Sponsoring American fiancé for Canadian Citizenship

[ankk]

Hi there,

I am a Canadian citizen living and working in Ontario. My American fiancé and I have been together for one year and a half and are now wanting to get married. We have decided that we want to live in Ontario.

After months of traveling back and forth to visit one another, my American fiancé has been here with me in Ontario for the past four months. We are looking to get married by the end of the month in Ontario and have been looking into the process of me sponsoring him for Canadian citizenship.

After some research, we have a few questions:

1. Inland spousal application processing time: We've read of processing times that vary between 8 months to 3 years. Does anyone know of a more accurate processing time?

2. We have also read that with the inland application, my American fiancé will not be allowed to leave during the processing time. However, since he is legally only allowed to be here for 6 months (and has already been here for 4 months), how does this work? Will he be allowed to stay during the processing time (as long as he doesn't leave Canada)? Also, if he did leave to go visit his family in the States, will he be denied entry to Canada once he tries to return?

3. If he stays here in Canada with me during the processing time for the inland spousal application, should he be stating his address as mine? Or should he be using his family's address in America (this is where he resides when he is in the States)?

We want to avoid being separated, which is why we have decided to go with the inland spousal application. We also have read that receiving our marriage certificate can take up to 10 weeks in Canada--we are mostly worried about how to work around him being here after his 6 months of allowed visiting time.

Thank you to anyone who can help us out. We really appreciate it.

 

[Zarilenth]

Just so you know - you can apply outland and he can stay in Canada the whole time by either requesting an extension, or leaving quickly then coming back in for another 6 months.

 

[Avadava]

Just so you know - you can apply outland and he can stay in Canada the whole time by either requesting an extension, or leaving quickly then coming back in for another 6 months.

I agree. With an inland sponsorship, your fiance would have to stay in Canada for the whole duration of the sponsorship. If he leaves Canada for a small period of time and he is refused re-entry (it's a small chance, but it can happen) his inland application will be considered abandoned. During inland process, your finance would have to renew his visitor visa, he will not be on implied status just because he filed a sponsorship application. Implied status comes only after first stage approval (which can take between 6-8 months) and only if he files an Open Work Permit together with the application.

With an outland process, he would be able to stay in Canada with you under the same conditions - meaning he will have to renew his visitor status (either by filing an application 1 months before his status expires or by leaving Canada and re-entering). The difference is that if he has to leave Canada, let's say for an emergency, his application will not be at risk. Also, the outland application will be much faster. The time it takes to get an inland first stage approval, with an outland application he could already be done by then.

Just a small correction, you are not sponsoring him for Canadian Citizenship. You are sponsoring him for Permanent Residence. Under the current law (which will change soon) he will be able to apply for Canadian citizenship after 4 years, with the requirement of having physically lived in Canada as a PR for 1097 days out of the last 4 years.

 

[screech339]

Just a small correction, you are not sponsoring him for Canadian Citizenship. You are sponsoring him for Permanent Residence. Under the current law (which will change soon) he will be able to apply for Canadian citizenship after 4 years, with the requirement of having physically lived in Canada as a PR for 1097 days out of the last 4 years.

As of current law, the 3 out of 4 years residency still applies for Canadian citizenship qualification. As for when the 4 out of 6 year requirement, we will not know exactly when as they have not provided the timeline when this will go into effect. Already the $300 fee went into effect immediately. For the rest of the citizenship law, only time will tell.

Screech339

 

[jay7777]

My situation is very similar to yours. I am going through this process with my wife right now, but am several months ahead of you in this process. I decided to apply outside but remain in Canada. I did this because I want to be able to leave Canada and not risk my application getting rejected because they do not allow me back in the country. I was told to wait 2 weeks to apply for the marriage certificate after the wedding and then it took another 2 weeks to get in the mail so about 1 month total. I used my home address in the United States on my applications. About 1 month after we were married we went on a vacation to the United States and when returning to the Canada I was given a visitor record that allows me to stay for 6 months and should give me the ability to leave and come back to Canada as needed. The visitor record can be renewed online while I stay in Canada. When I checked the CIC website a few weeks ago it said the inland application process was 16 months (8 months to process the sponsor and 8 months to approve the primary applicant.

Note: it was very helpful that I had my marriage certificate with me at the border coming back into Canada.

If you are trying to get the application sent in asap you will probably want to get a medical appointment setup for your future husband. It can take several weeks to setup an appointment. Also the FBI report will probably take around 2 months to get so you might want to have your husband get fingerprinted and send them into the FBI pretty soon.

Lastly I am not 100% on this point but it is my understanding if you apply inland after the sponsor application is approved approx 8 months, your husband can have a work permit issued if he applied for that with the PR application. So the advantage is he can start working sooner.

 

[ankk]

Thank you for the quick responses. We would like to apply outland but we have a few more questions...

From the reading we've done we thought that to apply outland he would have to stay outside of Canada. What is the actual downside of applying outland vs inland if the time for outland is much lower? Also what are the requirements for a visitor's record and how do we apply for one? Reading online it gave a small list of requirements but nothing very detailed.

Thank you again for all your help. This is a very serious topic so we just want to make sure that we have everything ready and organized before we go forward.

 

[Zarilenth]

Thank you for the quick responses. We would like to apply outland but we have a few more questions...

From the reading we've done we thought that to apply outland he would have to stay outside of Canada. What is the actual downside of applying outland vs inland if the time for outland is much lower? Also what are the requirements for a visitor's record and how do we apply for one? Reading online it gave a small list of requirements but nothing very detailed.

Thank you again for all your help. This is a very serious topic so we just want to make sure that we have everything ready and organized before we go forward.

American's have no real advantage for applying inland. It's mostly for the people who have a long wait time at their visa office if applying outland. There really isn't any downside for applying outland. Your husband can come into Canada and they are usually granted a 6 month visit unless told otherwise. 1 month before that expires you can request an extension online no problem. I have no experience with that though, but I'm sure someone else can explain it. My American husband decided to stay in the US and work while our outland application is being processed, to save up some money.

 

[steerpike]

Here are current processing times. http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/perm-fc.asp

Please note, the time for Inland stage 1 (AIP) has increased to 9 months. (it has varied between 6 months to 11 months over the past year, so keep that in mind if applying inland).

 

[ankk]

If we are engaged and want to take a few months to plan our wedding would the Canadian government grant my American fiance a visitor's record so he can stay here until the wedding? At that point (once we've gotten married) I would sponsor him.

When we begin the sponsoring process does he then receive implied status? or does he have to get another visitor's record?

We are a little confused about how to apply for a visitor's record and under what conditions he would be issued one?

Also would he be able to visit his family in the States during the processing times?

Thanks again for all your help!

 

[screech339]

If we are engaged and want to take a few months to plan our wedding would the Canadian government grant my American fiance a visitor's record so he can stay here until the wedding? At that point (once we've gotten married) I would sponsor him.

When we begin the sponsoring process does he then receive implied status? or does he have to get another visitor's record?

We are a little confused about how to apply for a visitor's record and under what conditions he would be issued one?

Also would he be able to visit his family in the States during the processing times?

Thanks again for all your help!

If you are planning to get married within 6 month after your husband to be enter canada, he really doesn't need a visitor visa. Don't even think your fiance even need to tell border than he is getting married. Just enter Canada as normally done and the border will let him in, probably without any stamps or visitor visa. the border will swipe his passport in and get default 6 month stay.

Once he is in Canada, he can apply for an extension after you get married and submitted the PR application shortly after. Assuming you are applying inland PR sponsorship.

 

[ankk]

Thanks for the quick response:

Sorry I should have added that he has been staying with me (in Canada) since Jan. 2014 his 6 will be up in July. So now that we are engaged and want to get married we want to stay together while we plan the wedding which will take several months to plan. Will they issue him a extended stay?

 

[rhcohen2014]

Thanks for the quick response:

Sorry I should have added that he has been staying with me (in Canada) since Jan. 2014 his 6 will be up in July. So now that we are engaged and want to get married we want to stay together while we plan the wedding which will take several months to plan. Will they issue him a extended stay?

there's really no way to answer that question. it is solely the opinion of whoever will receive your application for an extension. i would suggest, since you aren't married yet to supply them with proof of your intentions to marry. your marriage licence, a copy of your invitation, and any deposits already paid. from my own experience, they are certainly a lot tougher on couples not already married. also, how is your fiance supporting himself?? what are his ties to the US? they are going to want to see significant ties: ie: lease from us, mortgage in us, employment contract or paystubs from a US employer, etc. all of these will help your case.

also remember, they don't just automatically issue US citizens 6 month passes. If a US citizen who is not married to a canadian citizen is trying to cross the border and stay for 6 months, they will scrutinize them to make sure they have significant ties in their home country before approving such a request, and they are not at risk for overstaying. Again, this is from my own experience as I cross the border regularly. HAving family and belongings in the US is not considered strong enough ties. They want to make sure we are not entering and "taking a job away from a canadian".