad, Signed & Dated." This came in the mail about a month after we requested it. Remember to give yourself some time to allow for mail delivery from overseas.
2: I had my friend in Canada write up an offer of employment for me. After reading the fine print and understanding that we have to provide evidence that we will successfully settle, I think the job offer was a good idea.
3: I wrote a letter addressed to the CIC Caseworker explaining our plans to settle in Canada. I included my employment experience, job prospects, family and extended family in the area we plan to settle and my relationship history with my wife.
Applicant's Documents:
Getting all the papers in order here took a considerable effort and a lot of waiting and travel time. Here are the basics that may help you on your journey.
National Statistics Office - NSO
Go to the NSO office and request the following documents of you/your spouse does not have them updated already:
Certificate of Live Birth
Certificate of Marriage
For us, as we were married in the Philippines, we had to obtain a Certificate of Marriage from the NSO. OK, easier said than done. Expect this to take upwards of three months if you have recently married in the Philippines.
You may also need a Certificate of No Marriage Recorded (CENOMAR) if this applies to you/your spouse's situation.
ALL DOCUMENTS MUST BE ON NSO SECURITY PAPER
Ignore all the fixers at the door who offer you any faked documents. Be patient and wait it out.
National Bureau of Investigation - NBI
A valid, recent NBI Clearance certificate is required. The submitted NBI Clearance must include the thumbprint and the dry seal. Apparently there are two kinds of NBI certificates. One is not suitable for travel abroad and the other type is. If it is expired, not noted for "travel abroad" or missing the dry seal or thumb print you WILL be asked to provide this to the Visa Office in Makati later and the delay could slow your processing time.
Note: There are two sections on the NBI Clearance. The top section is for your personal records and the bottom section is the real certificate. Although they look similar, send only the bottom section with the dry seal and thumbprint.
Department of Foreign Affairs
Valid Passport - The passport was pretty straight forward, but there was more to leaving than we first thought. There is a requirement from the DFA that all persons intending to emigrate or work abroad to take a single day orientation seminar and receive a special exit clearance from the DFA. Sounds like a scam to me, but it's a requirement. The DFA will issue a certificate after the Philippine National pays the fees and attends the seminar. My wife said it was pretty good and they offer one-on-one counseling in Tagalog and English. The counselor explained what life may be like in Canada, how to get a driver's license, employment, cost of living, climate and much more. Perhaps it was worth the cost of the certificate.
Evidence of Genuine and Enduring Relationship
This is pretty broad and the Applicant's forms spell it out quiet well. Basically you are trying to prove that you and your partner have a genuine relationship and that you are not abusing the spouse/partner avenue for the purposes of immigration.
What we provided:
Significant Photographs - Wedding photos, photos of us together with family and friends. Date the photos and describe the places and people on the back in ball pen.
Proof of maintaining contact - If you and your partner were separated, provide print outs of emails, chat, photocopies of phone records, birthday cards, letters. Basically anything that has been dated and has your names on it. We provided copies of phone bills showing my wife's cell phone number, email printouts, chat printouts, birthday cards, airline tickets, receipt from flower delivery etc. If you are in the process of getting your documents organized, KEEP EVERYTHING! Go through each piece one-by-one and try to show that you maintained a relationship over the period of time. E.g. try to have something for every month whether it be a card, email, telephone bill or receipt. In our situation, we have been living together for a year, so it is easy to show rental contracts, airline & ferry tickets, invitations, cards and that kind of stuff. Make photocopies of everything. We did submit some original photographs and cards, we sent photocopies of everything else. There are only a few original documents required, these are NSO, NBI (those security paper certificates) and the actual application forms filled up in ink.
Medical Certificate
Your Filipina/o partner will have to undergo a medical. This was a little confusing for us as certain areas of the CIC web site says you need a document from the local Visa Office. We contacted a doctor's office here in Manila and they also said that we needed a form from the Embassy before they could do the medical. Not sure what to do, we emailed the Canadian Embassy. (Don't expect a hurried reply. We got an email back in 25 days telling us to look at the web site!).
After waiting for a few days, we said screw this a printed the APPENDIX D form from the web site and took it to the doctor's office. For 4000 pesos ($100) and a half day at the doctor's office we were told to come back in a week. The doctor/medical tech. does a physical, takes some samples and does a chest x-ray in the same building. We did not receive a report, only a simple receipt stating that the medical had been done. Just a side note, there are only approved panel doctors in Cebu and Metro Manila. You must have your exam at one of these doctor's offices. We went to the Makati Medical Plaza which was convenient for us as my wife knows some people who work in the building. Go early in the morning, be there at 7AM, watch some TV and you should be out by noon. We met a few others who were going to Canada and it was cool to talk with them.
Processing Fees
No applications will be accepted without proof of payment made to the Receiver General of Canada. For our situation the three fees totalled to $1,040 CAD. From what I understand there three ways to make a payment.
1: Pay with credit card via the Internet. Print the receipt page and include it with your application as proof of payment.
2: Make payment Receiver General at any financial institution in Canada. If you do this, you have to request for a special security receipt paper from the CIC. CIC will only post this paper to an address within Canada and it takes about 2 weeks to arrive. Take this receipt paper to any bank in Canada and pay the fees. The bank will validate the receipt and you MUST include this with your application. The bank does not charge for validating/stamping the receipt.
3: We discovered later that it is possible to pay at the Canadian Embassy in Philippine Pesos. Ask the guards at the main level about this. They are really helpful.
What we did:
We had a relative in Canada receive the receipt paper and make a payment at a bank on our behalf. We couriered all the documents to them (was P1,800, door-to-door via LBC) and they put the receipt in the envelope and forwarded it to the Case Processing Centre in Mississauga. It worked good for us.
So now you wait.
In about a month and a half we recived two letters. The letter to me (sponsor) was from the CIC in Missauga and confirmed that I was eligible to sponsor. It contains a Client ID number that you can use to lookup the application status online with. The letter to my wife was from the Canadian Embassy in Makati. This letter was a confirmation that they received her documents requested that she bring her passport to the Visa Office (Embassy). It also contains some bar-code sitckers to attach to any correspondence that we may have with the Visa Office regarding her case. We took her passport to the Embassy and the guards directed us to the drop box in the underground parking area. A guard attached a barcode sticker to the passport, gave us a blank envelope and put another sticker on it. We filled out the envelope like we were going to post a letter. We dropped it in the box marked "Family Class."
Now we wait some more. If you wish to check online, you can use the sponsor's Client ID.
Processing times are updated online as well.
At the time of me writing this they are:
Decisions Months
30% 3
50% 4
70% 5
80% 6
These times are estimates and vary for each visa office, application class, time of year etc. Take a look at the CIC web site for all the details.
Hopefully these can save anyone interested a few hours of waiting in Manila traffic or a week of waiting for something to happen. We can sympathise with those waiting.
Best of luck in Canada!
