Spousal sponsorship

[BeShoo]

Hi everyone, I read something confusing today that was posted in Jan 2014: "If you apply outland from the US, the processing centre taking on these apps is CPP-Ottawa, and timelines for a straightforward case are 12-15 months. Some get it done in under 12 months."
I read in a few other places outland apps get approved more quickly. But when I look at CIC's link:
cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/perm-fc.asp it shows a processing time of 22 months in NYC and 26 months in LA. Why would the app be processed in Ottawa instead of the 2 US cities?
Thanks for your help.

Family class for the U.S. used to be done in Buffalo, but that office was closed as part of government cost-cutting. The Ottawa process centre is still considered a "pilot" project, I think. NYC and LA mostly only do other sorts of applications, not spousal ones. More information about the changes of January, 2013, is here: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/media/notices/2013-01-29.asp

The official figure is currently 15 months, which is when 80% of cases are finished. The average is of course shorter than that (50%) and some cases are actually finished in as little as 3 months. It depends how complicated your file is, how much background checking they need to do because of all the countries you've lived in, past relationships, criminal background, etc. Even common names can take longer because they need more checking to make sure records don't correspond to you.

 

[MistahFixIt]

Family class for the U.S. used to be done in Buffalo, but that office was closed as part of government cost-cutting. The Ottawa process centre is still considered a "pilot" project, I think. NYC and LA mostly only do other sorts of applications, not spousal ones. More information about the changes of January, 2013, is here: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/media/notices/2013-01-29.asp

The official figure is currently 15 months, which is when 80% of cases are finished. The average is of course shorter than that (50%) and some cases are actually finished in as little as 3 months. It depends how complicated your file is, how much background checking they need to do because of all the countries you've lived in, past relationships, criminal background, etc. Even common names can take longer because they need more checking to make sure records don't correspond to you.

What BeShoo said. Visa Office New York does permanent residence applications from Bermuda, and temporary visas from a bunch of other countries, same with Los Angeles. Almost all Family Class applications seem to be routed through the Case Processing Pilot in Ottawa, after sponsorship approval through Mississauga or Sydney Nova Scotia, if I recall correctly.

For example, my wife just got her papers in the mail yesterday (Her visa was issued March 11th) which puts our total timeline around nine months. Again, ours was a fairly textbook case, and we made sure to submit plenty of evidence as well as triple-checking all our paperwork, so that definitely helped speed things up. I think the only thing I could've done to make the process go faster was pay my Right of Permanent Residence fee up-front, but that simply wasn't possible at the time.

 

[frenchkiss]

Hi guys please help!

My common-law partner from Quebec is ready to send his sponsorship application to Canada but we are wondering if I should send my PR application at the same time? In my Document Checklist Philippines it's stated there that I must submit Quebec Selection Certificate. So, should I wait to send my PR application until I obtain the certificate? And if he send his Sponsorship without my PR application, should he pay only for his sponsorship application or the whole thing such as: Sponsorship, Principal applicant, Dependent and Right of Permanent Residence Fee?

I hope you guys can answer my question.. Thank you very much!

 

[hcseeker]

What BeShoo said. Visa Office New York does permanent residence applications from Bermuda, and temporary visas from a bunch of other countries, same with Los Angeles. Almost all Family Class applications seem to be routed through the Case Processing Pilot in Ottawa, after sponsorship approval through Mississauga or Sydney Nova Scotia, if I recall correctly.

For example, my wife just got her papers in the mail yesterday (Her visa was issued March 11th) which puts our total timeline around nine months. Again, ours was a fairly textbook case, and we made sure to submit plenty of evidence as well as triple-checking all our paperwork, so that definitely helped speed things up. I think the only thing I could've done to make the process go faster was pay my Right of Permanent Residence fee up-front, but that simply wasn't possible at the time.

Thanks for the info MistahFixIt. It's great to have some info from others who've been there, done that.

 

[hcseeker]

Family class for the U.S. used to be done in Buffalo, but that office was closed as part of government cost-cutting. The Ottawa process centre is still considered a "pilot" project, I think. NYC and LA mostly only do other sorts of applications, not spousal ones. More information about the changes of January, 2013, is here:

The official figure is currently 15 months, which is when 80% of cases are finished. The average is of course shorter than that (50%) and some cases are actually finished in as little as 3 months. It depends how complicated your file is, how much background checking they need to do because of all the countries you've lived in, past relationships, criminal background, etc. Even common names can take longer because they need more checking to make sure records don't correspond to you.

Thanks for the info BeShoo. It's great to have some info from others who've been there, done that. You gave us hope for a shorter process.

 

[mari.ium]

Salam all..
my husband whose the applicant, received an email today abt re med.. but they are only asking for re medical, no additional documents, nor police certificate or anything..
they have only asked for these
>Analogue chest X ray
>Completed medical report chest x ray requisition and report form (page 6 & 7)
and
>Duly completed re-assessment form (attached)

 

[badr-danita]

hello every one,please i need help,im from morocco im married to a canadian citizen,we got married this january,i want to apply so i can join my wife in canada,should i apply from morocco or should she apply from canada?what are the papers we need,what is the first step.plz guide me through.thank you,any help would be much appreciated. Badr

 

[hcseeker]

Hi everyone. Please advise me on the soundness of my plan. I very much appreciate your willingness to share your insights, knowledge and experiences to help us.

I’m a Canadian citizen. I married a US citizen in Canada July 2013. Soon afterward, I came to the US as a visitor for 6 months. Before 6 months were up, I applied for Adjustment of Status Jan 2014, which would eventually give me PR in US.

Since living here I have discovered many things are hellishly expensive in California, especially healthcare. As well, the USD costs me $1.135CAD to buy since my pension is paid in CAD. We now believe we have to move to Canada to remain financially afloat and get healthy.

Soooo… this is the plan so far to do that:
Apply outland right now for my wife to immigrate to Canada. Wait for my approval as her sponsor. (on CIC website it says it currently takes 28 days) Once approval is received (sorry, don’t know the CIC term for it), my wife will fly to Canada as a visitor to rent a place for us. (I have chronic pain and travel always makes it worse.) She will tell CBSA she has a pending application to immigrate, show the piece of paper CIC sent re: sponsor approval for her and state the reason for her entry is to find a home for us.

When she returns I’ll withdraw my US PR application. We’ll pack her and my stuff in U-Haul U-Boxes (they drive it for you). USCIS will eventually mail me a notice telling me I need to get out of the country since my application was withdrawn. We then drive 1,600 km to the Canadian border with our car (over 3 days if we can do that legally, anyone know?). We tell CBSA we’re moving to Canada and my wife has a pending application to immigrate and show them the paperwork. We’ll give them B4 (Personal Effects Accounting Document) forms for the stuff that’s coming. We’ll import the car we bought in the US and drive it to our rented home. Apparently we’ll also have to meet U-Haul at the border whenever they arrive to get our personal goods across.

Any tips for accomplishing all the above would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[zardoz]

Hmm... More red flags than a communist march..

The whole "moving" thing is a big no-no. She is only allowed to "visit".
She is not eligible for a B4 yet, so anything that is obviously hers is subject to import duty.

 

[J3NNY524]

Hi, Leon I was wondering what the exact requirements are for sponsoring a spouse outside of canada, more specifically in latin america? Also I would like to know how much it will cost for the whole application package like all the fees and such? I just got married the following week to my boyfriend overseas of 3 years on a spur of the moment thing but it didnt actually occur to us to apply for the sponsor visa until now because I thought I had to have a minimum income requirement. How long do you think the whole process will take if we apply in the following month outland?

 

[hcseeker]

Hmm... More red flags than a communist march..
The whole "moving" thing is a big no-no. She is only allowed to "visit".
She is not eligible for a B4 yet, so anything that is obviously hers is subject to import duty.

Lol, zardoz, I got a chuckle from your red flags comment. I suspected I shouldn't be using the m word with CBSA. One guy posted that you can be totally honest with them so I thought I'd try it out in my scenario. I take it that the m word isn't to be mentioned until my wife has her PR? Also she couldn't bring anything into Canada duty-free b4 then? Thanks for your input.

 

[BeShoo]

This is not a good plan at all. M-word or no m-word, they won't think she's coming for a visit if she's bringing all her stuff with her. Showing up at the border with a moving van (or an equivalent scenario by other means) could be enough to get her banned from visiting Canada for 2 years or more.

If she has applied for PR, she will likely be allowed to visit you in Canada for 6 months, at the end of which you can apply for an extension and this will probably be granted. When she comes to visit you in Canada, she must be prepared to show that her visit is temporary and that she won't just stay permanently. If she has closer ties to Canada (to you, for example) than to the U.S. (job, property, family obligations, etc.), she may not even be allowed to visit you. She must only be bringing the sort of things that she would bring for a visit, not furniture or the sort of things you wouldn't take on a trip (even a fairly long trip). If she flew in, she would likely have to show a return plane ticket. If you are driving, she needs to be able to convince them that it's no trouble for her to drive back home to the U.S. at the end of her visit. She also needs to have a place to call home in the U.S., even if she's just moving in with a relative in the U.S. for now.

Telling them that she is going to Canada to rent a place when she hasn't yet received her PR will not go over well. It would indicate a strong motivation for her to just stay in Canada, regardless of whether the PR is approved or not. For now, you have to assume that it might not be approved, even if you think that there's a 99% likelihood that is will be.

Now, there is a bit of a complication. Since you are returning to Canada after a visit to the U.S., you are allowed to bring your own stuff back to Canada (but not hers). There are certain rules about bringing stuff that you've acquired during your trip abroad and you need to check on those.

I've recently learned on this board that it's illegal for a Canadian to drive a car that they bought in the U.S. into Canada. You really need to check on that. If your wife wants to bring her car with her while she visits you in Canada, that shouldn't be a big problem, but her importing it once she gets PR may or may not be practical. It needs to have certain modifications done to it to comply with Canadian regulations.

Before they grant you sponsorship approval, they may want to see hard evidence that you are indeed moving back to Canada. I may be confusing Canadian citizen sponsors with Canadian permanent resident sponsors, but I don't think you can sponsor anybody unless the two of you can show that you will be residing in Canada. They would like to be able to see evidence of where you will be living.

 

[BeShoo]

@hcseeker:

Read this entire thread. You will get some more information there: http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/moving-with-spouse-while-application-is-pending-t102071.0.html

Also, this is the rules for a returning Canadian citizen bringing back goods: http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications/pub/bsf5087-eng.html

I don't think it applies to you because you haven't been out of Canada for a year. You'd be subject to the duty-free restrictions of someone who went on a one-week trip.

Here's the proper information about importing U.S. vehicle to Canada: http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/motorvehiclesafety/safevehicles-importation-usa-index-445.htm

 

[Leon]

Lol, zardoz, I got a chuckle from your red flags comment. I suspected I shouldn't be using the m word with CBSA. One guy posted that you can be totally honest with them so I thought I'd try it out in my scenario. I take it that the m word isn't to be mentioned until my wife has her PR? Also she couldn't bring anything into Canada duty-free b4 then? Thanks for your input.

You have two options. As a citizen, you may sponsor her while living in the US yourself as long as you show plans to move to Canada when she gets her PR. This may take around 10 months. Otherwise, you could move to Canada and then apply to sponsor her in which case you obviously don't have to show plans to move because you already did.

She can come with you as a visitor, visit later or visit earlier. If you want her to go and look for an apartment before you move, you can do that but then she should only say at the border that she is visiting, nothing about moving.

 

[John Miller]

I married an American and have been living in the USA for over 30 years. The last 15 years we have been married. I recently took a job in Canada and my family (two boys) have recently joined me in Canada. We are going through the Spousal Sponsorship right now. She has a job opportunity and is their first choice but it depends on the Spousal Sponshorship going through.

1. How long does this process take?
2. Once she receives her sponsorship does she permanently lose her American citizenship?
3. Do i lose my Green Card?