Sponsor my 8weeks pregnant wife from Hong kong .

[shama0724]

Hi all,

I am canadian who currently work in hong kong now, I met my wife in hong kong and get married last year and now she is 8weeks pregnant
And due to my job situation, I might need to go back to Vancouver within 3 months. ( what a timing! )

Of cuz we don’t have to separate as for sure need my support during this 40 weeks, so we tend to be apply inland.
I know that inland sponsorsip application takes much longer time, but since even we apply outland, she even cannot go through the body check ( the chest lung x-ray ) till baby is born, so I guess for us both inland and outland takes longer time than normal.

So during the inland application, apart from medical coverage, is there any restriction for her? E.g. Getting driving license / cannot travel etc
Meanwhile, does anyone know about the medical cost of giving birth in vancouver?

Thank you so much!

 

[karen_nd]

Hi all,

I am canadian who currently work in hong kong now, I met my wife in hong kong and get married last year and now she is 8weeks pregnant
And due to my job situation, I might need to go back to Vancouver within 3 months. ( what a timing! )

Of cuz we don't have to separate as for sure need my support during this 40 weeks, so we tend to be apply inland.
I know that inland sponsorsip application takes much longer time, but since even we apply outland, she even cannot go through the body check ( the chest lung x-ray ) till baby is born, so I guess for us both inland and outland takes longer time than normal.

So during the inland application, apart from medical coverage, is there any restriction for her? E.g. Getting driving license / cannot travel etc
Meanwhile, does anyone know about the medical cost of giving birth in vancouver?

Thank you so much!

I'm exactly in the same situation. I'm currently pregnant and my husband has already started work in Vancouver.
We do not want to be apart either but finally we decided I'm staying in HK until baby is born, as we were told by friends that even without complications in the birth process you have to expect a cost of HK$200k... And it will be a crazy sum if there might be any complications.

 

[karen_nd]

what we did is that my husband agreed with his current employer that he is going to take 3 months leave (or home-office) around the time I'm giving birth.

so that makes the separation now more bearable.

hope you will find your way out too! good luck xx

 

[shama0724]

Thanks for your prompt reply.

i totally understand how you feel. Compare with separation, there are more important things need to be concerned especially your health & baby's health are no.1 priority
And yes, 200k HKD is such a crazy sum and its hard to predict if any medical complication happens.


So did you start apply the spouse sponsorship yet ? or will you just wait till your baby is born ?
and do you know how long does the application takes ?

 

[karen_nd]

yes exactly, we think staying in hk for delivery is best for bb.

I've handed in my application just early last week (outland application). I've also done the medical check-up except the x-ray which would be delayed until after baby is born.

I'm expecting about 8-10 months, hopefully sooner!

My plan is probably, after bb got her passport and is ready to travel, I will go and wait in canada (i've hksar passport allowing to stay 6 months per visit i suppose) if application still not yet approved by then.

 

[CherPare]

Hong Kong has one of the fastest processing offices in the world! Srsly, like 8 months or something!

My husband is from Hong Kong and we applied inland. We've been waiting 13 almost 14 months and our file hasn't even been looked at. It probably won't be until the summer. (That's like 16 months of waiting) :/ I really really don't recommend you to apply inland.

Your wife can come to Canada with you for the 6 months that she is allowed if you apply outland and then when that is up she can go back to Hong Kong to have baby if your file hasn't been approved yet. (But her prenatal care will be a tough issue!!)

I think that may be the easiest? Because trust me, my husband and I are so angry that we applied inland as his file is very straight forward and he's from a visa exempt country and we've been waiting almost twice as long as we would have.

Not to mention if you apply inland, it's very risky for your wife to leave Canada as she may not be let back in. (My husband hasn't seen his family for Chinese new year or met his niece because of this condition. )

I just wanted to throw my opinion on there and wish you guys luck with immigration and baby!!! I'm due in April with our son and it's such a blessing!!!

 

[tofuboi]

Hello, I am in the same situation. My GF was 12 weeks pregnant when we found out. She is currently living with me in Toronto as a Visitor. We asked many people whether it's better to give birth in Canada or Hong Kong, and many people said it was better in Canada. The cost as I was told was roughly the same if done at a private hospital in Hong Kong. The cost the OB doctor in Toronto quoted us was about 13k CAD all included from day 1 to due date, C-Section covered. She did not want to gift birth with me so far away because of the moral support. Public hong kong hospital would be a lot cheaper, but it is so busy that they don't have time to "take care" of the patient at personal level. She doesn't like that at all. Other factors included the small place at her Hong Kong home as 3 people living there already, then you add her and the baby in a 500sqft home, very busy and hectic for everyone. and it was very hard to find a OB doctor in HK that would take care of the pregnancy. In Hong Kong, it would be another 3-6 months before my gf and kid could fly back to Canada to be with me. Sponsoring my child would also take a long time 6months-1year, so we decided she give birth here in Toronto.

Giving birth here, The baby would be covered from Birth, so any complications would be covered. The only big concern is if my GF has any complications. hopefully, everything will be smooth.

I recommend to apply outland as inland is taking 20-24+months. Outland is pretty much the same, but its faster and you have the option to appeal the process if you get denied. Inland also has the restriction that if she leaves the country for what ever reason and she cant come back, the application gets cancelled.

She is 25 weeks now, and I am still waiting for AOR. Hopefully will get it this week.

 

[karen_nd]

if 13k CAD for delivery and cost for baby covered since birth then it's really not bad. just similar to private hospital in hk.

but was it hard for you to get a family doctor in Toronto? I heard it's difficult in Vancouver. Not sure if that's true.

 

[shama0724]

Thank you so much for all replies of you guys!

i think we need to do more research about the cost of the give birth, as Tofubol said 13k CAD is acceptable ( the cost is pretty close to private hospital in hong kong )
So if this is the case in Vancouver as well, we can also think about it.

And after talking to you guys, i feel that is not that bad if we need to separate for months since she can still visit Vancouver for few months before 32weeks and we can meet up again after baby's passport is ready.

 

[shama0724]

Hello, I am in the same situation. My GF was 12 weeks pregnant when we found out. She is currently living with me in Toronto as a Visitor. We asked many people whether it's better to give birth in Canada or Hong Kong, and many people said it was better in Canada. The cost as I was told was roughly the same if done at a private hospital in Hong Kong. The cost the OB doctor in Toronto quoted us was about 13k CAD all included from day 1 to due date, C-Section covered. She did not want to gift birth with me so far away because of the moral support. Public hong kong hospital would be a lot cheaper, but it is so busy that they don't have time to "take care" of the patient at personal level. She doesn't like that at all. Other factors included the small place at her Hong Kong home as 3 people living there already, then you add her and the baby in a 500sqft home, very busy and hectic for everyone. and it was very hard to find a OB doctor in HK that would take care of the pregnancy. In Hong Kong, it would be another 3-6 months before my gf and kid could fly back to Canada to be with me. Sponsoring my child would also take a long time 6months-1year, so we decided she give birth here in Toronto.

Giving birth here, The baby would be covered from Birth, so any complications would be covered. The only big concern is if my GF has any complications. hopefully, everything will be smooth.

I recommend to apply outland as inland is taking 20-24+months. Outland is pretty much the same, but its faster and you have the option to appeal the process if you get denied. Inland also has the restriction that if she leaves the country for what ever reason and she cant come back, the application gets cancelled.

She is 25 weeks now, and I am still waiting for AOR. Hopefully will get it this week.

hi tofuboi,
But I have an question as your GF are planning to give birth in Toronto as a visitor, so after the baby is born she still need to go back and forth between hk and Canada, till the application finally get approval,

however the baby don't have the hkid card, so he/she cannot travel back to hk with his/her mom, right?

 

[RajaJi]

hi tofuboi,
But I have an question as your GF are planning to give birth in Toronto as a visitor, so after the baby is born she still need to go back and forth between hk and Canada, till the application finally get approval,

however the baby don't have the hkid card, so he/she cannot travel back to hk with his/her mom, right?

She can apply for extension of her Visitor visa. If approved, she can continue to stay in Canada. Applicants with PR application pending are generally approved for extension of stay.

 

[tofuboi]

hi tofuboi,
But I have an question as your GF are planning to give birth in Toronto as a visitor, so after the baby is born she still need to go back and forth between hk and Canada, till the application finally get approval,

however the baby don't have the hkid card, so he/she cannot travel back to hk with his/her mom, right?

Hi Sharma0724,

She doesn't need to travel until her PR gets approved, and when it does, she doesn't have to come to Canada from Hong Kong to land. She can land at any international border. We plan on doing a run to USA and then return back. Unless there is an interview, then we have no choice but to go back to Hong kong. Baby will need to get a passport from Canada before baby travels to HK or anywhere by plane. I have my parents who can take care of the baby if we do need to fly to HK.

 

[tofuboi]

if 13k CAD for delivery and cost for baby covered since birth then it's really not bad. just similar to private hospital in hk.

but was it hard for you to get a family doctor in Toronto? I heard it's difficult in Vancouver. Not sure if that's true.

Hi Karen_nd.

She has a family doctor here in Toronto, so he did have a contact for visitor births. However, doing some research, we decided not to go with him because of the mixed reviews on the internet. I ended up doing a search on the Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario website, where all licences doctors are listed. I am sure there is one for BC. From there, I filtered OB Doctor, and did some cold calling. Out of 12 calls, 2 doctors were familiar with the process of giving birth for a non-resident and were willing to accept us.

 

[Rob_TO]

Read this: http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/bc-inlanders-thread-t184207.0.html
Apparently other people have had success in getting BC provincial health coverage, simply by showing an inland PR app has been accepted by CIC. So don't need to wait until getting AIP/stage 1 approval. If this is true, then she could be eligible for healthcare pretty soon after submitting her PR app, and if so would have all pregnancy costs covered as well. I'm not too familiar with BC healthcare, so best to see what posters are more familiar with this and ask them.

If she doesn't have healthcare, then a very simple natural delivery with no complications would probably cost up to $5K CAD. It's when any complications or situations arise where an extended hospital stay is required (like needing a c-section), then the bill can shoot up to over $10K.

You can also investigate using a midwife. Unlike some other provinces midwives in BC are not free to residents with no healthcare, but they may be a cheaper option than using an OB.

Also if she intends to apply INLAND, make sure she is prepared to not leave Canada for the next 2 years or so. Each time she leaves, it's a risk to her PR application since if she is ever refused entry back to Canada her app is cancelled.

 

[karen_nd]

Read this: http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/bc-inlanders-thread-t184207.0.html
Apparently other people have had success in getting BC provincial health coverage, simply by showing an inland PR app has been accepted by CIC. So don't need to wait until getting AIP/stage 1 approval. If this is true, then she could be eligible for healthcare pretty soon after submitting her PR app, and if so would have all pregnancy costs covered as well. I'm not too familiar with BC healthcare, so best to see what posters are more familiar with this and ask them.

If she doesn't have healthcare, then a very simple natural delivery with no complications would probably cost up to $5K CAD. It's when any complications or situations arise where an extended hospital stay is required (like needing a c-section), then the bill can shoot up to over $10K.

You can also investigate using a midwife. Unlike some other provinces midwives in BC are not free to residents with no healthcare, but they may be a cheaper option than using an OB.

Also if she intends to apply INLAND, make sure she is prepared to not leave Canada for the next 2 years or so. Each time she leaves, it's a risk to her PR application since if she is ever refused entry back to Canada her app is cancelled.

that thread is really useful, thank you Rob_To!! if can gain the BC provincial health coverage perhaps i should consider giving birth in vancouver!

if that's the case, shama0724 you should send in your application outland asap.