PR sponsor of spouse needing to be in the country while spouse is sponsored?

[CanadaBrazil]

Question about being resident in the country.... I heard that as a PR I can only sponsor my spouse if I am in Canada with only about 2 weeks holiday. But I have seen conflicting statements on this. Where can I find a definiitive statement?

I was looking to register for healthcare and I saw this... which suggests a resident can go on vacation for up to 6 or 7 months... Also the recent immigration changes say that to get citizenship you need to be in the country about 6 months for 4 years. Both of these seem to suggest that a PR sponsor of a spouse can be outside for longer than 2 weeks. Any thoughts guys?

__________

To qualify for Medical Services Plan (MSP) coverage, you must be a resident of British Columbia. A resident is a person who:

is a citizen of Canada or is lawfully admitted to Canada for permanent residence,
makes her or his home in B.C., and
is physically present in B.C. for
at least six months in a calendar year, or
a shorter prescribed period*,
and includes a person who is deemed under the regulations to be a resident but does not include a tourist or visitor to British Columbia.

*Note: Effective January 1, 2013, eligible B.C. residents (citizens of Canada or persons who are lawfully admitted to Canada for permanent residence) who are outside B.C. for vacation purposes only, are allowed a total absence of up to seven months in a calendar year.

http://www.health.gov.bc.ca/insurance/msp_register.html#appEligibility
_________________

 

[tink23]

Question about being resident in the country.... I heard that as a PR I can only sponsor my spouse if I am in Canada with only about 2 weeks holiday. But I have seen conflicting statements on this. Where can I find a definiitive statement?

I was looking to register for healthcare and I saw this... which suggests a resident can go on vacation for up to 6 or 7 months... Also the recent immigration changes say that to get citizenship you need to be in the country about 6 months for 4 years. Both of these seem to suggest that a PR sponsor of a spouse can be outside for longer than 2 weeks. Any thoughts guys?

__________

To qualify for Medical Services Plan (MSP) coverage, you must be a resident of British Columbia. A resident is a person who:

is a citizen of Canada or is lawfully admitted to Canada for permanent residence,
makes her or his home in B.C., and
is physically present in B.C. for
at least six months in a calendar year, or
a shorter prescribed period*,
and includes a person who is deemed under the regulations to be a resident but does not include a tourist or visitor to British Columbia.

*Note: Effective January 1, 2013, eligible B.C. residents (citizens of Canada or persons who are lawfully admitted to Canada for permanent residence) who are outside B.C. for vacation purposes only, are allowed a total absence of up to seven months in a calendar year.

http://www.health.gov.bc.ca/insurance/msp_register.html#appEligibility
_________________

While a PR themselves can be out of the country for much longer, when a PR wants to sponsor a spouse to Canada, they need to remain in Canada, except for short visits outside. This is because, a requirement for even Canadian citizens to sponsor their spouses, they must prove that they will return to Canada once their spouses Par is granted. It isn't very convincing for someone who is a PR and not living in Canda, will return to Canada after their spouse is granted PR. It is just the way it is. It has nothing to do with being eligible for provincial healthcare. They are two separate things.

Here is a link to the outside Canada sponsorship http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/guides/3900ETOC.asp and if u scroll down a little bit to sponsor eligibility, it clearly states you must live in Canada during the sponsorship, unless you're a Candian citizen. Sorry. That's just the way it is.

 

[Rob_TO]

Question about being resident in the country.... I heard that as a PR I can only sponsor my spouse if I am in Canada with only about 2 weeks holiday. But I have seen conflicting statements on this. Where can I find a definiitive statement?

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/manuals/ip/ip02-eng.pdf
5.10. Sponsors residing abroad
Sponsors residing abroad must meet the requirements in the following table:
Table 9: Sponsors living outside Canada
Permanent resident residing abroad • may not sponsor from outside Canada

I was looking to register for healthcare and I saw this... which suggests a resident can go on vacation for up to 6 or 7 months... Also the recent immigration changes say that to get citizenship you need to be in the country about 6 months for 4 years. Both of these seem to suggest that a PR sponsor of a spouse can be outside for longer than 2 weeks. Any thoughts guys?

Citizenship or healthcare rules have absolutely nothing to do with PR rules. You need to follow only the rules in applying for PR.

And those rules clearly state a PR can only sponsor someone while living in Canada. There is no definition of how many days you are allowed out of Canada before CIC will see you're gone, but most people suggest someone around 3 or so weeks maximum at any given time. You can try for more... but just don't be surprised if the application is suddenly cancelled on you with no warning. Remember CIC can get access to your exit/entry records and know how long you've been absent, if they ever wanted to check.

 

[Sheps]

Rob_TO,

Canada has no exit control, as of yet, so they can't really determine when you leave, unless you fly through the US (which has a information sharing agreement coming into effect I believe).

But, I agree, I wouldn't stay gone any more then three weeks, because in that time you could also miss a critical piece of mail from CIC. They also could call and find you not available.

 

[Galano1213]

Anyone with with a passport can be checked on travelling in and out of a country .

 

[Awesomeg]

Rob_TO,

Canada has no exit control, as of yet, so they can't really determine when you leave, unless you fly through the US (which has a information sharing agreement coming into effect I believe).

But, I agree, I wouldn't stay gone any more then three weeks, because in that time you could also miss a critical piece of mail from CIC. They also could call and find you not available.

Rob__TO is completely right in this,
Canada used to lack controls of entry and exit, specially when traveling to USA,
that is not anymore the case. Controls are in effect.

Currently CIC requires that the resident applying for his spouse remain in the country while
his spouse residency is being processed. If anyone fails to do so, and does not state that information
in the application, it will be misrepresentation and a reason to refuse the application.

 

[Sheps]

No, he is not, Canada does not yet have exit controls, there is legislation in the pipe for exit controls however they do not yet exist. You are not obligated to check in with CBSA (The ones who would perform the exit check) does not currently check you on your way out, there is no tracking done other then information exchange between countries with agreements. The only country with an agreement currently is the United States, so if you are on a direct flight out of Canada, CBSA will not know you left.

The only time you may be stopped by a CBSA officer would be if there was a tip given to them by police in Canada regarding an arrest warrant. Airport security (CATSA) is not CBSA, they do not share information (and legislatively/legally I don't believe they can).

That said, I strongly advise against taking any extended leave from Canada as a PR and attempting to sponsor someone. You will be questioned at immigration and they will most likely review your entry stamps (to the country you visited) to ensure compliance.

 

[Rob_TO]

Rob_TO,

Canada has no exit control, as of yet, so they can't really determine when you leave, unless you fly through the US (which has a information sharing agreement coming into effect I believe).

But, I agree, I wouldn't stay gone any more then three weeks, because in that time you could also miss a critical piece of mail from CIC. They also could call and find you not available.

There are numerous ways CIC can determine if you have left the country or not. They can very easily check flight manifests or they can check the entry records of other countries. In this day and age all of this is easily searchable if they had any suspicions a PR sponsor was no longer in Canada, or were just doing a random check.
To exit Canada for an extended time under the assumption CIC will have no way of finding out, is incredibly risky.

 

[Sheps]

I don't know about them having access to flight manifests.

I have a feeling that would fall under something they might need a warrant to actually get the full information for. However I did not say CIC has no way of knowing, I said Canada has no exit controls. Also, CIC would not check the stamps, CBSA would, I don't know if they are under an obligation to report to CIC

There is a risk, there always is. They could technically cancel it if he was out of the country one hour.

 

[PhantomUser]

Its all talk about this and that..but has anyone actually been away longer than a month while sponsoring someone?

 

[Rob_TO]

They could technically cancel it if he was out of the country one hour.

No I don't think that's true. As long as you're living in Canada, temporary vacations would be allowed and not cause to cancel an application. It's just when CIC thinks you have left Canada for long enough to no longer be considered physically residing here, would they make moves to cancel an application.
A quick 1 hour visit to the US or something, would not be grounds for cancellation.

CBSA would, I don't know if they are under an obligation to report to CIC

If CIC asks for this information from CBSA, there is no reason they would not share it. This is not something that would require warrants.

The same type of information is shared between CBSA and CIC in other aspects of immigration, such as when CIC processes cases for PR card renewal and proving residency obligation is met, and in citizenship applications to prove physical residence in Canada. If CIC wants the info for any reason, they can get it and that's all that should matter.

 

[Sheps]

CBSA would also need to record your last entrance into another country in your entrance record. I don't see them going that far however.

As I said, Canada has no exit control and very little entrance documentation for incoming PR's. There is very little reason you would be "found out" if you left for an extended period other then perhaps missing some critical mail.

That said, I still wouldn't risk it.

 

[Rob_TO]

There is very little reason you would be "found out" if you left for an extended period other then perhaps missing some critical mail.

CRA quite often finds out that Canadians or PRs receiving tax benefits that require residency in Canada, are actually residing outside Canada for extended periods so go after them to pay everything back. And provincial healthcare services have found out that Canadians or PRs returning to Canada and using healthcare after being abroad don't actually satisfy the residency requirement so demand they pay everything back. Even with the lack of official exit controls, non-CBSA divisions of the Canadian government are able to determine your residence history with accuracy. So I wouldn't say there is "little" chance CIC could find out the exact same... as you'd think CIC is even closer to CBSA than CRA and the provinces are.

As I said I'm fairly sure it's incredibly easy in this day and age for CBSA to very quickly get a travel history of anyone based on their passport info (many others have reported CBSA has had all this info when they talk to them upon entering Canada), and I don't see any reason CBSA wouldn't share this info with CIC. So while we both agree no PR should risk traveling for an extended time, I'm just saying I think it's a bit riskier than you make it out to be.

 

[PhantomUser]

I just asked somebody in this forum who took a 6-week trip. No issues whatsoever (status:Landed).

 

[Sheps]

Governmental Agencies are not yet permitted to share information yet. CRA, for example, cannot give any information to CIC. CBSA can share for enforcement/immigration purposes only, but other governmental agencies are not permitted to share.

I even dug up a source for you. Source: http://www.thestar.com/news/immigration/2015/02/28/new-law-to-let-canadian-officials-share-immigrants-personal-info.html



Phantom, a short vacation should be no problem. However a long vacation while sponsoring someone could cause CIC to be concerned, if they learn of it.