Friendster13 said:
Hi, I'm a Canadian born citizen and currently living in the Philippines as tourist for 6 months already. After we got married last April, I decided to stay with my wife until our application is approved. I have some questions if anyone could help:
1. Am i considered as exclusively living outside Canada as I`ve already been living in Philippines for 6 months and still planning to extend until my wife receives the PR?
2. If question no.1 answer is yes,what should i put on the Residential address? I presume my current mailing address is my address in Phil.
3. Any suggestions on proof of re-establishment to Canada?
I was in the same situation when I applied to sponsor my husband. I was living as a tourist in the UAE while we applied for his PR. I did NOT consider myself living exclusively outside of Canada as I had no other residential visa status outside of Canada.
I used my permanent address in Canada for my residential address. I used my sister's address as my mailing address as I had tenants living in my house. Ensure you include your email as in the end, all correspondence was sent to us by email. (But this is ADVO)
I explained in a letter that I wasn't sure how to answer their questions, so I just explained my situation and intentions, that I had no status other than tourist in the UAE and was staying with my husband while his application was being processed and his residence was "insert address"
I also informed them that my intention was to return to Canada, I have a house, memberships, bank accounts, etc there. On the application forms, in the intent to reside in Canada section (this might have been specific to the Abu Dhabi visa office) I indicated that depending on the timing of the decision, my husband would give notice or complete his current work contract. I also indicated that if my status changed, I would inform them immediately which I did (after one year of living as a tourist, I found a 1 year contract). To be honest, I think they had made their decision on his application without seeing my updated case specific enquiry (sometimes the delay in reading the enquiries works to your favour) and so they did not require me as the sponsor to provide proof of intent to reside (other than the questions / my answers above on our initial application) as part of our passport request letter.
That having been said, I have been trying to get my address changed in the system with no luck. My husband's PR Card was sent to my permanent residential address in Canada even though we provided a different address to the immigration officer on landing (we fully disclosed our plan to him). This was a bit problematic because at the time I had tenants in my house and was worried the card may have been lost.
Hopefully this helps,
C.
