Paying fees online - to what office?

[FHRocker]

I was about to make our fees payment online (for all of the fees) and I was prompted to select what office I am submitting to.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/sponsor/spouse-apply-how.asp

The page above specifies I need to fill out my application and send it to Canada (I'm in the United States) to my husband and he needs to fill out his sponsorship application. Does he send all of our documents to Mississauga and they forward it on to Buffalo if all checks out? If that is the case, do we select Mississauga as the place to pay our fees to?

It's a tad confusing.

The instructions:

The applications for both sponsorship and permanent residence should be filled out and sent at the same time. There are two steps to process the application forms:
1. The sponsorship application is processed by the Case Processing Centre (CPC) in Mississauga, Ontario (for family members living outside Canada), or the CPC in Vegreville, Alberta (for family members living inside Canada).
2. If you are approved as a sponsor, the permanent residence application is sent to the appropriate Canadian visa office.

While the opening paragraph states they should be filled out and sent at the same time, the bullet list states my husband must send in his application to sponsor to Mississauga and if approved we then send my application to the visa office (Buffalo).

The whole process has take some time already and there is still a long haul ahead so I am scared to send to the wrong place and massively delay our process

 

[ilovemywife]

Yes i believe its mississauga if the spouse is not living inside canada.

same for me, paid and sent documents to mississauga and my wife lives in the Philippines and i am the one in canada sponsoring her.

 

[giggles1985]

Mississauga sends the application on to the visa office, not you or your husband. Your husband (sponsor) should send the sponsorship app and the immigration app to Mississauga and after the sponsorship part is approved, then they will send your application on. There is just the one step in mailing for you.

Hope that helps clarify the process.

As for the fees, I selected Mississauga as the place to pay the fees to. The fee paying process is very confusing, I agree. The way they word it... they're like "ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO PAY HERE??" and I'm just like.... "I don't know where to pay! You're supposed to tell ME!"
lol
But yes, I think Mississauga is the place. I didn't have any troubles.

 

[FHRocker]

and I'm just like.... "I don't know where to pay! You're supposed to tell ME!"
lol
But yes, I think Mississauga is the place. I didn't have any troubles.

Exactly! I was like....no I'm not sure...

 

[BeShoo]

It's very confusing, but if it's a spousal application being processed in Buffalo, you are sending the application to Mississauga and you can pay online. Some other types of applications processed in Buffalo cannot be paid for online.

That confusion messed me up and I almost didn't get to bring my partner up for a visit a few months ago, because I hadn't paid online, because I didn't think I could.

 

[somayeh]

I have a similar issue, just wondering if any of you can shed some light on it.

I have sponsored my mother and sister and the sponsorship was approved in Canada (Missisauga office), then forwarded to the local visa office outside Canada. Now, for the right of permanent residency fees, do I have to pay those to Misssisauga office? And for both applicants (my mother is the main applicant, my sister is her dependent child under 22 years old). Please share your thoughts. Thank you!

 

[alyssa88]

Yes i believe its mississauga if the spouse is not living inside canada.

same for me, paid and sent documents to mississauga and my wife lives in the Philippines and i am the one in canada sponsoring her.

hi ilovemywife,

i wonder if we have the same case and hope its ok if i ask just so i can make sure i am understanding right. i am a PR and i would like to sponsor my husband (Filipino)...our visa office is supposed to be Manila...but can i pay online and indicate missisauga as the visa office? i reckon the usual process is documents will be processed in missisauga first before manila. i just got confused since the cic website says i can pay onmline only if the sponsorship/ visa application willbe processed in canada (whereas i thought ours will be processed in manila).

if its ok can you point me the right website to pay the fee online and how much it is? thanks.

 

[BeShoo]

https://services3.cic.gc.ca/epayweb/Welcome.do?lang=en

Under "I am sending my application to:", select "Mississauga, Ontario (Canada) processing centre" The "visa office" as you describe it is in Manila, but you are sending it first to Mississauga for the sponsorship approval to be done. The fees are one the site but it's $75 for the sponsorship processing and $475 for the applicant fee for a total of $550. There is another $490 for the RPRF, but you can choose to wait and pay that when it's approved if you want, though paying it later might cause a delay.

 

[nelly72]

Hello,

My husband is sponsoring me and my son. Do I have to pay a RPRF for just myself or is there a fee for my 5 year old son?

Thanks,
Nell

 

[BeShoo]

My husband is sponsoring me and my son. Do I have to pay a RPRF for just myself or is there a fee for my 5 year old son?

Dependent children of a principal applicant or sponsor do not have to pay an RPRF, no the answer is no.

 

[Womble]

I seem to have a similar problem. As a British national being sponsored by my Canadian wife, both living outside Canada, our visa office is London. We have everything ready to go (to Mississauga) except payment, and there's so much conflicting advice!

We wanted to pay online but "Electronic payments cannot be made for applications that are sent to Citizenship and Immigration Canada processing centres outside Canada." Looking at the UK site we're told "The fees accompanying a permanent residence application must be paid using a Bank Draft / Bank Cheque in Canadian dollars" but then "Family class: All fees must be paid by the sponsor to the Case Processing Centre in Canada, not to this visa office, even if your file has been transferred to this visa office".

So, it has to be a bank draft made payable to the Receiver General for Canada, right? Fine, I can live with that, I think. I have no idea how that works, but my bank should. However, the instructions on information/applications/guides/3900E8.asp regarding How to pay your fees if you live exclusively outside Canada say "You should ensure that the bank draft or money order can be cashed through a Canadian financial institution and clearly indicates on its face the name and complete address (must not be a post office box number) and/or the transit and account numbers of the financial institution in Canada where it may be cashed."

The question is now: which "financial institution" do I specify? Shouldn't CIC be telling me this info??

By the way: "Sorry, you are not allowed to post links." Why would that be?

 

[Womble]

As a British national being sponsored by my Canadian wife, both living outside Canada, our visa office is London. We have everything ready to go (to Mississauga) except payment, and there's so much conflicting advice!

it gets worse! Quote from CIC website /english/information/applications/fc.asp#sponsor
• Fees Receipt
You have two options to obtain a fees receipt:
1. Payment of fees on the Internet [not available to us]
2. Payment of fees at a financial institution in Canada
If you cannot or do not wish to pay online, you must obtain an original receipt form IMM 5401 in order to pay at a financial institution.

However, “Orders [for form IMM 5401] can only be sent to addresses in Canada.”!!

Is it so odd that a Canadian national living outside Canada wants to sponsor her husband so that they can return to Canada?! No provision seems to have been made for this combination of circumstances!

 

[rrdiggy76]

Womble,

You CAN pay online at CIC, even though neither of you are in Canada.

We did it. I can't remember the exact route, but it's an in Canada family class sponsorship that you do. My wife (Canadian) used her details on the form/receipt but paid with my card.

It's something like;

CIC > pay application fees > Pay my fees online > Continue > Immigration > Mississauga > Confirm > ???

from here i can't remember whether we picked 'family class' or 'spousal inland'. But it will need RPRF fee, sponsor fee and then the application fee of $475 totalling $1040

Print receipt from the EMAIL and include in the application.

Hopefully someone else will chip in with the right info. I don't want to stick my neck out and say we choose option 'x' when in fact it was option 'y' ! lol

 

[BeShoo]

"Electronic payments cannot be made for applications that are sent to Citizenship and Immigration Canada processing centres outside Canada." Looking at the UK site we're told "The fees accompanying a permanent residence application must be paid using a Bank Draft / Bank Cheque in Canadian dollars" but then "Family class: All fees must be paid by the sponsor to the Case Processing Centre in Canada, not to this visa office, even if your file has been transferred to this visa office".

They don't explain it very well, but you are NOT sending your application to a CIC processing centre outside Canada. You are sending it to CPC-Mississauga in Canada, so you should pay electronically. When it asks where you are sending the application, you are sending it to CPC-M for sponsorship approval. This is different from where the applicant forms will be processed, which is London.

The reason it's confusing is that family class applications are always sent to Canada for the decision on the sponsorship, then forwarded to whatever office after that. If you were applying in any other class (other than family class), you would be sending your application directly to London and you wouldn't be able to do the electronic payment. That's when you would need the bank draft, not in your situation. For you, you need to do an Internet payment.

By the way: "Sorry, you are not allowed to post links." Why would that be?

It's because you haven't posted enough messages here yet. That restriction helps stop spammers from filling the boards with ads for the usual stuff that appears in spam.