sponsoring husband while living together in Abu Dhabi- need advice

[canada14]

Hello,
This is my first post on the forum and I would really appreciate some feedback and advice for my situation.

I am a Canadian Citizen , married and residing in Abu Dhabi with my husband since January 2012. I moved to Abu Dhabi to be with my husband as he has a well paying job in AD and I had recently finished my gradute studies so I wasn't employed at the time, so we felt it would be best for myself to move to AD for a while before starting the sponsorship process. Now I am egar to return and start our lives in Canada. I have been filling out the sponsorship application forms and find myself stuck and confused about certain questions.

would I be considered a Canadian who lives exclusively outside Canada? ( I have been in Abu Dhabi since January 2012).
The forum for financial stability is the one I'm stuck on..... I'm not currently employed in Canada so I cannot show proof of employment for the past 12 months. I do however, have an active bank account with funds ( in Canada) , own property and have an apartment for myself and my husband to live in when we come to Canada. My father has offered to write a letter saying that he will help out with any financial needs we might have while we seek employment. Would this be enough for the immigration officer to showcase that I am financially stable upon our return to Canada.

I did fill out the tax forms for 2011 so I can provide them with my current Option C printout! However, my income on it is very low. Basically I do not have enough information to provide for proof of incoome and employment as Iam working in Canada since i am residing abroad...how does this affect the application and what do I need to send them.

Also, once I have the paper work filled out for both myself and my husband should I send the package from my parents address in Canada OR do I have to send it from Abu Dhabi as I am currently residing there

My situation is that I am residing with my husband in Abu Dhabi and would like to start the sponsorship application to Canada. Any feedback and advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[OhCanadiana]

Hello,
This is my first post on the forum and I would really appreciate some feedback and advice for my situation.

Welcome

I am a Canadian Citizen , married and residing in Abu Dhabi with my husband since January 2012. I moved to Abu Dhabi to be with my husband as he has a well paying job in AD and I had recently finished my gradute studies so I wasn't employed at the time, so we felt it would be best for myself to move to AD for a while before starting the sponsorship process. Now I am egar to return and start our lives in Canada. I have been filling out the sponsorship application forms and find myself stuck and confused about certain questions.

would I be considered a Canadian who lives exclusively outside Canada? ( I have been in Abu Dhabi since January 2012).

If you are living in Abu Dhabi, yes. If you are visiting Abu-Dhabi no or splitting time between Abu Dhabi and Canada no.

The forum for financial stability is the one I'm stuck on..... I'm not currently employed in Canada so I cannot show proof of employment for the past 12 months. I do however, have an active bank account with funds ( in Canada) , own property and have an apartment for myself and my husband to live in when we come to Canada. My father has offered to write a letter saying that he will help out with any financial needs we might have while we seek employment. Would this be enough for the immigration officer to showcase that I am financially stable upon our return to Canada.

If you are just sponsoring your husband you don't have to meet any minimum income requirements. However, they will be looking to make sure you have a solid plan in place that doesn't rely on welfare. Therefore, explaining to them what you said here - elaborating a bit more on the details would be a good idea (can be as part of your intent to move to Canada). Also, your Father's letter would be helpful (some folks include invitation letters to stay with family initially, for example).

I did fill out the tax forms for 2011 so I can provide them with my current Option C printout! However, my income on it is very low. Basically I do not have enough information to provide for proof of incoome and employment as Iam working in Canada since i am residing abroad...how does this affect the application and what do I need to send them.

Good. They will be looking to ensure you weren't on welfare. They will want to make sure you are moving to Canada as soon as his PR is approved so you'll have to elaborate on that in your intent to move. You may find it helpful to read this appeal case from Abu Dhabi.

Also, once I have the paper work filled out for both myself and my husband should I send the package from my parents address in Canada OR do I have to send it from Abu Dhabi as I am currently residing there

My situation is that I am residing with my husband in Abu Dhabi and would like to start the sponsorship application to Canada. Any feedback and advice would be greatly appreciated.

You can use either address. However, since documents will likely be mailed from the Visa Office, you may be better off using your Abu Dhabi address.

Finally, Abu Dhabi visa office has one of the longest processing times. Depending on your husband's citizenship, you may want to consider selecting another visa office.

Good luck!

 

[sponsorCan]

Welcome to the forum canada14. I am in the same place as you, I live with my husband in UAE and I have started the sponsorship application in May 2012. Now because you have a UAE resident visa, you are considered a Canadian citizen living exclusively outside Canada. I remember one of the questions asks you if you reside in Canada only and in no other country, which is not your case. I also moved back to UAE in January to stay with my husband during the process of sponsorship and I am not working at the moment, yet I still got the sponsor approval.
Usually for the spouse sponsorship, your income does not affect the decision on the sponsorship as long as you prove to them that you are able to take care of yourself and that your husband won't need social assistance once he resides in Canada. In my application I stated that I am not working, but I included my husband's job details and salary and how we are saving to prepare for our return to Canada. I also included a letter from my parents indicating that they're willing to help us establish ourselves once we move back. In your case and with the assets that you have, it shouldn't be a problem.
As for the mailing address,I put my parents' mailing address in my application, and a UAE address in my husband's application for permanent residence. Once they start processing his application from Abu Dhabi visa office, they will probably need a UAE address.
So to sum up, it is ok to send an application while residing outside Canada even if you are not working. Just make sure that you provide a detailed explanation on your plans to return to Canada and support yourselves once your husband gets the PR.

 

[canada14]

Thank you for the helpful information, I really appreciate it. I'm a little confused with the Abu Dhabi visa office role ; if I send in the package with both my side of the application and my husbands side (as requested both applications have to be sent in together?) -if I send the package from Canada -from my parents address to the Mississauga office , why would the Abu Dhabi visa office receive anything? Maybe I'm misunderstanding something!!

As for the Sponsorship Evaluation section- as I am currently unemployed , I should provide detials of my husbands job title, income all in an affort to showcase that we have stable monthly income. We have been saving as much money as possible in Abu Dhabi.

 

[OhCanadiana]

Thank you for the helpful information, I really appreciate it. I'm a little confused with the Abu Dhabi visa office role ; if I send in the package with both my side of the application and my husbands side (as requested both applications have to be sent in together?) -if I send the package from Canada -from my parents address to the Mississauga office , why would the Abu Dhabi visa office receive anything? Maybe I'm misunderstanding something!!

As for the Sponsorship Evaluation section- as I am currently unemployed , I should provide detials of my husbands job title, income all in an affort to showcase that we have stable monthly income. We have been saving as much money as possible in Abu Dhabi.

Yes, you send both parts of the application together. You send everything to CPC-M (regardless of whether you use your address or your parents' address).

CPC-M will then take a quick look to ensure it is complete and to verify that you seem eligible to sponsor. Once you are deemed likely eligible to sponsor, they will forward the application to a visa office. In other words, there are two steps to the application. The visa office will be either Abu Dhabi (assuming he is an Emirati or that he has a visa that allows him to live there at least one year) or the one covering the country of his nationality. You can request one or the other - the final decision is CPC-M's (and that of the visa office it gets sent to) for program integrity.

As for employment history, you can share info on your husband's employment. However, just remember the objective of showing the employment is to ensure you'll be able to settle in using your own resources (and those of your family and friends). So, I would emphasize the property you own and savings a lot more. In fact, the instructions to the officers reviewing the applications indicate they shouldn't give much weight to foreign income since it will end when you move.

 

[canada14]

Thank you again for the useful information, I wasn't aware that the application would be forwarded to a visa office. If I had known I would have started to application process a year go as I checked the processing time for the Abu Dhabi office and they have stated 26 months, which seems like a very long time.


As part of my intent to move back to Canada- I will showcase,


my bank account statements

property deed which I share with my parents

rental agreement for an apartment owned by my parents which they have agreeded to let us stay in upon our arrival to Canada

letters from family and friends about our conversations of my intent to move back to canada and why I moved to AD in the first place

Parent letter for their support financially if needed


Again, thank you for your advice

 

[OhCanadiana]

Glad we cleared that up

Since you may not have caught it in my prior post: if your husband is not Emirati (or a national of a GCC country or Yemen) you can request the visa office of his nationality process the application. It may be much faster.

To find the alternate VO, look at:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/ENGLISH/information/offices/apply-where.asp

And then look at the timing in the link of my prior post for 80% of the applications and
http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/case-processing-speed-at-visa-offices-step-2-q1-2012-t111426.0.html
For additional details.

Regarding intent to return to Canada, those are all good elements to reference in your letter. Folks have also found that adding a checklist of to-do's to show you've thought through what you need to do before moving helps. Things like cancel your residence permit(s), sell/move furniture, etc.

Thank you again for the useful information, I wasn't aware that the application would be forwarded to a visa office. If I had known I would have started to application process a year go as I checked the processing time for the Abu Dhabi office and they have stated 26 months, which seems like a very long time.


As part of my intent to move back to Canada- I will showcase,


my bank account statements

property deed which I share with my parents

rental agreement for an apartment owned by my parents which they have agreeded to let us stay in upon our arrival to Canada

letters from family and friends about our conversations of my intent to move back to canada and why I moved to AD in the first place

Parent letter for their support financially if needed


Again, thank you for your advice

 

[canada14]

Great advice once again
We will definetly request the visa office of my husband's nationality and wait and see what happens. Figures crossed we will be lucky and won't have to wait 26 months for the approval! Again thanks for the tips

 

[OhCanadiana]

Great advice once again
We will definetly request the visa office of my husband's nationality and wait and see what happens. Figures crossed we will be lucky and won't have to wait 26 months for the approval! Again thanks for the tips

You're welcome.

 

[canada14]

I have another question and would appreciate the advice, I hope its no problem that am asking a new question on the same page! Here it goes! As I'm filling out the application and writing my letter to showcase my intent to return to Canada - would it be an issue for the immigration officers that I have been legally married to my husband since January 2011 and have waited almost a year to apply for his sponsorship? We signed our marriage contract in January 2011 in Abu Dhabi then I returned to Canada and we waited until December 2011( we didn't see each other for 10 months) to have our wedding reception- so during that time I could have technically applied for his sponsorship as a Canadian Citizen living in Canada- but I waited until we started living together and I moved to Abu Dhabi before starting the application process. We did this since it was our plan from the beginning that we would live in Abu Dhabi together and then apply for him to come to Canada so we won't be apart. I don't know if this makes any sense and whether I'm confusing myself ....I don't know, is this something they might find odd/ or it doesn't make any difference??? Any advice would be great

 

[OhCanadiana]

I have another question and would appreciate the advice, I hope its no problem that am asking a new question on the same page! Here it goes! As I'm filling out the application and writing my letter to showcase my intent to return to Canada - would it be an issue for the immigration officers that I have been legally married to my husband since January 2011 and have waited almost a year to apply for his sponsorship? We signed our marriage contract in January 2011 in Abu Dhabi then I returned to Canada and we waited until December 2011( we didn't see each other for 10 months) to have our wedding reception- so during that time I could have technically applied for his sponsorship as a Canadian Citizen living in Canada- but I waited until we started living together and I moved to Abu Dhabi before starting the application process. We did this since it was our plan from the beginning that we would live in Abu Dhabi together and then apply for him to come to Canada so we won't be apart. I don't know if this makes any sense and whether I'm confusing myself ....I don't know, is this something they might find odd/ or it doesn't make any difference??? Any advice would be great

No reason why it should matter. You decided to start living in Abu Dhabi. Now you want to move to Canada so you are going to apply. There's people that apply just after getting married, others who apply years after being married, and others who never decide to live in Canada. As long as you now intend to move to Canada then you are eligible to apply.