record of entry and status in Canada?

[mac101]

Hi All,
I recently got married a few days ago. My wife is a US citizen. She came driving to Canada on a visit late January. At the border they just waived her through. She has no visa or status on her US passport. Right now I'm looking at applying for her permanent residency in Canada but when looking at the document checklist she needs to show record of her entry to Canada and proof of status. What can I do to get these. I thought about apply for an extension of stay but first of all I don't know if they would do that considering he had no stay period to begin with second of all that still does not give her any proof of entry. Any ideas would be appreciated. Thank you for your time.
Mac

 

[iarblue]

Well i dont know where in the app it says proof of entry cause my wife is Brazilian always was never went to Canada and she should have her Visa very soon.All they want you to do is prove your relationship is true love.Collect as much as you can photos of all togetherness family photos with her in them,letters,cards,email proof,skype proof,phone proof you understand now.
But the proof of entry part i have no idea what your talking about?What are you applying for,

 

[iarblue]

Mac i think you looking at the wrong thing bud you are applying for family class right?So tell her to go across border,then come back in and get a stamp for a visit,the US to Canada is fairly easy.
What you need is the family class sponsor application.

 

[sbwv09]

Are you applying inland? I don't recall that question on the US outland application. If you are applying inland, please reconsider. Inland takes much longer, perhaps years. If you are denied, you can't appeal the decision. In the time you would get an OWP, you could have your PR through the outland process. She can stay with you in Canada as a visitor for the process even though she is applying outland, so there's not really any reason you need to apply inland (unless you are not from a visa exempt country.).

If she wants to stay as a visitor she can still apply for an extension of status even if she didn't have a passport stamp.

 

[mac101]

Hi,
Thank you very much for your reply. Yes, I am trying to apply from in Canada family sponsorship. If you look at the document list in the form IMM5443E (please google it, they forum did not allow me to post the link) , the first 2 items listed for documents needed by the applicant are record of entry and status in Canada.

sbwv09, I have heard that you can apply from outside Canada while staying as a visitor but I do not understand how that would work. Wouldn't you need to correspond by mail with the Canadian consulate in the US? They aren't going to care of you are corresponding from a Canadian address? What about medical exams and police certificates, they are not going to mind they are done in Canada? Do you have more information on the best way to do this?

If we end up doing this from inside Canada, would she have to exit Canada and re-enter? Is there any way around this? I don't mind dealing with the Canadian authorities but the Americans are pain. Last time we crossed the border US customs and immigrations gave us a hard time. The Canadians are pretty easy going or so it seems. Can we just go to the border, not exit Canada and have them stamp entry on her passport?

Again, Thank you very much for your reply!

Mac

 

[sbwv09]

Applying outland while visiting Canada is done fairly often. It does tend to work best if you 'begin' your application stateside and then begin your visit but you can do it while you are in Canada too. I am still living in the states, but I got my medical in Toronto (it's MUCH cheaper), you just tell them it is for an outland application. You can also order your FBI background check from Canada, just have to pay the international shipping.

If your spouse has family or friends in the US, she can use that address. You do have to have some sort of US address to claim as 'residence' even if you never stay there. You can either have that person tell you any correspondence that you get, or you can change the address to a Canadian one after you file the application. Buffalo mostly communicates through email (such as for the passport request, etc) so it doesn't need to be a major issue.

There are ton of threads about this issue, use the search to read up on it. An important thing in your case, however, is to make sure to extend her status as a visitor. You could leave an reenter, but you can also just apply for an extension. You can just be honest and say she is waiting out her PR, but she must show that she will leave Canada if asked (a job, a residence, family obligations, something to 'tie' her to the states) as well as prove that she has funds to do so (savings account, etc).

I doubt that you can just do a U-Turn at the border and get a passport stamp. Don't write off the Canadian IOs.. there are plenty of horror stories about how they treat people entering Canada.. not trying to scare you, but don't just assume they are going to wave you through every time. Just have her go for a week or so, visit her family or something, and come back.. or you can file to extend her status from within Canada. Check out the website: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/extend-stay.asp

 

[dhdesigns]

Hi,
Thank you very much for your reply. Yes, I am trying to apply from in Canada family sponsorship. If you look at the document list in the form IMM5443E (please google it, they forum did not allow me to post the link) , the first 2 items listed for documents needed by the applicant are record of entry and status in Canada.

sbwv09, I have heard that you can apply from outside Canada while staying as a visitor but I do not understand how that would work. Wouldn't you need to correspond by mail with the Canadian consulate in the US? They aren't going to care of you are corresponding from a Canadian address? What about medical exams and police certificates, they are not going to mind they are done in Canada? Do you have more information on the best way to do this?

If we end up doing this from inside Canada, would she have to exit Canada and re-enter? Is there any way around this? I don't mind dealing with the Canadian authorities but the Americans are pain. Last time we crossed the border US customs and immigrations gave us a hard time. The Canadians are pretty easy going or so it seems. Can we just go to the border, not exit Canada and have them stamp entry on her passport?

Again, Thank you very much for your reply!

Mac

You should definitely apply outside Canada - this is what the web site says (can't post a link):

I want to sponsor my spouse. Is it faster to apply from inside or outside Canada?

It is usually faster to apply to sponsor a spouse from outside Canada. However, the requirements to immigrate to Canada are the same in both cases.

Some differences between the processes:
Inside Canada

* average of 12 to 18 months to process routine applications
* no right of appeal
* you are advised to stay in Canada while your application is being processed (If you leave Canada and cannot re-enter, the application will be abandoned)
* you can send an application for an open work permit with the sponsorship application (the permit will be issued as soon as you are eligible for it)

Outside Canada

* average of 6 to 12 months to process routine applications
* right of appeal
* you can leave and re-enter Canada while your application is being processed as long as you meet all requirements to enter Canada
* if you want to work in Canada while your application is being processed, you must apply for a regular work permit


You just need an address outside Canada, and you pick the closest consulate to where you live for the interview (which probably won't happen anyway). It is easy to get the documentation you need without being in the us (The FBI report takes the longest).

You should also assume that there IS a record of crossing the border - they didn't stamp the passport but probably scanned it and it is in the system. We just went through this. We applied for an extension because we knew the stay would be over 6 months by a couple weeks (even though there wasn't a stamp in the passport). When we went to the US and came back a couple weeks ago we were grilled about how long he had been here last time and she challenged us on the dates (but in the end didn't give us too hard a time because I think she could see we applied for the extension).