Sponsoring my Korean wife for permanent residency

[CanNZ]

Some info about the banking:

My wife set up a KEB bank account here in Canada and it sounds like she can send the money to her account in Canada, then we can withdrawl the entire money here using a 'bank cheque' and deposit it in my Canadian bank account. She would be charged some fees to send the money out of Korea though, we need to check once we return to Korea from our trip exactly how much. The bank cheque fee would be around 60 dollars Canadian though. One side note here though, for your spouse to set up a KEB account in Canada you will probably need to be there too as they need a Canadian permanent address. I have no Canadian I.D. with my Canadian address on it, but they accepted our Marriage Certificate which has my Canadian address on it, even though my name is not on her KEB account.

We have another option too, i have added my wife's name to my Canadian bank account and we can deposit it directly into their, the bank fees from the Canadian side will about to about 100 dollars. Just to be clear though, for her to send the money out of Korea without paying huge fees she has to have her name on both bank accounts and it sounds like the Korean government will give her a 'one time' sending money out discount as long as she can prove that she is moving. I believe the document I have just got from CIC regarding my sponsorship approval is enough.

To add my wife's name I had to show two pieces of Canadian I.D. and my wife needed to show two pieces of I.D. as well, but it can be tricky, some banks will require her to have some form of Canadian I.D. or an immi document proving that she is going to move. TD was one of those banks. My bank is a different one though and they added her just with her Korean I.D., I had my marriage certificate with me, but they didn't care to look at that.

 

[over_jj]

Thanks for the info.

It's good to hear that you guys were able to transfer money with some different options.
It sounds like you guys opened a joint account in Canada. That's great idea.
When I was asked two pieces of ID by TD in order to open a joint account, I showed them my Korean passport and Alberta driver license.
It is helpful if she has driver license issued by Canada Province in many cases even though she doesn't drive.

 

[bartjones]

Some info about the banking:

My wife set up a KEB bank account here in Canada and it sounds like she can send the money to her account in Canada, then we can withdrawl the entire money here using a 'bank cheque' and deposit it in my Canadian bank account. She would be charged some fees to send the money out of Korea though, we need to check once we return to Korea from our trip exactly how much. The bank cheque fee would be around 60 dollars Canadian though. One side note here though, for your spouse to set up a KEB account in Canada you will probably need to be there too as they need a Canadian permanent address. I have no Canadian I.D. with my Canadian address on it, but they accepted our Marriage Certificate which has my Canadian address on it, even though my name is not on her KEB account.

We have another option too, i have added my wife's name to my Canadian bank account and we can deposit it directly into their, the bank fees from the Canadian side will about to about 100 dollars. Just to be clear though, for her to send the money out of Korea without paying huge fees she has to have her name on both bank accounts and it sounds like the Korean government will give her a 'one time' sending money out discount as long as she can prove that she is moving. I believe the document I have just got from CIC regarding my sponsorship approval is enough.

To add my wife's name I had to show two pieces of Canadian I.D. and my wife needed to show two pieces of I.D. as well, but it can be tricky, some banks will require her to have some form of Canadian I.D. or an immi document proving that she is going to move. TD was one of those banks. My bank is a different one though and they added her just with her Korean I.D., I had my marriage certificate with me, but they didn't care to look at that.

Are you sure these are the only ways? Firstly, I would definitely go the route of transferring the funds from the KEB account to your Canadian bank (i.e. RBC/ TD/ BMO/ Scotia Bank, not a Canadian branch of a Korea bank). Once it's in the Canadian system and you're both here, there won't be any restrictions on what you can do with it.

While I was living in Korea I owned a rental property here in Canada. From time to time I had to transfer funds from my Korean bank account to my RBC account to cover the mortgage payments/taxes etc. on the property. It was typically 1M-2M won at a time. As I said earlier I got tired of being told that as a foreigner I was restricted on how much money I could send out of the country and just had my wife transfer the amounts in her name to my RBC account in Canada (which was held in my name only). They call it an "International Remittance". My wife did this countless times while we were still in Korea. Over the last 3 years we were allowed to do it by telephone banking, free of charge. My wife did this as recently as May, the day before we left for Canada. So I'm a little confused when you say there will be huge fees.

If I were you, I would go to your Korean bank and tell them this. I am moving back to Canada soon. I will have xxxx won at that time which I wish to send by international remittance to my Canadian account at RBC/ TD/ BMO/ Scotia Bank etc. How do I go about doing that? My guess is that you will get a simple answer. The processes for completing the transfer that you are describing sound way too complicated to me, but then the amounts I transferred were relatively small.

 

[ThunderousDice]

CanNZ, Korea2Canada, and bartjones:

First off, I must extend a huge thank you to you three. The amount of advice and experience that you have provided here has been invaluable to me as I am also sponsoring my Korean wife (married two weeks ago!) for PR. I mostly just made an account to say that. THANKS!

However, I also have one question which is in regards to translations. We had our documents translated here in Busan, but the translator did not make copies. He simply translated the original documents and included those originals in the "package" of each document set. Thus, each set of translations has:

1. The Notarial Certificate cover from the law office with a big ol' gold stamp
2. The English translation which is signed and stamped "I certify this translation to be true and accurate", with all the necessary signatures.
3. The original document from the district office
4. The actual Notarial Certificate from the Law and Notary office our translator used, with all the necessary signatures.

Is this going to be acceptable, or should I be taking this back to our translator and ask him to make copies of the originals and then certify those? It seems silly to us that original documents would not be accepted, but I want to be clear on this and I haven't been able to come up with anything concrete using my Google-fu. What do you think?

 

[Korea2Canada]

CanNZ, Korea2Canada, and bartjones:

First off, I must extend a huge thank you to you three. The amount of advice and experience that you have provided here has been invaluable to me as I am also sponsoring my Korean wife (married two weeks ago!) for PR. I mostly just made an account to say that. THANKS!

However, I also have one question which is in regards to translations. We had our documents translated here in Busan, but the translator did not make copies. He simply translated the original documents and included those originals in the "package" of each document set. Thus, each set of translations has:

1. The Notarial Certificate cover from the law office with a big ol' gold stamp
2. The English translation which is signed and stamped "I certify this translation to be true and accurate", with all the necessary signatures.
3. The original document from the district office
4. The actual Notarial Certificate from the Law and Notary office our translator used, with all the necessary signatures.

Is this going to be acceptable, or should I be taking this back to our translator and ask him to make copies of the originals and then certify those? It seems silly to us that original documents would not be accepted, but I want to be clear on this and I haven't been able to come up with anything concrete using my Google-fu. What do you think?

As long as the original Korean document being translated is in the package, no need for additional copies.

 

[bartjones]

As long as the original Korean document being translated is in the package, no need for additional copies.

I concur. You're good to go with what they've given you.

 

[CanNZ]

bartjones

NO, they are not the only ways but some of the ways I have found out. My wife tells me that she wants to go the route of direct deposit in our joint Canadian account, because:

1. a little less work for us (one less bank visit)
2. costs would end up being about the same
3. She doesn't trust what the worker at the KEB bank in Canada told her

p.s., I was actually stared at in the KEB bank in Canada too. It felt like I was back in Korea

For the guy asking about the notorized documents, is that one of the first things you have done for you application? Those documents have a 3 month life span, so they were one of the last things I did. Also, make sure you have your Option C before your wife does her medical, it took my almost 6 weeks to get mine, the first one I requested was lost in the mail.

 

[ThunderousDice]

bartjones and Korea2Canada,

Thanks for the quick replies and for putting our minds to rest.

CanNZ,

Thanks for the reply and the concern. Getting the translations was the last thing that we did for our application. I should be ready to mail it today if I put the time into organizing it. I already have my Option C, thanks. I got it before I came to Korea for the summer. The reason I'm so ready and confident is that you guys gave me a lot of the information that I needed as you worked through the process publicly! Thanks again!

 

[bartjones]

bartjones and Korea2Canada,

Thanks for the quick replies and for putting our minds to rest.

CanNZ,

Thanks for the reply and the concern. Getting the translations was the last thing that we did for our application. I should be ready to mail it today if I put the time into organizing it. I already have my Option C, thanks. I got it before I came to Korea for the summer. The reason I'm so ready and confident is that you guys gave me a lot of the information that I needed as you worked through the process publicly! Thanks again!

Best of luck to you.

 

[cjkoall]

Hey guys,

My wife and I are applying for her PR. The process was started on September 10, 2012.

We know that the visa and immigration office in Seoul has been shut down and everything has been moved to Manila.

Medical results have been received, we've sent the RCMP criminal record check they requested for me ...

Now we're just playing a waiting game. Emails from the embassy have basically just said that the medical results are good until February, that the application is in a queue for routine background security and criminality check and they'll be in touch if they need anything else.

It's ridiculously nerve wracking and frustrating. We feel like it's been forever. Is this a normal period of time to wait?

Any words of advice, encouragement or insight would be greatly appreciated!

 

[CanNZ]

Well since the Foreign Service is now on strike, we all just have to wait.

I am sorry for the difficulty you and your wife have been having. Makes me realize that I should shut up about the problems I had receiving my option-C.

 

[Korea2Canada]

Hey guys,

My wife and I are applying for her PR. The process was started on September 10, 2012.

We know that the visa and immigration office in Seoul has been shut down and everything has been moved to Manila.

Medical results have been received, we've sent the RCMP criminal record check they requested for me ...

Now we're just playing a waiting game. Emails from the embassy have basically just said that the medical results are good until February, that the application is in a queue for routine background security and criminality check and they'll be in touch if they need anything else.

It's ridiculously nerve wracking and frustrating. We feel like it's been forever. Is this a normal period of time to wait?

Any words of advice, encouragement or insight would be greatly appreciated!

Hi,

Are we required to send a rcmp cbc? I thought cic would do that anyways? So, you have waited almost 1 year now? I think the average wait is 14 months?

 

[Korea2Canada]

Getting a job in Canada from Korea: I posted on this before and decided to give it a try. I applied for 6 positions. One is a Dream Career position for me. A month went by and all I got was one auto reply. A few days ago I got an email to have an interview by skype. This is for the dream career position! I'm very excited!

My interview is tomorrow. I take it as a good sign since they are taking time to skype interview me. It would be ideal if I can get the position before arriving in Canada.

Any tips for skype interviews?

 

[CanNZ]

Getting a job in Canada from Korea: I posted on this before and decided to give it a try. I applied for 6 positions. One is a Dream Career position for me. A month went by and all I got was one auto reply. A few days ago I got an email to have an interview by skype. This is for the dream career position! I'm very excited!

My interview is tomorrow. I take it as a good sign since they are taking time to skype interview me. It would be ideal if I can get the position before arriving in Canada.

Any tips for skype interviews?

Is this for a job in Calgary? Man you are lucky to get an interview while in Korea, I have applied for quite a few jobs but nothing so far.

 

[cjkoall]

Getting a job in Canada from Korea: I posted on this before and decided to give it a try. I applied for 6 positions. One is a Dream Career position for me. A month went by and all I got was one auto reply. A few days ago I got an email to have an interview by skype. This is for the dream career position! I'm very excited!

My interview is tomorrow. I take it as a good sign since they are taking time to skype interview me. It would be ideal if I can get the position before arriving in Canada.

Any tips for skype interviews?

Skype interviews are generally more informal than real interviews in person.

One thing you'll definitely want to do is make sure that where you're doing the interview is quiet. If you can, go into a room that is totally separate with a window for natural light, lock the door.

You can wear something that is business casual. Also, make sure that you have the camera angled at a wall (with your back to the wall). Make sure the wall is totally clear - no posters, pictures, anything.

Take some time to make sure the angle of your camera (if you're using one) is right. You don't want to start the interview and have the camera angled up your nose. Make sure the camera is angled and far enough away from you that the interviewer(s) can see the top of your head to just below your shoulders.

Try not to use a headset if you don't have (especially if using a camera), if not using a camera then it doesn't matter.

Definitely do a check of your system before the call - check your camera, check your mic, everything.

Another thing I've heard people say is that it creates an awkward start when someone says "Can you hear me OK?", it's a small insignificant thing but for the sake of professionalism I've heard some people will advise to say something like "Do we have a strong connection on your end?" or something like that.

Good luck with the interview! Let us know how it goes.