Sponsoring my Korean wife for permanent residency

[bartjones]

I understand your trepidation. I think we all had the same feeling before we handed the package over to the courier. In my opinion you have included more than enough to establish your intention to return. You've certainly provided more than I did. Again, this is only one aspect of the application and in the year or so that I have been on these forums I have yet to see anyone refused sponsorship based on a lack of intention to return to Canada. I'm sure it probably happens from time to time but, IMO, it's extremely unlikely to happen in your case given the evidence you've provided on this point.

I think you also have to remember this. You're applying from South Korea; a peaceful, prosperous country with a well educated population. Unlike other economically disadvantaged nations or countries ravaged by terrorism/war, South Koreans are not clamoring over one another trying to get to Canada any way they can. In addition, you're legally married as opposed to common law. As Rob has pointed out many times here, the overwhelming majority of spousal PR applications are successful. Applying from South Korea and being legally married, I would think that your application is almost a no-brainer for the VO.

Make sure you've included all the docs on the checklist. Make sure you've signed everywhere you have to sign. Check all that one more time. Now call UPS and sit back and wait. You'll be fine.

 

[hwanlj]

Is anyone here applying as an inland application?
We've just sent our application package today..
Hopefully we will get our AOR soon..

 

[Rob_TO]

Is anyone here applying as an inland application?
We've just sent our application package today..
Hopefully we will get our AOR soon..

Since inland applications are not really relevant to the country-specific outland apps, it's best if you track your status via the "INLAND APPLICATIONS 2014" thread. You will find much more common info there relevant to inland apps. Good luck!

 

[Marticus]

Make sure you've included all the docs on the checklist. Make sure you've signed everywhere you have to sign. Check all that one more time. Now call UPS and sit back and wait. You'll be fine.

Thanks so much bartjones, just what I needed to hear. These horror stories I'm reading about really don't match the straight-forwardness of my wife and I's application - fingers crossed!

Two last questions:, related to your post - should i sign the additional word documents I (my wife)(we) have typed up to supplement application forms etc? Or only sign the application (pdf) files where requested? or both?

And, Photos. We organized each photo, with a number beside each photo. We then attached a photo index (Microsoft word table) explaining, where / what / when / who for each corresponding photo number. My question is: Our wedding photos, a couple of them have about 50 people in the photo - some folks are unknown to us (wife's cousins boyfriends friends kinda thing) Do we have to name EVERY person in the photo - if so, and we don't know them personally - can we just say something like "Mother-in-laws cousin" rather than a specific name?

 

[bartjones]

Two last questions:, related to your post - should i sign the additional word documents I (my wife)(we) have typed up to supplement application forms etc? Or only sign the application (pdf) files where requested? or both?

Just the application forms.

And, Photos. We organized each photo, with a number beside each photo. We then attached a photo index (Microsoft word table) explaining, where / what / when / who for each corresponding photo number. My question is: Our wedding photos, a couple of them have about 50 people in the photo - some folks are unknown to us (wife's cousins boyfriends friends kinda thing) Do we have to name EVERY person in the photo - if so, and we don't know them personally - can we just say something like "Mother-in-laws cousin" rather than a specific name?

Lol, gotta love those Korean style weddings and the strangers you've never met. I don't think you need to be that specific. Something like " My wife and I with wife's family" will suffice.

 

[Marticus]

Hi everyone,

I really want to thank you all for your tremendous support during this application process! Particularly, bartjones - I owe you several beers and a load of thanks! So, thank you!

Summary of our application:

Cover Pages: 5
Document Checklist: 2
Appendix A Document Checklist - Immigrant: 6
Forms - Sponsor: 26
Forms - Sponsored Person: 28
Supporting Documents - Sponsor: 49
Supporting Documents - Sponsored Person: 99

-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL PAGES: 215
-----------------------------------------------

TOTAL TIME SPENT ON APPLICATION: 5 WEEKS

----------------------------------------------
TOTAL MONEY SPENT ON APPLICATION:

1040 CDN dollars
+ 280,000 Won (translation)
+ 35,000 Won (photos)
+ 220,000 Won (medical)
+ 88,000 Won courier
+ 150,000 random (train tickets, taxis, photo paper, labels, paper etc)

= approx $1800 CDN
-----------------------------------------------------------------

NOW, the waiting game begins!

Fingers crossed folks!

Marticus

 

[Rob_TO]

Supporting Documents - Sponsor: 49
Supporting Documents - Sponsored Person: 99

Wow that's quite a lot. We had 25 pages for all relationship proof docs. Better too much vs too little though!

And don't forget the cost of the medical for your total cost

 

[bartjones]

And don't forget the cost of the medical for your total cost

And the courier fee.

 

[seoulcanada]

Hmmm....So I sent my application in last week.

I put a bunch of wedding photos but they were people's cell phone pictures, quality was amateurish. i JUST received my professional photos and I can't believe how much nicer it is...you can actually see everyone in the crowd behind wheres in the cell phone pics you can't really see how many people are there, its kind of blurry...

The new pics are just much more slick and professional! I really want to send in a few more pics....is this possible? We thought we wouldn't get the professional pictures for another month but they just showed up.

 

[Marticus]

Hmmm....So I sent my application in last week.

I put a bunch of wedding photos but they were people's cell phone pictures, quality was amateurish. i JUST received my professional photos and I can't believe how much nicer it is...you can actually see everyone in the crowd behind wheres in the cell phone pics you can't really see how many people are there, its kind of blurry...

The new pics are just much more slick and professional! I really want to send in a few more pics....is this possible? We thought we wouldn't get the professional pictures for another month but they just showed up.

We just sent ours off as well. We printed our photos from our home computer, on photo paper. I forgot to hit the "high" setting on the print quality for a couple of them. I also used a few Facebook photos that had lower quality. I was concerned, just like you, so I asked my friend back home, who's wife and them are already landed. He said "you'll be just fine, don't worry"

So, I would say, don't worry about it. Unless we are talking Atari graphic quality here?


I'm not sure about sending more pictures to add, but I would say 'no', unless they specifically ask for them. I'll let the pros answer that last one for you

 

[bartjones]

Hmmm....So I sent my application in last week.

I put a bunch of wedding photos but they were people's cell phone pictures, quality was amateurish. i JUST received my professional photos and I can't believe how much nicer it is...you can actually see everyone in the crowd behind wheres in the cell phone pics you can't really see how many people are there, its kind of blurry...

The new pics are just much more slick and professional! I really want to send in a few more pics....is this possible? We thought we wouldn't get the professional pictures for another month but they just showed up.

If I recall correctly, your marriage was very recent and you had a previous common-law sponsorship. It's therefore possible that the VO will give your application a little more scrutiny. It's not too difficult to tell the difference between a cell phone pic and those taken by a professional wedding photographer. The VO may wonder why, if you had a real wedding, you didn't hire a professional photographer, so I think I would be inclined to provide a bunch of the professional quality photos.

At this point it will be difficult to add additional material to your application as it's just a bunch of documents sitting on someone's desk in Mississauga. Once you get sponsorship approval, CIC will give you a UCI number and a file number. If I were you I would wait until they have given you those numbers, then mail/courier the professional pics to the Manila VO, along with a letter explaining that they weren't available at the time you submitted your original application and that you wish to add them. Include the UCI and file number in the letter. That will allow them to match the new material up with your existing application.

 

[Rob_TO]

At this point it will be difficult to add additional material to your application as it's just a bunch of documents sitting on someone's desk in Mississauga. Once you get sponsorship approval, CIC will give you a UCI number and a file number. If I were you I would wait until they have given you those numbers, then mail/courier the professional pics to the Manila VO, along with a letter explaining that they weren't available at the time you submitted your original application and that you wish to add them. Include the UCI and file number in the letter. That will allow them to match the new material up with your existing application.

Yes i agree, don't send it to Mississauga as it would just get lost. Plus CPC-M doesn't care about the relationship proofs, they are basically just approving the sponsor.

I would even wait a bit after file transfer to Manila... maybe a month or so to ensure that your app is really in the Manila system, and that when you send in the pictures it can be easily matched up to your application.

 

[Marticus]

Hey everyone!

I'm following my package on it's way via FedEx out of Daegu, heading towards Mississauga! YAY! 88,000 Won later, but it will arrive first thing Monday morning!

Question about timeline: It says "14 months" for Manila. I'm assuming that is all the visa cases clumped together to come out with that average?

Can anyone give me a number based on Family Class Sponsorship: Spouse

We've been married and living together for over 3 years, we have no kids, we signed and included everything in the application etc. I think (and hope) without being overly confident, that our package must be one of the more straight-forward applications? Does the more straight-forward the application = faster processing?

Any insight on this would be awesome! thank you!

 

[JRPW]

Hey everyone!

I'm following my package on it's way via FedEx out of Daegu, heading towards Mississauga! YAY! 88,000 Won later, but it will arrive first thing Monday morning!

Question about timeline: It says "14 months" for Manila. I'm assuming that is all the visa cases clumped together to come out with that average?

Can anyone give me a number based on Family Class Sponsorship: Spouse

We've been married and living together for over 3 years, we have no kids, we signed and included everything in the application etc. I think (and hope) without being overly confident, that our package must be one of the more straight-forward applications? Does the more straight-forward the application = faster processing?

Any insight on this would be awesome! thank you!

14 months is the time it takes to process 80% of applications. Some are processed faster, some slower. My wife's application is "currently queued for finalization review." We applied in October 2012, so we are around the 14 month mark. We expect that her COPR will arrive soon. The only difference between your application and ours is that my wife is Japanese; we have been married for 4.5 years after dating for three. However, I have been in contact with someone on here that has been waiting for 16 months. He has been married to a Japanese woman for 12 years and has two children. The only documents that Manila has requested from him is a re-med. Don't get your hopes up that a straight forward application will be processed faster. I'm talking from experience.

 

[Marticus]

14 months is the time it takes to process 80% of applications. Some are processed faster, some slower. My wife's application is "currently queued for finalization review." We applied in October 2012, so we are around the 14 month mark. We expect that her COPR will arrive soon. The only difference between your application and ours is that my wife is Japanese; we have been married for 4.5 years after dating for three. However, I have been in contact with someone on here that has been waiting for 16 months. He has been married to a Japanese woman for 12 years and has two children. The only documents that Manila has requested from him is a re-med. Don't get your hopes up that a straight forward application will be processed faster. I'm talking from experience.

Thank you very much for your prompt reply! It's good to know that it simply varies on the time frame (meaning, if it's taking longer, I shouldn't have to worry)

I was looking at the processing time a few months back, and it said "9 months" Why has the process slowed? I'm assuming there are several factors involved, perhaps more applicants etc.

Anyways, I appreciate the candidness. I sure would love to fast-forward to where you are now