Sponsor (to be) is pregnant - Living in Canada

[dan_t]

So I'm really here to ask some advice as we're in quite a pickle right now and don't know which way to turn.

Background:
My parnter (sponsor) is a Perminent Resident of Canada. I'm English. We had a baby together when my partner come over to England for a year or so. She still maintained her PR status here in Canada and has since successfully renewed her card also.

All 3 of us come to Canada in the tail end of 2010. We stayed 6 months and applied to extend myself and our son's tempory status longer as we we're still gathering documents required to submit the Sponsorhip/PR applications. Our application was declined due to me not providing a scan of the date stamp in our passports (silly moment!). I re-applied within the 90 period and I'm currently now waiting the reply (60+ days and couting...)

My partner works full time while I stay home and look after our son.

Our plan was to submit our Sponsorship/PR application once we had our reply from the extended visitor status.
I was planning on being self employed in the Auto Repair business once I had an open work permit.

My partner has now fallen pregnent. We would still like to remain in Canada and the baby would be born here.


The Issues:
I won't have recieved a reply on PR and hence won't have an open work permit by the time my partner has to take maternity leave. I guess there is no way to speed this process up?
Will my partner be able to claim maternity leave without it effecting our sponsorship agreement?
Would we be elligable for any other finacial help without it effecting our sponsorship agreement?

I'd really love to hear any idea's of the best way to go about this? Its turned what should be a very happy sitiuation into one thats very stressfull for my partner so far as we want to do the right thing for our family.

I appreciate you taking the time to read this,

Many thanks,

Dan

 

[CharlieD10]

Yes, she can claim maternity benefits and Employment Insurance without it affecting your application.

 

[awor]

I've seen that London is fairly speedy, but the sponsorship portion (I would say you should definitely file outland) is taking forever lately, so my advice is get that application off ASAP and you might even be approved at least before the baby arrives.

And congrats!!

 

[dan_t]

Thanks for your replies.

I see that outland is much quicker but now we are here it would be very hard to upsticks and move again.

Its good to get an understanding of what we should be prepaired for finacially.

 

[Stumpedmom]

As long as you are here and have a valid visitors visa, once you file your PR application, you can use that as proof too, you can file an outland application still. Just an FYI...you have a right to appeal any negative decision with an outland app. You are looking 9-10 months before you get AIP and OWP, but most of London's apps are finished within 6 months.....if not quicker....

 

[dan_t]

Are you saying that I could file as outland even if I was to remain in Canada? Do you know the process to do this?

 

[CharlieD10]

There is NO need to leave Canada in order to do an Outland application. The term Outland merely refers to where the application is processed, NOT to the location of the applicant.

You always have the right to apply through the visa office responsible for persons of your nationality (in your case, London) and you preserve your right to appeal a denial (heaven forbid one should be necessary) with an Outland application.

Additionally, London is VERY fast. Most applications for British citizens are being completed in 4-6 months, as compared to the 10+ months required for Inland applications. By the time an Inland application is processed for OWP and AIP, you could have gotten your PR and been working for 3 or more months!

 

[Stumpedmom]

lol Charlie...I think we were writing our answers at the same time....pretty much the exact same info....great minds think a like!!!!! ;D

 

[CharlieD10]

lol Charlie...I think we were writing our answers at the same time....pretty much the exact same info....great minds think a like!!!!! ;D

LOL, a teacher used to tell us to remember the caveat to that statement is: "But then, fools seldom differ!" I think he was trying to keep us humble, haha!

 

[dan_t]

So I would follow the guide from this page? -
cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/fc.asp

I assume I would need to put English address's?

As you can tell I don't understand too much about all this!

 

[CharlieD10]

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/fc.asp

Yup, that's the one. Put in your Canadian address as both your residential and mailing address, you don't have to use the British one.

 

[penandpaper]

On a similar note: outland application/while staying in Canada, I wanted to ask in general:

If I have started an outland application (in my case: Bucharest, I am being sponsored) and a few months into it I decide to go and wait out the process in Canada (visa exempt: US citizenship) and I have paid the fees etc, is that possible? Our baby will be born quite soon (dad is born in Canada, so we will apply for the necessary citizenships)... I suppose me and the baby would be able to enter and I would be able to apply for an extension if things don't get wrapped up within the 6 months of visa free stay?
Also if that is possible, I assume it also means that I will have to go to the outland VO if they request an interview? And if the medicals expire in the meantime, I could redo them in Canada and I don't have to go back to the original country where I did them first (in my case Bulgaria)? And the outland VO would just correspond with me at the new address in Quebec?

I am not sure this is something we will end up doing but I wonder what the rules are ....

thanks, as always!

 

[mercur]

Yes, I am in the same situation (Bulgarian wife, applying in Bucharest, wife currently in Canada on a visitor visa). I spoke to Immigration and they told me that if her visa expires, she will be able to apply for an extension. She will also be able to redo the medicals if necessary in Canada. But in your case, you can either apply for an extension or simply go to the states and reenter Canada. This will give you another 6 months.

 

[penandpaper]

Thanks Mercur.

Did they mention the interview -- will she have to come back to Bucharest for it or?
At one point we even considered me moving back to the US somewhere literary a few miles away from the border with QC so that he can cross over every week -- this is how insane this is getting
I suppose we'll consider doing the whole "wait it out in QC" if things drag on too much. At least we will be together for the next 4-5 months here in Europe, then we'll figure out what to do.
I am just glad CIC accepts this plan as an option .....

By the way, when did you send your app?
Ours was received July 14th and still nothing. They cannot even give us any info over the phone. I tried opening ecas with the receipt number but it does not work/does not recognize it. I don't know, but I do not think it would matter that we used my credit card to pay the fee (I am using the sponsor's name to log in).

 

[dan_t]

Returning to this after waiting for my status to be sorted. I was given a 2 full years extention of my Vistor status even though I had only asked for 6 months so that seems positive.

We are nearing the completion of the PR/Sponsor forms but are somewhat unsure of 5490E. It seems very much geared towards couples that live apart. Some of the questions just don't make sense in our situation. Should we continue to answer them the best we can or?

For example:

The Maintainging Contact section seems hard to answer correctly as we have lived together since 2007.

Q-30. Do I receive finacial support? Well my partner is the one that works full time and I look after our son, so Yes I guess she does provide the finacial support - but how much?

Any advice on how best to deal with this? Up till this point it seemed to be going well. I'm now afraid that we're going about this the wrong way.

Thanks,

Dan