Spousal Sponsorship-New Process Inland vs Outland & Travelling OUT & IN of Canada together

[akayalto1]

I'm about to apply for PR-Spousal Sponsorship for my Italian wife. She is currently living here in Canada as a visitor with an eTA, with implied status due to a pending visitor extension as she has been here in end of December. We have a child together who was born in May and we were also married in May.

My question is which of the three options should I choose in the new application package.
What's the difference between 'Family Class' and 'Spouse or Common Law Partner in Canada Class'?

My main concern is that we will be travelling to Italy to visit her family in August and returning to Canada together in October. At this point we will have the PR application submitted and pending. Should I be concerned about re-entering Canada together, married with a child, with a PR application pending? I assume that when we enter we will visit different immigration officers and explain the situation separately. Is there a high risk that they won't let her enter? Is there anything we can do? I've heard that as long they believe that you will go home once your visitor time is done, or if your PR is rejected, then they should let her in, but what are the chances that could be a big problem and she get's sent home?

I hope to have our application submitted within the next week or so, but wanted to have a heads up on this re-entry in the meantime. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[scylla]

If you plan to be outside of Canada for several months, you need to apply outland.

She shouldn't have issues re-entering Canada after your trip.

 

[akayalto1]

If you plan to be outside of Canada for several months, you need to apply outland.

She shouldn't have issues re-entering Canada after your trip.

We have been here living together for more than 6 months and will be here until mid August and then away in Italy for 6 weeks, then back to Canada in October to wait for the PR to come through.

So even though she has a pending PR, she (we) are free to travel in and out of Canada and there shouldn't be any issues? I thought that if she is still coming into Canada as a visitor, even with a pending PR, they have to be convinced that she will leave if she doesn't get the PR. And the fact that she is married to a Canadian and has a Canadian child, she is high risk for just coming and staying with out the proper immigration?

 

[Helena R]

Hi there !

• Application Package: When you are in CIC website homepage choose "Apply to Immigrate", then click on "Family Sponsorship# and then "Sponsor your spouse, common-law partener or dependent children"; then you go from there, and when it asks you to choose wich category choose "spuse", because you´re married. Family Classs is just the name of the general category.

• About the trip: First thing, when you come back, you can and should go both to the "Visitors to Canada" line, so you are together when talking to the border officer. The only thing that I see not very helpful is the lenght of your trip. It´s a bit long for CIC´s likes, it would be safer to try to make it shorter. Check if you can do that. The situation is this: WHen you apply for PR from within Canada, you are supposed to stay here. And as it says on their website, re-enter is not guaranteed. HOWEVER, if you go together with your baby for a shorter time AND she has never overstayed her visitor´s visa, it is supposed to be ok. But you have to be aware that there is always a risk.

• About your Application & your Trip: Before you make your trip plans, you have to be aware that timelines in new applications have completely changed. So, if you apply in the next couple of weeks, you´ll probably get a notification asking you to submit Police Certificates within a month. So the problem with the lenght of your trip also applies to the processing of your application. PR processing used to take 2 years and it´s being reduced to 1 year, so everything goes faster, and the other change is that you used to submit everything upfron and then you just wait. Now it´s different, it´s like an ongoing process between you and CIC, so they ask for things after you apply, and you have a month to submit them. After you apply, it takes approx. 1 month for them to ask for Police records, and you have 1 month to submit them, So, by that time you would be in Italy...

So, these are the main issues, hope it´s clear and let us know if you need more help.

 

[akayalto1]

Hi there !

• Application Package: When you are in CIC website homepage choose "Apply to Immigrate", then click on "Family Sponsorship# and then "Sponsor your spouse, common-law partener or dependent children"; then you go from there, and when it asks you to choose wich category choose "spuse", because you´re married. Family Classs is just the name of the general category.

• About the trip: First thing, when you come back, you can and should go both to the "Visitors to Canada" line, so you are together when talking to the border officer. The only thing that I see not very helpful is the lenght of your trip. It´s a bit long for CIC´s likes, it would be safer to try to make it shorter. Check if you can do that. The situation is this: WHen you apply for PR from within Canada, you are supposed to stay here. And as it says on their website, re-enter is not guaranteed. HOWEVER, if you go together with your baby for a shorter time AND she has never overstayed her visitor´s visa, it is supposed to be ok. But you have to be aware that there is always a risk.

• About your Application & your Trip: Before you make your trip plans, you have to be aware that timelines in new applications have completely changed. So, if you apply in the next couple of weeks, you´ll probably get a notification asking you to submit Police Certificates within a month. So the problem with the lenght of your trip also applies to the processing of your application. PR processing used to take 2 years and it´s being reduced to 1 year, so everything goes faster, and the other change is that you used to submit everything upfron and then you just wait. Now it´s different, it´s like an ongoing process between you and CIC, so they ask for things after you apply, and you have a month to submit them. After you apply, it takes approx. 1 month for them to ask for Police records, and you have 1 month to submit them, So, by that time you would be in Italy...

So, these are the main issues, hope it´s clear and let us know if you need more help.

Thanks for the clarification on these points.....a couple questions:

I now understand the family class being the larger class, and spousal sponsorship being the specific one inside of that. It's odd that they put those names in the checklist for the 3 different options, that's I wasn't sure, but I think it's clear now.

I already have all the forms and documents lined up and ready to go, just waiting for a translation of some Italian documents to proceed.

As for the travel, thanks for the advice on which line to choose, I agree we should all be together as a family and explain the situation. We will be travelling together and she hasn't overstayed her visitor's time as she just requested more time before it expired.

Why do you think that the trip is too long? I understand that you are supposed to stay in Canada and that taking a trip is a risk that she might not gain re-entry, but why does the length make a difference?

As for submitting documents, even though we will be in Italy, what would stop us from getting the notifications or requests from CIC and submitting the documents if we are doing correspondence by email?

When they request the police records, do we have to get them ourselves?, or is it a direct request to the Italian police from CIC? Couldn't being in Italy help us get these?

From what I've read, they will first approve me as a sponsor and then request all those documents, which as you mentioned could be as fast as a month, but could also be longer. Again, why does not being in Canada make a difference with these steps of the process?

Any clarification on these points would be helpful. Thanks.

 

[Helena R]

Yes, I just looked at the Doc Checklist, and it is unclear, but it doesn´t matter, if option 1 applies to you, then click that one.

About the lenght of the trip, I read about that both in CIC website, not as an item but searching subjects in the Search bar, and also in a certified immigration lawyer that said that if you travel together and all your papers are ok and it´s a relative short trip everything should be ok even if you´re waiting for PR. The thing is you are applying from within Canada, and they expect you to stay through the process, so if you go on a short vacation or a short trip or better for a particular reason, that´s one thing, but applying and then leaving for a couple of months could not very well seen, just because you´re supposed to stay. Those are the rules.

About the documents, if you can get them in Italy, then it´s ok, but check if she needs a Canadian Police Check, that is if she has stayed in Canada for more than 6 months; this is a new thing, they didn´t use to ask for that but now they mght. I guess you should be able to go to a Canadian consulate in Italy, but you should check that.

Yes, you have to get your police records in person in paper and then submit them electronically. So for that matter if you´re in Italy it´s ok, but check times in case they ask you for a Canadian one.

There is a section on CIC website about leaving Canada while your PR application is in prcess.

Look, most probable is that everything might be ok but it´s good to be aware of the possibilities.

We don´t make the rules

 

[canadianwoman]

You should apply outland, which is the family class, not the Spouse or Common-Law Partner in Canada class. You can apply outland even though she is in Canada as a visitor. When you apply outland, it is fine to travel out of Canada. If she is not let back in, the application will continue to be processed.
If you apply inland, both of you have to be in Canada for the duration of the processing, though short trips are allowed for the sponsor. For the applicant, of course they can leave Canada, but if they are not let back in, the application is over. Therefore, people who want to travel should apply outland.
The sponsor must stay in Canada for both types of application only if he or she is a PR. A Canadian citizen sponsor can leave Canada during the processing of the application with no problems.

 

[Helena R]

I agree, in your case maybe it´s better to apply outland, the only thing is I think you cannot apply for a Work Permit that way. If you don´t mind this, then it´s more convenient.

 

[akayalto1]

You should apply outland, which is the family class, not the Spouse or Common-Law Partner in Canada class. You can apply outland even though she is in Canada as a visitor. When you apply outland, it is fine to travel out of Canada. If she is not let back in, the application will continue to be processed.
If you apply inland, both of you have to be in Canada for the duration of the processing, though short trips are allowed for the sponsor. For the applicant, of course they can leave Canada, but if they are not let back in, the application is over. Therefore, people who want to travel should apply outland.
The sponsor must stay in Canada for both types of application only if he or she is a PR. A Canadian citizen sponsor can leave Canada during the processing of the application with no problems.

Do you know that if with the new system, there are still different processing times for Inland and outland? I've heard that Outland was always faster, and if applying outland might still be faster then, other than the risk of her having to travel back to Italy for an interview (which I think is pretty slim considering we have a child together), then it could be the safest option. The only reason why I would automatically do that is because the rest of the documents in our application show that we are living together here in Canada. Thoughts?

 

[akayalto1]

I agree, in your case maybe it´s better to apply outland, the only thing is I think you cannot apply for a Work Permit that way. If you don´t mind this, then it´s more convenient.

The work permit is not really a problem for us. She is currently not working and we are getting by on my earnings.

 

[canadianwoman]

CIC is completely OK with people living in Canada as a visitor and applying outland.

 

[akayalto1]

So we are travelling back to Canada from Italy in just a few days and are concerned about going through the border together, married and with a baby. We submitted our application by mail on Aug 11th, but we haven't got an AOR or any confirmation/proof that they have received our application. We put an email address on the application, which should mean that we get all correspondence via email, but the only proof we that we have is the Payment receipt.

When we got through the border together, should we mention the PR application, even through there is no official proof of submission? My wife will be coming as a visitor again and plan to either leave Canada before 6 months, extend her visa, or maybe even hopefully have a response about the PR.

Suggestions for making our trip through the border smooth?