Sponsoring my Korean wife for permanent residency

[bartjones]

Thanks for the advice guys! Who would I contact to get the GCMS notes?

I think a lot of people get them through a service like this one.

http://caipsnotes.com/

Looks like it costs $40 and you get them in about a month.

There are ways of doing it yourself, but I'm not sure how.

 

[jason_kelly]

Sending off my application tomorrow morning! thank god. Hope everything goes well. Big thank you to everyone who posted on this thread. a real headache saver for sure
Cheers and Happy Chuseok I'm off to Cebu on Tuesday with the fam and inlaws

Jason

 

[claudeteacher]

Travel to Canada while waiting for PR?

I am sponsoring my wife, and I got the notification today that "confirms that your application to Sponsor a Member of the Family Class has been received by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) on 2013/09/10 on behalf of the following member(s)"

So that is good.
Our plan is this: My wife will go to Canada next week, to escort a student (who has all the required visas), and to start settling down. I will follow in a couple of months once my contract is done. Now we hear that may not be allowed. What is the skinny? Can she travel into Canada without me? Does she need any documentation?
tnx

 

[bartjones]

Travel to Canada while waiting for PR?

I am sponsoring my wife, and I got the notification today that "confirms that your application to Sponsor a Member of the Family Class has been received by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) on 2013/09/10 on behalf of the following member(s)"

So that is good.
Our plan is this: My wife will go to Canada next week, to escort a student (who has all the required visas), and to start settling down. I will follow in a couple of months once my contract is done. Now we hear that may not be allowed. What is the skinny? Can she travel into Canada without me? Does she need any documentation?
tnx

Assuming your wife is Korean, she can come and stay in Canada on a visitor's visa for 6 months. Thereafter she can apply to extend her visitor's visa and wait out the PR process in Canada. The only documents that she will need are her passport and a return ticket with a return date within 6 months. You might want to bring your marriage certificate.

The important thing to remember is that until she gets her PR visa, she is only a visitor. She will be 'visiting' Canada until her PR application is processed. You don't want to use language like "I'm moving to Canada" or "I'm going to live in Canada", when you are talking to the CBSA agent at the airport.

My wife has been here waiting out the PR process with me since May. When we arrived I told the CBSA agent at the airport that she was accompanying me to visit while her PR application was in process. He said that was fine, as long as we understood that she could only visit for 6 months, at the end of which time she would either have to go home or apply to extend her visitor's visa. He did ask to see her return ticket.

You can apply to extend her visitor's visa online. I imagine that in your case you would probably want to ask for a one year extension. Assuming that you have a place to stay and enough funds to support yourselves for a year, that extension will probably be granted. Once you apply for the extension, your wife will have "implied status" meaning that she can stay in Canada until they make a decision on her extension application.

There is also something called a "visitor's record", which you can request when you arrive and allows you to stay longer than six months. I'm not sure exactly how you go about getting a visitor's record, maybe someone else can help with that.

 

[bartjones]

Some bad news on my front. You may recall that a few weeks back Manila requested a new CBC from my wife as the one we submitted didn't search "lapsed records" (my mistake. I should have given my wife that search request form on CIC's website). Anyway, the new CBC disclosed an old DUI conviction my wife had back in 2008. She thought that her blood alcohol level was .068 (not a crime in Canada) but the police in Korea now confirm that it was .086 (definitely a crime in Canada).

So, I consulted an old friend who is an immigration lawyer in Vancouver. He tells me;

(a) Manila will almost certainly deny my wife's PR application for reasons of criminality,

(b) we will have to appeal that denial. Since her "criminality" consists of a single DUI with no prior or subsequent offences, that appeal will almost certainly be granted on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.

(c) She can apply for a Temporary Residence Permit so that she can remain in Canada while this all plays out. I filed that application yesterday.

I'll wait and see how this all works out, but it looks like this process is going to take a lot longer than I thought.

 

[Rob_TO]

Some bad news on my front. You may recall that a few weeks back Manila requested a new CBC from my wife as the one we submitted didn't search "lapsed records" (my mistake. I should have given my wife that search request form on CIC's website). Anyway, the new CBC disclosed an old DUI conviction my wife had back in 2008. She thought that her blood alcohol level was .068 (not a crime in Canada) but the police in Korea now confirm that it was .086 (definitely a crime in Canada).

So, I consulted an old friend who is an immigration lawyer in Vancouver. He tells me;

(a) Manila will almost certainly deny my wife's PR application for reasons of criminality,

(b) we will have to appeal that denial. Since her "criminality" consists of a single DUI with no prior or subsequent offences, that appeal will almost certainly be granted on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.

(c) She can apply for a Temporary Residence Permit so that she can remain in Canada while this all plays out. I filed that application yesterday.

I'll wait and see how this all works out, but it looks like this process is going to take a lot longer than I thought.

That's rough, but at least the problem should be able to be resolved in time.

I've read several other cases of people getting PR even with a previous DUI after doing the rehabilitation application. This can be done for "crimes" done at least 5 years ago. http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/guides/5312ETOC.asp . Though the CIC site says this can take over a year to process... so perhaps it's best to ask a general question to the forum here on what the exact process is and how long it actually takes. Based on some posts i've read the wait times for appeals is ridiculous, so if you begin the rehabilitation paperwork now it might be quicker that way.

Perhaps sending Manila some docs showing the rehabilitation app is in process... and they can put the application on hold until it's done instead of going through the rejection/appeals process? Not sure for certain here though if this is possible or better.

 

[bartjones]

That's rough, but at least the problem should be able to be resolved in time.

I've read several other cases of people getting PR even with a previous DUI after doing the rehabilitation application. This can be done for "crimes" done at least 5 years ago. http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/guides/5312ETOC.asp . Though the CIC site says this can take over a year to process... so perhaps it's best to ask a general question to the forum here on what the exact process is and how long it actually takes. Based on some posts i've read the wait times for appeals is ridiculous, so if you begin the rehabilitation paperwork now it might be quicker that way.

Perhaps sending Manila some docs showing the rehabilitation app is in process... and they can put the application on hold until it's done instead of going through the rejection/appeals process? Not sure for certain here though if this is possible or better.

Yes, I will probably file the Rehabilitation Application in December, which is the 5 year mark for my wife. Filing it will assist in her TRP application as, in considering that application, they will look at what steps the applicant has taken to resolve the criminality.

The lawyer said Rehabilitation applications are very low priority items for CIC and typically take 12-18 months. In our case, he thinks what will probably happen is that we will file the appeal, all the docs will be filed with the appeal board and they will schedule an ADR conference at which point CIC will consent to the appeal. He thinks that will probably happen long before the Rehabilitation application has been processed.

My more immediate concern is her present status in country. She has a visitor's visa and has filed a TRP application which gives her implied status to stay here as long as they don't revoke her visitor's visa. The lawyer thought it was unlikely that they would do that since it's a single DUI and we've been forthcoming about it, but it was a possibility.

 

[Korea2Canada]

Sorry to hear that bart. Sounds like you are on top of it already. Good call on getting a lawyer to take over.

 

[amjad1002]

Hi
my sponsorship Application status showing Decision made what does it mean?
they already send me e mail about that they have transfer my file to Manila Phip and issue me UCI no as well they write this
(You have met the requirements for eligibility as a sponsor. Accordingly, the Application for Permanent
Residence for your relative(s) has been forwarded to a visa office abroad for further processing)
Should you need to submit additional information or make any further enquiries regarding the
Application for Permanent Residence for your relative(s), you may contact the visa office by e-mail,
fax, or in writing as follows: Manila address

red

 

[Korea2Canada]

Hi
my sponsorship Application status showing Decision made what does it mean?
they already send me e mail about that they have transfer my file to Manila Phip and issue me UCI no as well they write this
(You have met the requirements for eligibility as a sponsor. Accordingly, the Application for Permanent
Residence for your relative(s) has been forwarded to a visa office abroad for further processing)
Should you need to submit additional information or make any further enquiries regarding the
Application for Permanent Residence for your relative(s), you may contact the visa office by e-mail,
fax, or in writing as follows: Manila address

red

Congrats on SA. The file is now in Manila for processing. Now you just wait for additional doc. request or COPR. Looks like COPR is avg. 6 months right now for a complete appl. At least it was for March. Hopefully the trend continues...

 

[amjad1002]

thanks
and what is COPR?

reg

 

[bartjones]

thanks
and what is COPR?

reg

COPR= Confirmation Of Permanent Residence, which means your application for permanent residence has been approved.

 

[seoulcanada]

I'm Canadian and want to marry a Korean girl.

Anything I should know about getting married in Korea (seoul) aside from whats on the government agency website? Can it be done in One day? From what I gather, all I have to do is go to the Canadian consulate to get "approved" papers.

Take those and go to the appropriate Korean government department and complete the civil procedure. My girlfriend thinks we can accomplish this all within a couple hours, plus any wait times. Does this really sound doable? I'm in a rush because I'm leaving Seoul on the 23rd and we want to do it on the morning of the 23rd. If it can't be done, I will simply postpone my flight, however I'd rather get it done on this timeline if we can.

Thanks

 

[Rob_TO]

I'm Canadian and want to marry a Korean girl.

Anything I should know about getting married in Korea (seoul) aside from whats on the government agency website? Can it be done in One day? From what I gather, all I have to do is go to the Canadian consulate to get "approved" papers.

Take those and go to the appropriate Korean government department and complete the civil procedure. My girlfriend thinks we can accomplish this all within a couple hours, plus any wait times. Does this really sound doable? I'm in a rush because I'm leaving Seoul on the 23rd and we want to do it on the morning of the 23rd. If it can't be done, I will simply postpone my flight, however I'd rather get it done on this timeline if we can.

Hey, i just got married in Korea also a few months ago. Congrats!

First you need to go to the Canada consulate with $50 CDN (or around 50,000 won) and your passport. There you basically sign an affidavit that you're single, and you'll get a copy of that in English. Make sure you go in the morning (I think until 11:30am or so but best to check for sure yourself), as in the afternoons they close for this kind of service. Whole process here takes only a few minutes if there's no wait.

The problem now is that you need to get that english form translated into Korean so the Korean government can use it for the marriage. The translation doesn't have to be professional. In our case my wife's father did it for us.

Then with the affidavit in Korean, you go to the local government office to register the marriage. Your wife will do all the taking, and all you need to do is sign at the end. Whole process here with no wait was around 10-15 minutes.

After that, the marriage is registered and technically you're married. Any wedding ceremony/reception for family and friends is just for show afterwards.

After a week or 2, the official marriage certificate will be available for download from the government website. Your wife will need to login with some kind of internet ID code (she should know how to do), and then you can just print out the certificate to include in your application. Or you can pick it up in person again from the government office.

Overall i think doing everything in several hours is easily doable, just start at the embassy as soon as it opens, and be prepared to have someone translate/print out a nice looking Korean version of the affidavit you're going to get.

Hope this helps!

 

[amjad1002]

Congrats on SA. The file is now in Manila for processing. Now you just wait for additional doc. request or COPR. Looks like COPR is avg. 6 months right now for a complete appl. At least it was for March. Hopefully the trend continues...

thanks