Proof of Intent to Return - Outland

[Bagofnails]

Hi everyone,

My wife and I are at the tail end of putting our application together and we've hit the proof of intent to return to Canada part. I did some searches of the forum and boy, it looks like it can be overwhelming. After reading others posts and their stories, the one thing that is obvious is that no two situations and applications are alike.

That said, what can we do to show proof of intent? We have gathered the following information. Please, any advice, constructive criticism or stories of your own is highly appreciated.

What we have:

• Quotes to ship our household items back home to Canada.
• Quotes for rental cars to drive from BC to Alberta (most quotes are to Vancouver/New West area as most places here won't ship direct to small town Alberta)
• Snippets of text messages from family in both BC and Alberta offering for us to stay with and live with the until we are on our feet.
• Emails between my wife and I regarding the town we are living, rental properties, car listings etc.
• Screen shots and snippets of job listings we have saved and looked at.

I (sponsor) will also be crafting a statement about our intent to return, it will include: why we are coming back, why we are choosing to live where we are going to live when we arrive, etc.

Now, here's the bad part. It's what we don't have:

• We don't have a job lined up yet because we are applying outland and are wanting to stay together here as I'm the only one working and am the only source of income at the moment.
• We don't have a resignation to my employer stating that we intend to return home. As mentioned above, we can't do that at the moment, it would be detrimental to us at present.

Our statement will include information about how I am currently the only one working and how we are planning and hoping that we can return to Canada together. I have children from a previous relationship back home and we are going to talk about that as being a main factor in our decision to return.

If there is anything I have missed, please, please feel free to let me know. Is what we have and a thorough statement about us returning sufficient? What else would you recommend adding?

Thank you all for reading and taking the time to reply.

 

[scylla]

Hi everyone,

My wife and I are at the tail end of putting our application together and we've hit the proof of intent to return to Canada part. I did some searches of the forum and boy, it looks like it can be overwhelming. After reading others posts and their stories, the one thing that is obvious is that no two situations and applications are alike.

That said, what can we do to show proof of intent? We have gathered the following information. Please, any advice, constructive criticism or stories of your own is highly appreciated.

What we have:

• Quotes to ship our household items back home to Canada.
• Quotes for rental cars to drive from BC to Alberta (most quotes are to Vancouver/New West area as most places here won't ship direct to small town Alberta)
• Snippets of text messages from family in both BC and Alberta offering for us to stay with and live with the until we are on our feet.
• Emails between my wife and I regarding the town we are living, rental properties, car listings etc.
• Screen shots and snippets of job listings we have saved and looked at.

I (sponsor) will also be crafting a statement about our intent to return, it will include: why we are coming back, why we are choosing to live where we are going to live when we arrive, etc.

Now, here's the bad part. It's what we don't have:

• We don't have a job lined up yet because we are applying outland and are wanting to stay together here as I'm the only one working and am the only source of income at the moment.
• We don't have a resignation to my employer stating that we intend to return home. As mentioned above, we can't do that at the moment, it would be detrimental to us at present.

Our statement will include information about how I am currently the only one working and how we are planning and hoping that we can return to Canada together. I have children from a previous relationship back home and we are going to talk about that as being a main factor in our decision to return.

If there is anything I have missed, please, please feel free to let me know. Is what we have and a thorough statement about us returning sufficient? What else would you recommend adding?

Thank you all for reading and taking the time to reply.

I don't think what you have now can be classified as thorough.

- Do you have a bank account in Canada? If not, can you open one and start moving some funds there?
- The text from relatives stating you can live with them is weak evidence. Ask each to provide a more formal letter confirming that you can live with them when you first arrive, specifically the family in Alberta since it sounds like this is where you'll be settling.
- Have you contacted any employers yet in your field to ask about opportunities?

I'm sure others will have further suggestions.

 

[smallcoffee]

What you have seems enough.

 

[Bagofnails]

I don't think what you have now can be classified as thorough.

Why's that? Obviously we would go into great detail as to our plan upon approval and arrival back into Canada.

- Do you have a bank account in Canada? If not, can you open one and start moving some funds there?

Yes, we have had a shared bank account for about three years now. We still use it to send funds to. We will be using this account to send our bulk savings to once we have been approved and know we can head back.

- The text from relatives stating you can live with them is weak evidence. Ask each to provide a more formal letter confirming that you can live with them when you first arrive, specifically the family in Alberta since it sounds like this is where you'll be settling.

I should have clarified, my bad. We have a few statements from family back home, all of which state they know of us returning as well as offer us a place to stay. We have text messages to go with those statements. Sorry about that.

- Have you contacted any employers yet in your field to ask about opportunities?

No, I haven't started to do that. I have started looking for jobs and saved those jobs I'm interested in, but at this stage I think emailing and contacting employers would be premature, especially when we don't know when our application will be approved and we will head back.

 

[Hurlabrick]

Some good ideas about proof of intent to return here> I followed the4se suggestions and had no problems proving intent.

https://britishexpats.com/wiki/Spousal_Sponsorship-Canada/FAQ_-_New_Application_Forms#Item_2:_How_do_I_prove_I_intend_to_return_to_Canada.3F

 

[scylla]

Why's that? Obviously we would go into great detail as to our plan upon approval and arrival back into Canada.



Yes, we have had a shared bank account for about three years now. We still use it to send funds to. We will be using this account to send our bulk savings to once we have been approved and know we can head back.



I should have clarified, my bad. We have a few statements from family back home, all of which state they know of us returning as well as offer us a place to stay. We have text messages to go with those statements. Sorry about that.



No, I haven't started to do that. I have started looking for jobs and saved those jobs I'm interested in, but at this stage I think emailing and contacting employers would be premature, especially when we don't know when our application will be approved and we will head back.

Looks better now that you have provided the full details.

 

[Bagofnails]

Some good ideas about proof of intent to return here> I followed the4se suggestions and had no problems proving intent.

https://britishexpats.com/wiki/Spousal_Sponsorship-Canada/FAQ_-_New_Application_Forms#Item_2:_How_do_I_prove_I_intend_to_return_to_Canada.3F

Thanks for that! That is a great guide. May I ask, how long was your intent to move back? A few pages or a short novel?

 

[Hurlabrick]

Thanks for that! That is a great guide. May I ask, how long was your intent to move back? A few pages or a short novel?

Medium length novel!

In all, 65 pages incl attachments! But most of that was two reports from financial advisers (one in the UK and another in Canada) confirming I had spoken to them about the practicality of returning to Canada on retirement and doing financial forecasts in CAD$.

Background: I left Canada with my parents for the UK at age 13 and lived in the UK for the next 40 years! I had always wanted to go back and had made many trips to Canada over the years and early retirement presented the opportunity. My 'proof' consisted of:

- Detailed letters and financial forecasts from Canadian and UK financial advisers basically confirming my plans and that it would work financially
- Flight confirmation and detailed itinerary of our recce trip to Canada to decide WHERE we wanted to go
- Proof of my opened Canadian bank accounts
- Proof of my Canadian SIN
- Copies of currency transfers from the UK to Canada
- List of all previous trips to Canada
- Quotes from movers for a move of goods to Canada
- Detailed gantt chart of all pre and post-move activities and what was complete / in progress / not started etc
- Supporting letters from friends and family confirming that I had always talked about going back and my reasons for doing so
- Emails to knowledgeable internet people with questions about immigration for my wife etc.

I had no request for additional information!

 

[Bagofnails]

Medium length novel!

In all, 65 pages incl attachments! But most of that was two reports from financial advisers (one in the UK and another in Canada) confirming I had spoken to them about the practicality of returning to Canada on retirement and doing financial forecasts in CAD$.

Background: I left Canada with my parents for the UK at age 13 and lived in the UK for the next 40 years! I had always wanted to go back and had made many trips to Canada over the years and early retirement presented the opportunity. My 'proof' consisted of:

- Detailed letters and financial forecasts from Canadian and UK financial advisers basically confirming my plans and that it would work financially
- Flight confirmation and detailed itinerary of our recce trip to Canada to decide WHERE we wanted to go
- Proof of my opened Canadian bank accounts
- Proof of my Canadian SIN
- Copies of currency transfers from the UK to Canada
- List of all previous trips to Canada
- Quotes from movers for a move of goods to Canada
- Detailed gantt chart of all pre and post-move activities and what was complete / in progress / not started etc
- Supporting letters from friends and family confirming that I had always talked about going back and my reasons for doing so
- Emails to knowledgeable internet people with questions about immigration for my wife etc.

I had no request for additional information!

Wow! 65 pages just on intent? I suppose if you hadn't lived in Canada for 40 years, it would require that type of proof!

Very detailed, and thank you for sharing that with me. I don't know that ours will be that in dept, but that as well as the checklist you provided sure is a lot to get going with.

All up, I think we will include a detailed statement about our intentions, why we are returning, where we are returning to, why we chose that location and what we plan to do once we are there as well as all the applicable evidence to tie us to Canada. My kids are there and I lived there for 33 of my 34 years on this planet, so I hope we have enough!

 

[Hurlabrick]

Wow! 65 pages just on intent? I suppose if you hadn't lived in Canada for 40 years, it would require that type of proof!

Very detailed, and thank you for sharing that with me. I don't know that ours will be that in dept, but that as well as the checklist you provided sure is a lot to get going with.

All up, I think we will include a detailed statement about our intentions, why we are returning, where we are returning to, why we chose that location and what we plan to do once we are there as well as all the applicable evidence to tie us to Canada. My kids are there and I lived there for 33 of my 34 years on this planet, so I hope we have enough!

As I said, probably a good 35 - 40 pages of that was the two detailed reports from the financial advisers, most of which was about attitude to risk, investment mixes etc., only one page in each of the reports states that my intention is to retire to Canada, but I included the whole report in case CIC thought I was taking anything out of context of trying to hide something!!

But yes, here we both are now happily settled in London, Ontario enjoying life.

 

[Bagofnails]

As I said, probably a good 35 - 40 pages of that was the two detailed reports from the financial advisers, most of which was about attitude to risk, investment mixes etc., only one page in each of the reports states that my intention is to retire to Canada, but I included the whole report in case CIC thought I was taking anything out of context of trying to hide something!!

But yes, here we both are now happily settled in London, Ontario enjoying life.

When in doubt, add detail! I know the feeling having immigrated to another country. You want to include as much relevant information as possible and leave no doubt for the case officer assigned to assess your application.

That's fantastic, I truly appreciate the advice and insight!