Spousal sponsorship

[frege]

Hi Shelly

My impression is that if you:

1) are in Canada legally when Vegreville receives your in-Canada spousal sponsorship application; and
2) include an application for an open work permit along with your application;

then the OWP application is what gives you implied status, meaning that you continue to be a visitor while you wait.

Or do you need to apply for a temporary resident extension separately for the duration of Stage 1? I'm not certain of this. Perhaps someone here can point to a reliable source on this question.

 

[HDappicant]

Can someone give me details about flag polling and the documents required to do it?

Thanks!

 

[Popo012]

Re: Spousal sponsorship
« Reply #6770 on: December 18, 2012, 02:13:01 am »
Quote Modify Remove
Hey every body,I hope everybody's process are moving forward.
I am in second stage,I just hope everything goes well for me because second stage is the last,biggest one and even longer.I will stay there,wait and not trying to stress to much.Im just afraid that,just a little thing can make them worried or reject my application.I don't have a criminal record,Im clean.I don't have any problem with health,I'm not worried about that.I have a good relationship with my wife and her family.we have been together for 4 years.I will received my health card in Quebec,that I was been waiting for a long time.
I just hope everything will be fine for me.
Any help to make me feel better about everything will be very appreciate thanks.

Good luck everybody

 

[computergeek]

Can someone give me details about flag polling and the documents required to do it?

For landing?

You need your passport and your COPR.

If you are a US Citizen (or resident), you need an entry stamp into the US. Tell them you are flag poling, they know what it means. When I did it here in BC in October, they sent me to secondary (to get the entry stamp) and I then turned around and headed back to Canada - show the passport and COPR to the border officer and they'll send you to secondary inspection.

If you are NOT a US Citizen (or PR), you may ask them for an "administrative refusal". They stamp a piece of paper and send you back to Canada. Technically it is a refusal, but it doesn't count against you in the future (though you do have to say you were refused entry).

The reason a US Citizen or resident must get an entry stamp is that as a matter of law they cannot be refused entry.

Canada apparently requires proof that you were outside Canada before they will allow you to land.

Good luck!

 

[computergeek]

Any help to make me feel better about everything will be very appreciate thanks.

Sounds like you'll be fine. The waiting is terrible, but it DOES come to an end.

Good luck! Happy holidays!

 

[KKRSTNA]

"I've just noticed that as a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, you can apply for a study permit when you enter Canada. (Section 214 of the IRP regulations.) That suggests to me that if you have a letter of admission from your school, it's routine for the border officers to just give you your study permit on the spot. "

So with that being said, I can apply to the school of my choice...without applying for a study permit? I can get a study permit on the spot when I arrive in ON as a U.S citizen? Where would I obtain the permit?

 

[Canuck_28]

Just wanted to get everybody's thoughts on this...wifes application has been approved, passport has been sent to LA for processing. Once she gets it back, we are planning to flag pole at a BC border crossing (Peace Arch). She currently has her car here in Canada (visitor visa), but it's registered in Texas and she is still paying on her car loan (banks name on title, along with hers). What is the process for when we cross, can she put that her car is goods to follow? Or do we just delcare it, as it's our only vehicle here in Canada? We don't want to have to deal with importing it, as the car isn't worth the cost of doing so.

Thoughts? Past experiences?

Thanks!

 

[Popo012]

Computergeek

Thank you for answering,I hope everything will be fine for you too and happy holidays

 

[frege]

Can someone give me details about flag polling and the documents required to do it?

Thanks!

Hello HDApplicant,

My wife and I decided to cross into the U.S. for the day and then return to Canada instead of flagpoling, because we'd heard about bad experiences people had with U.S. authorities afterwards. Most people never have any problems, but one guy apparently gets pulled over for an hour every time he crosses into the U.S.

As I said, one option is to actually enter the U.S.

The other option is to go to the U.S. side and tell them you're not really interested in entering the U.S., but you have business with Canadian immigration. They give you a piece of paper that says "refusal of admission" which you give to the Canadian border officer. If the Americans code the refusal properly in their system, you'll never have a problem. So it's probably safe after that.

I phoned the Buffalo border post CBP office to ask about this. They said that it doesn't count negatively against you in future. I told them about what I'd read on the internet and they said that there was probably more going on with that person. In other words, the border guard must have thought he was being dishonest in some way. She also said you can correct any mistakes afterwards. But my view is that if the border guard took a dislike to you and wrongly decided you were being dishonest, you'll never be able to fix that.

My advice, if you don't need a visa to get into the U.S., is to be upfront and say that you'd like to enter the U.S. for a day AND afterwards you have business with the Canadian authorities. You should make sure you have a real plan for where you're going to go, what you're going to do, etc., so they can't accuse you of lying.

It's not clear at all that on ESTA or on any U.S. visa applications you would need to say you were refused entry. The CBP itself admits that there are refusals that aren't really genuine refusals for these purposes. Here's what they say about the ESTA question on being refused entry, for example:

https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/1097/~/previously-denied-a-visa-or-immigration-benefit

How would my eligibility for a travel authorization via ESTA be affected if I was previously denied a visa, previously denied an immigration benefit, or previously committed an immigration-related violation?

[...]

In some cases, you may not be sure how to answer this question because you were "allowed to withdraw" your application for entry, or a U.S. Consulate declined to issue you a visa because you did not have enough paperwork for them to make a decision on whether or not to grant you a visa. If this is your situation, we advise you to contact a U.S. Consulate and discuss what happened and ask them to tell you whether or not the withdrawal or declining to issue a visa constitutes an actual denial of entry or visa.

 

[computergeek]

Just wanted to get everybody's thoughts on this...wifes application has been approved, passport has been sent to LA for processing. Once she gets it back, we are planning to flag pole at a BC border crossing (Peace Arch). She currently has her car here in Canada (visitor visa), but it's registered in Texas and she is still paying on her car loan (banks name on title, along with hers). What is the process for when we cross, can she put that her car is goods to follow? Or do we just declare it, as it's our only vehicle here in Canada? We don't want to have to deal with importing it, as the car isn't worth the cost of doing so.

Yes, she can put her car on the Goods to Follow list if she is going to import it later.

Once she has a BC licence, she will need to get the car imported, as she will have a difficult time coming into Canada on a US plated car with a Canadian licence (it's generally not allowed).

You might just walk to land. You can part on the little access road by the duty free; I'm told there's a parking lot further back as well, but I've never parked there. Then you can walk through the park to the US side, get her passport stamped (important - you need to prove she is landing from outside Canada or they can make her go back and get it stamped - that happened to a friend of mine at Peace Arch.) If you don't drive the car out of the country, you won't have a problem bringing it back into Canada.

Congratulations!

 

[frege]

"I've just noticed that as a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, you can apply for a study permit when you enter Canada. (Section 214 of the IRP regulations.) That suggests to me that if you have a letter of admission from your school, it's routine for the border officers to just give you your study permit on the spot. "

So with that being said, I can apply to the school of my choice...without applying for a study permit? I can get a study permit on the spot when I arrive in ON as a U.S citizen? Where would I obtain the permit?

You need proof of acceptance before you can get a study permit, whether at a consulate or at the border. See this page:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/study/study-how-documents.asp

 

[computergeek]

The other option is to go to the U.S. side and tell them you're not really interested in entering the U.S., but you have business with Canadian immigration. They give you a piece of paper that says "refusal of admission" which you give to the Canadian border officer. If the Americans code the refusal properly in their system, you'll never have a problem. So it's probably safe after that.

A US Citizen or US resident cannot choose an administrative refusal, because the right of entry is guaranteed by law.

So administrative refusal is only an option for someone not a US citizen or resident. It's not supposed to count against you. The key here is that you need that date stamp - it shows CBSA you are landing from "outside Canada". For a US citizen/resident, you have to get the entry stamp in your passport.

 

[frege]

A US Citizen or US resident cannot choose an administrative refusal, because the right of entry is guaranteed by law.

So administrative refusal is only an option for someone not a US citizen or resident. It's not supposed to count against you. The key here is that you need that date stamp - it shows CBSA you are landing from "outside Canada". For a US citizen/resident, you have to get the entry stamp in your passport.

You're right CG, I wasn't thinking about whether HDApplicant might have status in the U.S. I don't know what happens if a U.S. permanent resident tries to flagpole.

I've heard that if you no longer have an address in the U.S., they can take away your permanent residence. I imagine a flagpoling procedure might be a problem in that case, since it shows your intention of moving to Canada. But this will certainly be a problem later on anyway.

 

[frege]

Just wanted to get everybody's thoughts on this...wifes application has been approved, passport has been sent to LA for processing. Once she gets it back, we are planning to flag pole at a BC border crossing (Peace Arch). She currently has her car here in Canada (visitor visa), but it's registered in Texas and she is still paying on her car loan (banks name on title, along with hers). What is the process for when we cross, can she put that her car is goods to follow? Or do we just delcare it, as it's our only vehicle here in Canada? We don't want to have to deal with importing it, as the car isn't worth the cost of doing so.

Thoughts? Past experiences?

Thanks!

The advice I was given by CBSA is that goods with customs value which are already in Canada should be brought to the border at the time of landing, and not be listed as goods to follow.

A car is a big deal, so it might be worth calling CBSA yourself to ask. In fact, I've found the CBSA call centre isn't always reliable, so you might want to go to the actual border post she plans to land at and ask them the question. That way you won't have any surprises.

Since she's owned and used it, I don't think she'll have to pay any duties.

 

[mattrox10]

We are moving to Ontario early, My husband (US) coming across as a visitor until the PPR and COPR arrives. How do we change the address. do we have to call? I tried the Online service on CIC website but it didn't work.

Also what do we need for My husband to cross the boarder? just the AOR?