Spousal sponsorship

[TooCareless1]

Dear seniors:

I have applied under Fedral skilled worker scheme. i have kept my wife and child un accompanied family members in my current application. I am waiting for PPR. I have plans to sponsor my family when i will reach canada. I wanted to confirm two things.

1. Can i sponsor my family immediately after landing in canada or there is 1 year employment or earning requirement?
2. What is the process time for spouse and child sponsor at ISB visa office?
3. Any other suggestion from Seniors Please help

 

[Leon]

Dear seniors:

I have applied under Fedral skilled worker scheme. i have kept my wife and child un accompanied family members in my current application. I am waiting for PPR. I have plans to sponsor my family when i will reach canada. I wanted to confirm two things.

1. Can i sponsor my family immediately after landing in canada or there is 1 year employment or earning requirement?
2. What is the process time for spouse and child sponsor at ISB visa office?
3. Any other suggestion from Seniors Please help

You should change them to accompanying. There is nothing gained by putting them down as not accompanying since they have had to go through medicals and background checks anyway.

You can start sponsorship of them as soon as you arrive in Canada. There is no 1 year requirement and there is no fixed income requirement. However, if you apply before you have a job, immigration will want to know how you plan to support your family because they do not want you to end up on welfare.

If you mean Islamabad visa office, the processing time is very long there, at least a year or two.

 

[goodman36]

Can anyone here help me out with some suggestion regarding changing/ canceling use of Representative.

When sending my outland application package. in August 2012, to sponsor my wife, I used a Representative even though we did most of the work ourselves. My representative couldn't provide the letter that came when my stage 1 was approved from Mississauga (he said the letter was misplaced somewhere). The Application was transferred to Singapore Visa Office. ECAS shows Application received and Medical received. I check ECAS using payment receipt, my wife's (applicant) last name, date of birth & country of Birth.

Now, I want to sent Form IMM 5476 to appoint me as the new Representative so that I receive further contact from Singapore Visa Office. I understand that sending a new Form IMM 5476 automatically cancels the previous representative.

Unfortunately, I don't have a File number (because I never saw the letter that came to our Representative). So, not sure how to go about doing it. Also, when filling out the Forms, we put our Representative's contact information (even his e-mail address) in the Forms IMM 1344 & IMM 0008 as well. Do we need to update these forms too OR just sending the revised Form IMM 5476 should do?

 

[computergeek]

When sending my outland application package. in August 2012, to sponsor my wife, I used a Representative even though we did most of the work ourselves. My representative couldn't provide the letter that came when my stage 1 was approved from Mississauga (he said the letter was misplaced somewhere). The Application was transferred to Singapore Visa Office. ECAS shows Application received and Medical received. I check ECAS using payment receipt, my wife's (applicant) last name, date of birth & country of Birth.

Now, I want to sent Form IMM 5476 to appoint me as the new Representative so that I receive further contact from Singapore Visa Office. I understand that sending a new Form IMM 5476 automatically cancels the previous representative.

Unfortunately, I don't have a File number (because I never saw the letter that came to our Representative). So, not sure how to go about doing it. Also, when filling out the Forms, we put our Representative's contact information (even his e-mail address) in the Forms IMM 1344 & IMM 0008 as well. Do we need to update these forms too OR just sending the revised Form IMM 5476 should do?

Contact the Call Centre - they should be able to provide you with your file number, especially if either of you have a UCI ("client number") as that number makes it easy for them to look up your records.

If you put his e-mail address down in other places, I'd suggest providing updated forms and explaining why.

You should also request your GCMS notes periodically (ever 30-60 days) while the process is ongoing so that if something gets sent to your former representative and "gets lost" you will see it in the GCMS notes. You have the right to obtain that information under the law ("Access to Information" and "Privacy Act"). The former applies if you ask for someone else's information (e.g., the person you are sponsoring) and the latter applies if you ask for your own information. There is a $5 charge for someone else's information (access to information) and it is free for your own information.

The person making the request must be inside Canada. search for "ATIP" or "privacy" on the CIC website and you can find the forms.

 

[goodman36]

Contact the Call Centre - they should be able to provide you with your file number, especially if either of you have a UCI ("client number") as that number makes it easy for them to look up your records.

If you put his e-mail address down in other places, I'd suggest providing updated forms and explaining why.

You should also request your GCMS notes periodically (ever 30-60 days) while the process is ongoing so that if something gets sent to your former representative and "gets lost" you will see it in the GCMS notes. You have the right to obtain that information under the law ("Access to Information" and "Privacy Act"). The former applies if you ask for someone else's information (e.g., the person you are sponsoring) and the latter applies if you ask for your own information. There is a $5 charge for someone else's information (access to information) and it is free for your own information.

The person making the request must be inside Canada. search for "ATIP" or "privacy" on the CIC website and you can find the forms.

Thank you.

Unfortunately, I don't have an UCI or Client ID. I even asked the Representative about it and he said, it is not needed. I made a mistake of providing his e-mail address on Item # 6 on page 2 of both Form IMM 1344 & Form IMM 0008 (I put the Representative's mailing address on Item # 1)

Can you please provide the Call Centre number?

Will they give me any information even though I am the Sponsor?

 

[computergeek]

Can you please provide the Call Centre number?

Will they give me any information even though I am the Sponsor?

Just type "call centre" into the search on the CIC main webpage.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/contacts/call.asp

They will provide you with information, yes, as you are the sponsor. They will certainly give you your UCI and the file number.

 

[dannypee]

Hi can anyone help me please im being sponsored by my common law spouse who is Canadian we have stage one all sorted and London has had my file since 24th Aug 2012 I have told them my medical runs out Jan 18th 2013 and I booked a new medical on the 31st of Dec2012 they advised me that I did not require another medical as they can extend my results (does this mean im near the end ?)I have kept checking my application status and all it says is application received and medical results received ,it hasn't changed is this common with the London office? please someone chill me out I have heard nothing else is no news good news or should I be asking ?

 

[computergeek]

Hi can anyone help me please im being sponsored by my common law spouse who is Canadian we have stage one all sorted and London has had my file since 24th Aug 2012 I have told them my medical runs out Jan 18th 2013 and I booked a new medical on the 31st of Dec2012 they advised me that I did not require another medical as they can extend my results (does this mean im near the end ?)I have kept checking my application status and all it says is application received and medical results received ,it hasn't changed is this common with the London office? please someone chill me out I have heard nothing else is no news good news or should I be asking ?

Normally, you will only hear from them a couple of times:

- Sponsor approval
- Passport (or copy) request
- COPR receipt

So generally silence means there are no issues. If they told you they would extend your medicals then yes they are almost done.

 

[AngelNoah]

Hi there everyone who have experience requesting dubai police clearance,
I would like to know the fastest way to get certificate of good conduct done.

 

[zarab]

the application from the to be sponsored wife requires the photos of wedding events properly tagged. the front of the photo would be spoiled if anything is written on it. would it be alright to note the date of event , type of the event and people in the photo on the reverse of the photo? or is there a better way of doing it.

 

[docAJ]

Hi!!
I have applied for my wife's case. My application was received by CIC, Mississauga on 2012/5/25. I attached Police records and Medical tests and then applied. New Delhi embassy sent her mail on 2012/09/23 informing us that they started processing of case and asked for passport. She sent the passport after two days. Since then there is no reply from embassy side till date. We don't know what is going on with her case? we left two mails with embassy to enquire but they are least bother.
its more than 4 months since embassy held her passport? What should we do? Is this normal holding passport for that long? Coming March her medical will gonna expire.
Thanks...
Arun

 

[cazhandra]

Great post Leon thanks so much this is a big help ;-)

 

[scylla]

I think there's a big chance the visa will be denied. If you lived together for a year or more before coming to Canada then you were technically common law - which means you can never sponsor your husband. I would find a good immigration lawyer and start working with him to see if anything can be done. I have seen one or two cases here similar to yours where the applicant was eventually approved. In those cases I believe they were able to prove that they didn't actually live together for a whole year and therefore weren't common law. If you lived together for a year or more then I think the chances are extremely high you will be refused. If you didn't live together for the full year then you should let CIC know asap and provide as much evidence as you can to prove this.

 

[IvanP]

Regardless what the outcome of this case is, common-law partnership is an unfair trap for applicants. Living together for a year is basically courtship for a lot of people who are on the path to deciding whether to make their relationship permanent, but they don't consider themselves or hold themselves out to be married or a family.

 

[computergeek]

Regardless what the outcome of this case is, common-law partnership is an unfair trap for applicants. Living together for a year is basically courtship for a lot of people who are on the path to deciding whether to make their relationship permanent, but they don't consider themselves or hold themselves out to be married or a family.

This is a common reason for rejection by Manila. What I've seen is that if they do include the "partner" on the application, the visa office declines to examine the partner (because it doesn't meet the legal threshold for common-law partnership) and if they don't include the partner on the application, the visa office issues a 179 rejection when they attempt to sponsor (because they weren't declared). Of course, only people having issues here show up on the forum, so maybe many cases get by without same.

I think some of it is certainly cultural (e.g., cultures that don't understand the Canadian legal distinction of common-law partnerships) but there is also an economic driver here - if someone from the Philippines qualifies in an economic class it is more burdensome to have to demonstrate the landing funds for two than for one. Yet this is really the intent of R179 - CIC doesn't want people to "back door" in otherwise ineligible family members by failing to disclose them.

I saw a case in which a father wanted to sponsor his son - a son he'd not known about 16 years previously when he immigrated. The original application was refused, the H&C application was refused. In his case, the Federal Court actually ruled in his favour and send it back to CIC for redetermination.

The OP has very limited options to appeal. IAD doesn't have jurisdiction if the applicant is not a member of the family class - and that is exactly the point of an R179 rejection - it excludes that person as being considered a family member. Thus, appeals are almost pointless in such cases. The Federal Courts will only hear the case if there is a matter of legal interest (they aren't bound to only considering family members at least).

Of course the applicant can always apply in an economic category. In this case he would get points for having family in Canada, but he may not qualify otherwise.

The other option the OP has is to return to the Philippines, relinquish her PR, and reapply. This may not work because the grounds on which she was eligible previously may not be available to her.