Sponsoring spouse after a short time in Canada

[civic]

I am a PR in process to sponsor my Thailand spouse. She is here on a coop visa for student visa expiring in October 2014. She arrived in Canada with me in January 2014.

I first met her in 2010 on my trip to visit home in Thailand and we developed our romance since then and decided that we will marry. Our small engagement was held in Thailand in January 2014 with participation of family from both sides and some best friends. After she came to Canada we got married officially here last week.

I want to know if it is too early now for me to send in spousal sponsorship because she’s only here for 3 months? We have lots of photos and outing trips in Thailand and in Canada, lots of pictures with family but we did not have a big wedding ceremony and long honeymoon because the time did not permit. She is living with me at my house. Proofs I have include adding her to my drug plan, make her name my insurance beneficiary, add her to my credit cards, joint bank account. We can’t think of anything else….

We don’t know much about immigration and lawyer charges a lot so please help us.

 

[SenoritaBella]

No, it's not too early to apply.
1. Are you applying under "inland" or "outland" category? Note, she can be living in Canada but still apply outland. Check the processing times for her visa office to see which is shorter.
2. Will she apply to extend her student visa? It will be a good idea for her to do that so as to have legal status or apply to change status as visitor(if she no longer intends to go to school).

 

[civic]

thanks for your reply

i heard that she will get implied status as soon as i file sponsorship. why does she still need to renew her study permit?
we would like to wait until she gets pr to go back to school because we can save a lot for tuition. right now shes taking esl class

we prefer the inland route because she from a visa-required country so that route will be safer for her.
do you think we are safe with the proofs we are going to submit. or is there anything else to make sure we dont have any problem with cic?

 

[fandv]

thanks for your reply

i heard that she will get implied status as soon as i file sponsorship. why does she still need to renew her study permit?
we would like to wait until she gets pr to go back to school because we can save a lot for tuition. right now shes taking esl class

we prefer the inland route because she from a visa-required country so that route will be safer for her.
do you think we are safe with the proofs we are going to submit. or is there anything else to make sure we dont have any problem with cic?

Hi there... =)

I don't know much about implied status, but I don't think one automatically gets it just because he/she filed an inland sponsorship. I believe he/she still needs a visa...either a working visa or tourist visa.

According to:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/extend-stay.asp

Implied status

If you apply to extend your permit, and your visitor visa expires while you are waiting for a decision, you still have temporary resident (visitor) status. This is known as implied status.

How is the inland route safer for her though? By the way, just so you know, if an inland application is refused, then you can't appeal. However if your relationship is genuine (which I am sure it is) and you provide enough relationship proofs, I see no reason why it can be refused...

Another catch is, if you apply inland, then she cannot leave Canada until a decision has been made on her application. Her leaving Canada (for whatever reason) before the application is finalised could potentially get her application cancelled, if the CIC finds out. It's a tricky situation...because what if she needs to leave Canada for something urgent? Or may be to take care of a family matter back in Thailand...?

(But if you really, really don't think she will ever need to leave Canada, then applying inland may be okay for her. You should have a discussion with her about the points I mentioned above, just to make sure she's aware of all the gotchas.)

About the proofs you mentioned: they're pretty good. But here are some more things you can include:

- a copy of your wedding invitation (a real one is even better)
- proofs of your travels (proofs of your visits to her, and her visits to you)
- Facebook printouts
- Anddddd.....a very important thing that you didn't mention, which you definitely, absolutely must include: communications proofs! =) Examples: emails, phone records, chat records, Skype video call screenshots (if any), etc...

Take a look at what this person submitted:

http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/how-i-organized-our-applcation-and-a-summary-of-all-helpful-tips-i-have-learned-t92449.0.html

Good luck!!

 

[SenoritaBella]

There rules changed recently from what I gather on the forum - it is no longer possible for people who apply inland to submit an application for an open work permit with the inland PR application, which gave them implied status. She will need to wait until you get sponsor approval or she is "approved in principle" for PR sponsorship to apply for the work permit. So she will not have "implied status" in that case because her visa will have long expired before she qualifies for the work permit.

The only "implied status" she can have is if she applies for a renewal of her study permit before the current one expires. At least 30 days before expiration is recommended. Alternatively, she can apply to change conditions of her stay to visitor (not permitted to work) so as to have legal status.

Search the CIC website and this forum for a link of this new rule.

Your proofs look good. If you have letters from friends and/or family describing your relationship, you can include some. If you have receipts or photos of gifts you have given each other, you can include some of them. A small wedding is not problem per se, unless in her culture big weddings are common. Then you will need to explain why it wasn't big, etc. But if you followed the traditions that need to be done for a wedding in her culture, it should be ok. Short honeymoon is not a problem, just explain why as you explained here. We did not have a honeymoon due to time contraints and will do it when we are together finally. So we told CIC that was our plan.

thanks for your reply

i heard that she will get implied status as soon as i file sponsorship. why does she still need to renew her study permit?
we would like to wait until she gets pr to go back to school because we can save a lot for tuition. right now shes taking esl class

we prefer the inland route because she from a visa-required country so that route will be safer for her.
do you think we are safe with the proofs we are going to submit. or is there anything else to make sure we dont have any problem with cic?

 

[civic]

so you mean even if I file sponsorship for her with inland route she cannot stay here legally to wait for her pr? she needs to apply to extend her temporary status? Well then it makes no difference with the outland route? Im totally confused...

 

[tarina]

so you mean even if I file sponsorship for her with inland route she cannot stay here legally to wait for her pr? she needs to apply to extend her temporary status? Well then it makes no difference with the outland route? Im totally confused...

Im here again to tell somebody not to get so confused. Call CIC and ask about implied status. If you need to call a hundred times to talk to different call center peeps do it!

I have a high respect to all members here but sometimes they are confused too. So keep gathering info on here so you have ideas and for you to figure out what information make sense to you and follow your gut.

Good luck to you and your spouse.

 

[Rob_TO]

Im here again to tell somebody not to get so confused. Call CIC and ask about implied status. If you need to call a hundred times to talk to different call center peeps do it!

The call centre agents at CIC are often completely useless. One will tell you to go ahead and submit an OWP app along with inland application to CPC-Mississauga to get implied status... but then call in again and talk to a different person and they will tell you with new rules you must wait for stage 1 approval/AIP first and only then can you send the OWP app.

In other words, nobody can confirm, and there is no verbage on the CIC website that tells you one way or the other if you can or can't submit OWP with inland app anymore. CIC call centre agents have told people both ways. So until someone actually gets confirmation of having the OWP accepted or rejected when submitting an inland app, there is no correct answer that I can see.

 

[tarina]

@Rob_to..thats why I said he should gather information on here, call CiC people for him to figure out what makes sense to him and follow his gut, as what you said there is no correct answer until somebody received results from Cpp-M.

Cheers!

 

[civic]

I just called CIC Call Center and spoke with a very nice and knowledgeable agent. He confirmed that there is no change to Open work permit rules for spouses being sponsored from within Canada. In order for my wife to stay here legally I just have to send application for OWP along with PR application and she will get implied status until the PR case is finalized. He evens provided me confirmation via email and links to application packages.

So yes, spouses can still stay in Canada without worrying about status renewal as long as CIC has their OWP application in place.

Should be noted that a PR application alone does not give one ANY implied status to continue staying here. OWP is very much needed for that purpose unless the person have valid study/work permit long enough to cover his stay while waiting for PR.

 

[tarina]

I just called CIC Call Center and spoke with a very nice and knowledgeable agent. He confirmed that there is no change to Open work permit rules for spouses being sponsored from within Canada. In order for my wife to stay here legally I just have to send application for OWP along with PR application and she will get implied status until the PR case is finalized. He evens provided me confirmation via email and links to application packages.

So yes, spouses can still stay in Canada without worrying about status renewal as long as CIC has their OWP application in place.

Here we go. If you are confident about the info that you just gathered, what are you waiting for? Good luck!

Cheers!

 

[Rob_TO]

I just called CIC Call Center and spoke with a very nice and knowledgeable agent. He confirmed that there is no change to Open work permit rules for spouses being sponsored from within Canada. In order for my wife to stay here legally I just have to send application for OWP along with PR application and she will get implied status until the PR case is finalized. He evens provided me confirmation via email and links to application packages.

Yes but as i said, other people on this site have mentioned that CIC agents are telling them with new rules the process has changed, and they can no longer apply for OWP with inland app. http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/new-sponsorship-rules-canada-makes-it-even-harder-for-us-t182180.0.html

Unfortunately what CIC call centre agents tell you, or any email confirmations your get, don't really hold a lot of weight. Any decision on whether OWP apps will be taken with inland apps, is up to the visa officer that receives and processes the file... not the call centre agents.

Although if it was me, I would definitely still try it.

 

[civic]

Yes but as i said, other people on this site have mentioned that CIC agents are telling them with new rules the process has changed, and they can no longer apply for OWP with inland app.

Unfortunately what CIC call centre agents tell you, or any email confirmations your get, don't really hold a lot of weight. Any decision on whether OWP apps will be taken with inland apps, is up to the visa officer that receives and processes the file... not the call centre agents.

Although if it was me, I would definitely still try it.

This is automatic-generated email that agent sent me:
If a spouse or common-law partner sponsored from inside Canada would like to work during the processing of their permanent residence (PR) application, they will require a work permit. To apply for one, they must:

Complete a separate application for an open work permit, but include the supporting documents and necessary payment for both applications in the same envelope; or
Wait until the PR application is approved in principle*.

So we still have option to include it with the PR application; OR wait until AIP is granted. He clearly told me that submitting OWP will give my wife implied status as long as we send it in before the expiry of her existing visa.

 

[Rob_TO]

So we still have option to include it with the PR application; OR wait until AIP is granted. He clearly told me that submitting OWP will give my wife implied status as long as we send it in before the expiry of her existing visa.

Yes and maybe he's right... but as i said other people have called in to CIC, and the agents they got told them they needed to wait until stage 1 approval was complete. Obviously some of the agents are not giving accurate info, it's just a question of which agents are giving the correct advice. CIC call centre agents have given wrong advice on many other issues besides this one.
Hopefully he was correct in that you can submit OWP with inland app still. I guess we will start to see shortly, if people that did submit them since the rules changed get them returned or not.