Spousal sponsorship

[Leon]

Mississauga takes around 86 days now, see http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/perm-fc.asp

You should be notified when your application is transferred to your visa office.

Immigrant applications from Nigeria are processed in Ghana. The processing time there, see http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/perm/fc-spouses.asp#africa is 80% of applications processed in 12 months or less.

 

[patroniton]

Hello, I have a few questions regarding a situation my girlfriend and I are in right now.

She and I recently tried to cross the border coming from the states into Canada, and she was denied entry into Canada because she did not meet the bona fide visitor requirements. She did not have a way to support herself in the case of a "catastrophe" the immigration officer described it. She also didn't have strong ties to the states. We also did say that we did plan to marry (stupid mistake on my part), which was an auto-denial on our trip, but we would have been denied anyway on the funds.

What she and I are doing now, is trying to get her a job so she can get some funds, and get some 'fluff' funds from her parents/grandparents to show that she does have sufficient money for the trip (even though she won't need much at all, because I'm still living at home so expenses are virtually 0 for her) as well as purchasing a return ticket to the states as a tie to the states.

Once she gets into Canada, we would get married and then apply for her permanent residence under the family sponsorship as a spouse.
Does anyone see anything wrong with this plan or if there's anything else we can do to help her out? Or anything I have missed or really any concerns/questions.
We will also be seeking an immigration attorney for a consultation about all this once we get more information and questions for him/her, just to make sure we have all our ends covered and everything.

Also, I don't know how relevant this is, but I'm currently a student studying at a local university.

Here are some other questions I have:

Would they have on file that we planned to marry?
How much money is enough for, say, a month-long visit to Canada? And how long would a safe estimate be to get the permanent residence application going? Because to my understanding, once that's processing, she needs to stay in Canada until it's done processing (which isn't a problem)
How much information is recorded when denied entry at the border? Would they know exactly what we told them the first attempt?
What other ties can we provide with our very limited source of funds?

Side note: I found a website on immigration here that has me wondering about something. In a paragraph on the site it states that
Canadian Legislation does not permit a person temporarily admitted to Canada to change his status within the country to that of student, temporary worker or permanent resident. All persons whose intentions are to settle in Canada for an indefinite period are reminded that they must obtain an immigrant visa issued by a visa office abroad.
This goes against pretty much everything I've read online, including this website.

Thank you for your time and effort into helping us out.

 

[Leon]

Hello, I have a few questions regarding a situation my girlfriend and I are in right now.

You can also marry her in the US and sponsor her for PR without her having to come visit. I think it is likely that they have made a note of everything you said to them when they refused her entry and when she tries to enter again, they will look at that and compare. Before she attempts to enter again, she should have a job in the US and a letter from her employer stating that she works there since date such and such and is going to Canada on holiday expected to return on such and such date. She should have travel insurance so she will not be a burden on Canadian health care and tax payers if she ends up in an accident and she should have some funds for her expenses or a letter from you with your account statement saying that you are inviting her and will take care of her expenses.

 

[patroniton]

You can also marry her in the US and sponsor her for PR without her having to come visit. I think it is likely that they have made a note of everything you said to them when they refused her entry and when she tries to enter again, they will look at that and compare. Before she attempts to enter again, she should have a job in the US and a letter from her employer stating that she works there since date such and such and is going to Canada on holiday expected to return on such and such date. She should have travel insurance so she will not be a burden on Canadian health care and tax payers if she ends up in an accident and she should have some funds for her expenses or a letter from you with your account statement saying that you are inviting her and will take care of her expenses.

From what I remember, isn't sponsoring from outside Canada a more lengthy/complicated process? I could very well be wrong and I'll research it again.

The number one thing we are trying to get her to do right now is to get her employed and have some money. We will be purchasing travel insurance this time around too (I was planning on it once we got to Canada, but will do so before this time).

With the expenses thing, the immigration officer at the border stated that it needs to be her specifically that can support herself with the money and income she gets, and can't be any kind of third party (ie. me or my parents).

Do you know roughly how much money she should have before we attempt again? Also I will be looking into getting her to apply outside Canada and see if that will help our situation at all. Thank you for the prompt reply.

 

[Leon]

From what I remember, isn't sponsoring from outside Canada a more lengthy/complicated process? I could very well be wrong and I'll research it again.

From most countries, it is actually faster to apply outland.

 

[cgagnon]

From what I remember, isn't sponsoring from outside Canada a more lengthy/complicated process? I could very well be wrong and I'll research it again.

The number one thing we are trying to get her to do right now is to get her employed and have some money. We will be purchasing travel insurance this time around too (I was planning on it once we got to Canada, but will do so before this time).

With the expenses thing, the immigration officer at the border stated that it needs to be her specifically that can support herself with the money and income she gets, and can't be any kind of third party (ie. me or my parents).

Do you know roughly how much money she should have before we attempt again? Also I will be looking into getting her to apply outside Canada and see if that will help our situation at all. Thank you for the prompt reply.

From someone who has hired an immigration lawyer, it is good as you are confident that everything is ok from organization to properly filled forms. For a bank account, open a joint account! That way her funds and your funds are the same and the officer cannot say anything. I would do the outland with 80% of cased processed by 12 months ( a lot after 6-8 months) it is much shorter that the 19 months posted applying inland also she can come and go without any possible repercussions on the process. You can get travel insurance from Canada for her and ironically it is cheaper. If you do choose the outland round pay all your fees upfront and start by gettting the FBI certificate ( finger printing etc) Now that I know all the information fromn this site I don't know if I would have hired a lawyer...All the best to you

 

[computergeek]

I would do the outland with 80% of cased processed by 12 months ( a lot after 6-8 months) it is much shorter that the 19 months posted applying inland also she can come and go without any possible repercussions on the process. You can get travel insurance from Canada for her and ironically it is cheaper. If you do choose the outland round pay all your fees upfront and start by gettting the FBI certificate ( finger printing etc) Now that I know all the information fromn this site I don't know if I would have hired a lawyer...All the best to you

While I'm not as convinced of outland versus inland (processing times were a little shorter for Buffalo, but the Ottawa/LA shift is a big wild card) processing, the other important point with outland is that you have a right of appeal to the IAD that you do not have with an inland application - inland refusals can only be challenged in the Federal Court of Canada.

The first thing to do is get your FBI certificate. Note that this can take several months at times for them to provide. Then gather up everything else and when you have it almost ready to go, get the immigration physical done. Your immigration physical is only good for 12 months and will limit the amount of time they have to grant your PR visa - if Ottawa/LA turn out to be a little slow, you're going to find them asking you to repeat your medicals if they go stale. The same applies for your FBI clearance, so if you do a physical fingerprint card order two - the FBI will use cards that are up to 18 months old. Knowing now what I do, I apply for a new FBI clearance letter when the old one is about 9 months old, so that should I need it, I'll have it to send along. It's only a little extra for a second fingerprint card and $18 to get a new letter, so it's cheap insurance.

A lawyer is a good idea when things get complicated. Having one review your application but NOT represent you is a good idea as well and shouldn't cost you more than $500. Having one represent you through the process can cost $2500-$7500 and the quality of attorneys varies dramatically. I have friends who used someone that was very active and helped them get through the entire PR process (in the skilled worker category no less) in 11 months.

Good luck!

 

[VPS]

Mu spouse who is in Singapore (not a PR of canada) was interviewd by a well knowm company. They however, want my spouse to to apply for a Work Permit. From the CIC site I understand that only once spouse receives a job offer from the prospective company, can apply for a work permit. Is that right? Or is there anything that we am missing??? Pl. advice...

Thanks and Regards
Vee

 

[ashunandal]

i have one question regarding landing after getting PR
i am planning to land next month and i want to know, if there is any limit on jewellery we take with us or any more formalities other than B4 form.
i think, we just need to list our stuff on B4 form and declare value of each object :
please correct me if im wrong
thanks and good luck to all of you

 

[SponsorCanada87]

HI Guys very sad news.


My wife visa got rejected at CHC ND because VO officer feel our marriage is not genuine.


One rude VO totally grilled my wife asking her questions like

1) why did she not go to mumbai airport to pick up me since she lives in other part of india?
like seriously.. its our wish n since she is women obviously i would not want to call her at the airport. however she came to see me at her local city railway station.

2) why dont you have any proof of your emails before 2010. (ours was a love marriage , relationship started 2007)
we have a bunch of emails from 2010 till 2012. plus long distance every single day for one hours since 2010. this was not enough.

3) why was it so long for us to apply in dec2011 while you got married on feb2011
her passport took 2 months and since . she lived in a city there was no medical centre for test it which took 1 month. 2 more months
passed through as there was a court order on one of the dates to be fixed on her high school certificate. unfortunately without that passport was not possible

4) your wedding pictures are not acceptable.
ours was luv marriage . we could not afford a big one. we had good 10-15 of them. with garland + ring + mehndi

5) yours was luv marriages still your husband did not came to see you ?
I went to see her 1 year after our marriage and we had good 50 pics of honeymoon. Anyone can tell we are genuine of that. plus we had all hotel bills , travel proofs n passes wherever we went. our honeymoon lasted more then a month.

she kept asking weird questions like that almost 25-30 of them for good 50 minutes. Moreover she kept playing with her passport to distract her (her attitude like seriously who hires them n she was young lady VO ) Not just that she said unacceptable to whatever my wife said. Even it seemed like interpreter was shocked with her behavior.

Not just that she tells her how my parents are educated enough to make money in Canada so that I can live with her in India. And she tells my wife that she has no excuse to prove her point because I was not with her for 1 year after marriage. (india - canada is that a piece of joke -i need atleast $4000 to go there once)

finaly she rejects us and proves a moron of herself since we are genuine couple. But it will be us who will face that and prove this either through appeal or reapply. Completely Heart Broken !!

I have lost all my patience !! I dont even know why us ?? Maybe I should move back to India permanently or fight this dumb VOs .

Any Suggestions guys my mind is not working since yesterday !!

 

[scylla]

Mu spouse who is in Singapore (not a PR of canada) was interviewd by a well knowm company. They however, want my spouse to to apply for a Work Permit. From the CIC site I understand that only once spouse receives a job offer from the prospective company, can apply for a work permit. Is that right? Or is there anything that we am missing??? Pl. advice...

Thanks and Regards
Vee

Your spouse needs a job offer and an approved LMO (labour market opinion) in order to apply for a work permit. The employer must provide him with both the job offer and approved LMO.

 

[Leon]

finaly she rejects us and proves a moron of herself since we are genuine couple. But it will be us who will face that and prove this either through appeal or reapply. Completely Heart Broken !!

I have lost all my patience !! I dont even know why us ?? Maybe I should move back to India permanently or fight this dumb VOs .

Any Suggestions guys my mind is not working since yesterday !!

Make an appeal and at the same time go to your member of parliament in Canada and ask them to make an inquiry into your case. If your parents have a different MP than you do, they should go to theirs too. It could help, can't hurt. When you talk to the MP's, you should bring a written description of this visa officers strange behaviour and complain about it.

 

[rahulchd]

@ LEON

HI! Leon you are very helpful to everybody in this forum with all the information. I request you to please help me on one thing.
Last year in June 2011 i came to Canada with my parents as my sister sponsered us. And this year i went back with all my family members to get married to my wife, we know each other since our university days around 7.5 years now. With file i sent all our marriage pictures showing every well arranged marriage in church, then a grand party with all traditions and my phone bills that shows we talk everyday many times a day. Do you think my wife in India(VO NEW DELHI) will get interview or not? We are too much worried now after i read a lot of interview threads in the forum..

 

[Leon]

Nobody knows if you will get an interview or not. You have to hope for the best and if you get it that your wife will pass. Because you came as a dependent child, maybe they will ask if you and your wife lived together before you went to Canada. If you had lived together as a couple for 12 months or more, you would not have been eligible to immigrate with your parents.

 

[IvanP]

Hello - does anyone have any suggestions as to how much documentation I should provide as evidence of my relationship with my wife? We've been married 15 years and have two kids, so we have a ton of documentation that we could use (current and expired driver licenses with identical addresses, health insurance cards, our kids' birth certificates with both of our names on them as parents, passports with identical entry and exit stamps for multiple countries showing we traveled together, joint bank statements, the joint deed to our house, joint utility billls, joint tax returns, and on and on and on... we could literally provide hundreds of exhibits). We'd like to provide comfortably more than the bare minimum, but not so much that it takes forever to gather (or slows down our application). Are we better off with recent evidence, evidence over time, a mix?

Thanks!