Spouse/Child Sponsorship- should we get an Immigration Attorney? OVERWHELMED

[jnt211]

The long and short of it:

-I'm a Canadian Citizen by Descent, but have lived in the US my whole life and do currently.
-My husband and I are expecting our first child in November and really want to make the move back to Toronto (where all of our family is) in about a year to raise our child/family there.
-I have begun to fill out the Family Class Sponsorship Application and am TOTALLY overwhelmed; less so by the forms than by the necessary documentation.

Here are some questions I have:
1) Our baby is due in November. I won't be able to submit this packet until we have a "panel physician" exam of the baby AND receive his/her US passport, is this correct?
2) We need to get a police certificate for my husband and the FBI website is currently quoting a 14 week wait time to receive that document.
3) We need to assemble a packet that proves our relationship is real. Do some wedding photos, a marriage certificate and the fact that we'll have just had a baby qualify?
4) Given what's needed for the baby and the timeline of the police certificate... from someone's experience, what is your estimate of when this packet would be ready to send? January?
5) Since I am a citizen is there a way for us to submit for him to be able to work while the Sponsorship Application is processed? I found the Open Work Permit page to be confusing. He is a professional chef so not one of the qualifying type jobs. But given that I'm a citizen...
6) Should we just spend the money and get an immigration attorney?

Any and all help/advice is SO SO appreciated. Thanks!!!

 

[CDNPR2014]

1. i would double check the citizenship laws and confirm whether your baby will be a canadian citizen because of your citizenship. if so, then you don't have to include the baby in the application at all. if the baby is not a citizen, then yes, you will need to get a medical exam for the baby and they will need to have a passport. the baby can't be added to the application until it is born.

2. yes, this is true, however CIC will now accept reports from 3rd party channelers and the reports are delivered within days. there should be a list provided on the CIC website or someone here will post the list for you...

3.yes, that works fine. the amount of proof depends on your circumstances. know that US applicants have a lower threshold, so you don't have to stress over submitting 100s of pages of information. think quality over quantity. show pictures of you guys with other people, at various locations, with your baby, etc. if you write cards or notes to each other for everyday or special occasions, send in copies. your answers to the application questions will also prove your relationship.

4. it will depend on how long it takes for you to compile the application. for most people it can take months, for some it can take weeks. assuming you have everything and you go through the FBI channeler for a report, you can easily submit way before January. Keep in mind, the application forms are randomly updated by CIC, so you will want to make sure you are officially filling out the forms closer to the day you submit them to reduce the risk of sending in outdated forms. you can write "practice answers" to help make filling out the final forms easier.

5. Being married to a canadian citizen does NOT give a person the right to work in canada. a PR applicant can get a OWP when they apply for spousal sponsorship through inland (which means you both need to be living in canada during the application process), applying directly through an employer or other economic immigration stream. currently, US citizens are getting approved in 6 months or less through outland, so applying inland is not advised. it does not take much longer to get approved as outland than it does to get the OWP for inland. also, inland takes 2+ years to process. if you're both living and working somewhere else, live your lives normally and apply outland. you'll be approved in no time.

6. NO! There are many reports of attorneys screwing up applications and making the process more difficult than it needs to be. save your money and use the valuable support from this forum to help you compile your paperwork. attorneys are somewhat useful when there are red flags (ie: criminal, dependant, relationship validity issues). assuming none of those apply to you, there's no reason to spend your money on an attorney.

 

[profiler]

The long and short of it:

-I'm a Canadian Citizen by Descent, but have lived in the US my whole life and do currently.
-My husband and I are expecting our first child in November and really want to make the move back to Toronto (where all of our family is) in about a year to raise our child/family there.
-I have begun to fill out the Family Class Sponsorship Application and am TOTALLY overwhelmed; less so by the forms than by the necessary documentation.

Here are some questions I have:
1) Our baby is due in November. I won't be able to submit this packet until we have a "panel physician" exam of the baby AND receive his/her US passport, is this correct?
2) We need to get a police certificate for my husband and the FBI website is currently quoting a 14 week wait time to receive that document.
3) We need to assemble a packet that proves our relationship is real. Do some wedding photos, a marriage certificate and the fact that we'll have just had a baby qualify?
4) Given what's needed for the baby and the timeline of the police certificate... from someone's experience, what is your estimate of when this packet would be ready to send? January?
5) Since I am a citizen is there a way for us to submit for him to be able to work while the Sponsorship Application is processed? I found the Open Work Permit page to be confusing. He is a professional chef so not one of the qualifying type jobs. But given that I'm a citizen...
6) Should we just spend the money and get an immigration attorney?

Any and all help/advice is SO SO appreciated. Thanks!!!

I have begun to fill out the Family Class Sponsorship Application and am TOTALLY overwhelmed; less so by the forms than by the necessary documentation.

It can be overwhelming for sure... I'll see what help I can provide...

First I should provide this (from: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/guides/3900ETOC.asp):
Sponsorship eligibility

In order to sponsor, you must…

- be 18 years of age or older,
- be a Canadian citizen, Registered Indian or permanent resident,
- be sponsoring a member of the family Class,
- live in Canada or provide evidence, if you are a Canadian citizen living outside of Canada, that you will live in Canada once the person you are sponsoring becomes a permanent resident.
- sign an agreement with your spouse or common-law partner confirming that each of you understands your obligations and responsibilities,
- sign an undertaking promising to provide for your spouse or common-law partner’s basic requirements and, if applicable, those of his or her dependent children,
- prove that you have sufficient income to provide basic requirements for your spouse or common-law partner’s dependent children. To do this, you must provide documents showing your financial resources for the past 12 months. This requirement applies only when dependent children who have dependent children of their own are included on the application.

1) Our baby is due in November. I won't be able to submit this packet until we have a "panel physician" exam of the baby AND receive his/her US passport, is this correct?

You are better to wait until the baby is born, then you can include them on your application, instead of ammending it after.

2) We need to get a police certificate for my husband and the FBI website is currently quoting a 14 week wait time to receive that document.

Yes you will need to supply that as part of your application package. You are better to time this right around the time of applying, so that it won`t expire (they have a 6 month/1 year expiry)

3) We need to assemble a packet that proves our relationship is real. Do some wedding photos, a marriage certificate and the fact that we'll have just had a baby qualify?

Yup all good evidence. We also included pics from family BBQ`s, dinners, other events or places we visited, pics from our honeymoon, etc. The burdon of evidence is less for married couples than common-law or conjugal.

4) Given what's needed for the baby and the timeline of the police certificate... from someone's experience, what is your estimate of when this packet would be ready to send? January?

January sounds about right. You`re applying outland I hope (http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/fc.asp). Some are posting 2-3 month approval times for US outlanders.

5) Since I am a citizen is there a way for us to submit for him to be able to work while the Sponsorship Application is processed? I found the Open Work Permit page to be confusing. He is a professional chef so not one of the qualifying type jobs. But given that I'm a citizen...

OWP is only applicable for inland applications. These can take upto 26 months to complete. You should really consider the option of applying outland.

6) Should we just spend the money and get an immigration attorney?

Nah -- I wouldn`t. I was quoted $10k, and there is no guarantee that they will get a better result than just rolling up your sleves and gettin'er done.


Hopefully that helps, and good luck with everything!

 

[jnt211]

Both of these replies are so helpful and reassuring. A few follow up questions/confirmations:

1) i was under the impression that citizenship by descent cannot be passed down-- is that incorrect? assuming I do need to sponsor the babe it sounds like it's better to wait until the baby is born, get his/her passport and exam and THEN submit application (as opposed to adding/amending); does this sound right? I can get basically everything else done in the meantime... Am I wrong to think its crazy that there is only one "panel physician" in the entire NYC area and that they charged $350 for my husbands exam and $200 for the babies? this is not covered by insurance and our regular doctor is not allowed to provide this???

2) Going to look into Channeler later today and see if that expedites things/also need to check on cost. i guess the reality is that if the wait time for report is currently 12-14 weeks it's unlikely we will get our application in before then anyway (as we need to wait for the baby to be born ans then get his/her paperwork together).

3) great to know that many photos over the years should be enough.

4) this is great to know about the frequency that the forma get updated. was really hoping to complete application before baby is born (ie before sleep deprivation) but if printing/filling forms now for an application not sent until January seems risky I guess I can wait. Or just fill and double check again before submitting?

5) I didn't realize OWP is only for inland apps, we will definitely be Outland. Amazing that some people are being approved that fast, the CIC website was quoting 14 months but perhaps I was looking at the wrong spot.

6) this seems unanimous about attorney, glad to hear it as it was certainly not an expense we wanted!

We are really hoping to move up to Toronto September 2017. Sounds like if we get this in by January this just might be possible! Thank you all so much-- this forum is truly invaluable.

 

[profiler]

1) i was under the impression that citizenship by descent cannot be passed down-- is that incorrect? assuming I do need to sponsor the babe it sounds like it's better to wait until the baby is born, get his/her passport and exam and THEN submit application (as opposed to adding/amending); does this sound right? I can get basically everything else done in the meantime... Am I wrong to think its crazy that there is only one "panel physician" in the entire NYC area and that they charged $350 for my husbands exam and $200 for the babies? this is not covered by insurance and our regular doctor is not allowed to provide this???

Try this tool: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/citizenship/rules/

3) great to know that many photos over the years should be enough.

The certificate, a child in common, and photos. All things that scream genuine.

4) this is great to know about the frequency that the forma get updated. was really hoping to complete application before baby is born (ie before sleep deprivation) but if printing/filling forms now for an application not sent until January seems risky I guess I can wait. Or just fill and double check again before submitting?

We filled them out over time. If you submit an older one they may send it back, or simply accept it and request you resupply. Best to just double check when you are about to send it all in.

5) I didn't realize OWP is only for inland apps, we will definitely be Outland. Amazing that some people are being approved that fast, the CIC website was quoting 14 months but perhaps I was looking at the wrong spot.

The posted rates are for any country. US has priority through CPC-Ottawa.

6) this seems unanimous about attorney, glad to hear it as it was certainly not an expense we wanted!

Save it and spend it on your kid . What we did was sit down for the consultation (C$300), and ask all the questions that were really specific to our case and for the advice. Also an option if you need more reassurance.

 

[danawhitaker]

Both of these replies are so helpful and reassuring. A few follow up questions/confirmations:

1) i was under the impression that citizenship by descent cannot be passed down-- is that incorrect? assuming I do need to sponsor the babe it sounds like it's better to wait until the baby is born, get his/her passport and exam and THEN submit application (as opposed to adding/amending); does this sound right? I can get basically everything else done in the meantime... Am I wrong to think its crazy that there is only one "panel physician" in the entire NYC area and that they charged $350 for my husbands exam and $200 for the babies? this is not covered by insurance and our regular doctor is not allowed to provide this???

2) Going to look into Channeler later today and see if that expedites things/also need to check on cost. i guess the reality is that if the wait time for report is currently 12-14 weeks it's unlikely we will get our application in before then anyway (as we need to wait for the baby to be born ans then get his/her paperwork together).

3) great to know that many photos over the years should be enough.

4) this is great to know about the frequency that the forma get updated. was really hoping to complete application before baby is born (ie before sleep deprivation) but if printing/filling forms now for an application not sent until January seems risky I guess I can wait. Or just fill and double check again before submitting?

5) I didn't realize OWP is only for inland apps, we will definitely be Outland. Amazing that some people are being approved that fast, the CIC website was quoting 14 months but perhaps I was looking at the wrong spot.

6) this seems unanimous about attorney, glad to hear it as it was certainly not an expense we wanted!

We are really hoping to move up to Toronto September 2017. Sounds like if we get this in by January this just might be possible! Thank you all so much-- this forum is truly invaluable.

The cost for a channeler for me was $50. The cost for me going through getting fingerprints from the police station here (multiple sets in case they'd have issues with my prints) and then the fee to the FBI itself would have run about the same, and the results came back much more quickly.

 

[CDNPR2014]

Both of these replies are so helpful and reassuring. A few follow up questions/confirmations:

1) i was under the impression that citizenship by descent cannot be passed down-- is that incorrect? assuming I do need to sponsor the babe it sounds like it's better to wait until the baby is born, get his/her passport and exam and THEN submit application (as opposed to adding/amending); does this sound right? I can get basically everything else done in the meantime... Am I wrong to think its crazy that there is only one "panel physician" in the entire NYC area and that they charged $350 for my husbands exam and $200 for the babies? this is not covered by insurance and our regular doctor is not allowed to provide this???

2) Going to look into Channeler later today and see if that expedites things/also need to check on cost. i guess the reality is that if the wait time for report is currently 12-14 weeks it's unlikely we will get our application in before then anyway (as we need to wait for the baby to be born ans then get his/her paperwork together).

3) great to know that many photos over the years should be enough.

4) this is great to know about the frequency that the forma get updated. was really hoping to complete application before baby is born (ie before sleep deprivation) but if printing/filling forms now for an application not sent until January seems risky I guess I can wait. Or just fill and double check again before submitting?

5) I didn't realize OWP is only for inland apps, we will definitely be Outland. Amazing that some people are being approved that fast, the CIC website was quoting 14 months but perhaps I was looking at the wrong spot.

6) this seems unanimous about attorney, glad to hear it as it was certainly not an expense we wanted!

We are really hoping to move up to Toronto September 2017. Sounds like if we get this in by January this just might be possible! Thank you all so much-- this forum is truly invaluable.

1. the rules to citizenship confuse me, so that is why i recommended double checking. sorry i can't provide a clear answer to that

1a. yes, the process will probably be smoother if you wait until the baby is born. considering us citizens are approved quickly, it can be likely your husband is approved before the baby is born, then you will need to submit a whole new application for the baby after it's born. if your husband husband is approved after the baby is born, you will need to have everything amended to include the baby and your husband won't be able to land until that is fixed.

1b. yes that sounds about right. it's pretty expensive. it's actually cheaper to get it done in canada. no, you can't use your regular physician, it has to be a panel physician approved by cic, and your health insurance won't cover it.

2. it's definitely worth checking out. the cost seems minimal and it's possible to get the report in 48 hours to 1 week.

4. fill out and double check right before you submit.

5. it's important to understand the CIC website is NOT an average. it suggests 80% of applications are processed WITHIN the time posted, which means a majority are approved in much less time. there are exceptions to this, however those exemptions are few and far between.

 

[Rob_TO]

1) i was under the impression that citizenship by descent cannot be passed down-- is that incorrect? assuming I do need to sponsor the babe it sounds like it's better to wait until the baby is born, get his/her passport and exam and THEN submit application (as opposed to adding/amending); does this sound right? I can get basically everything else done in the meantime... Am I wrong to think its crazy that there is only one "panel physician" in the entire NYC area and that they charged $350 for my husbands exam and $200 for the babies? this is not covered by insurance and our regular doctor is not allowed to provide this???

I believe you're right about citizenship, if you were born in another country and got citizenship by your Canadian parents, then you can't pass citizenship onto your own child if they are born in another country. However I would check the rules in more details since they changed a few times over the years. http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/citizenship/rules/

You can submit the app before you give birth, to get the ball rolling. Then when baby is born, assuming they need to be sponsored as well you can send an amendment to the app to add them as a dependent. However it sounds like you'll still be gathering docs and putting together the app around the time baby is born so may as well just wait.

You must use an immigration panel physician defined on the CIC list. You can't just use a family doctor. If there is just 1 in NYC, then that's who you need to use and pay whatever they're asking. You can only request an exemption to use your own doctor if you are too far from the nearest panel physician (i think around 250km away).

3) great to know that many photos over the years should be enough.

Also include docs that show a shared life i.e. life insurance with each other as beneficiaries, joint bank accounts or utilities, lease/mortgage, car, work benefits, etc.

 

[tucosword]

hey folks..
am eagerly following all related threads to my enquiry, and so far haven't had an adequate answer.
My wife is US citizen, pending delivery of our baby in couple weeks time, I'm a Canadian PR holder living in Toronto.
Our spousal application is in, but not complete because of deferred Chest xray.
Everyone tells me to add/amend the baby to my wife's application after baby is born.

1)As I understand it, baby will need a medical - is this correct?
2) Notwithstanding that it will take about 8-10 weeks to get a birth certificate and then a US passport for the baby, how do we go about to amend/add baby to my wife's application?

Can anybody please tell me how to do this?
Some suggestions that haven't worked thus far are informing the case processing center(Ottawa) - no reply from them thus yet regarding how to proceed.

Please- any suggestion on how to add the baby to this application.

Thanks

 

[CDNPR2014]

hey folks..
am eagerly following all related threads to my enquiry, and so far haven't had an adequate answer.
My wife is US citizen, pending delivery of our baby in couple weeks time, I'm a Canadian PR holder living in Toronto.
Our spousal application is in, but not complete because of deferred Chest xray.
Everyone tells me to add/amend the baby to my wife's application after baby is born.

1)As I understand it, baby will need a medical - is this correct?
2) Notwithstanding that it will take about 8-10 weeks to get a birth certificate and then a US passport for the baby, how do we go about to amend/add baby to my wife's application?

Can anybody please tell me how to do this?
Some suggestions that haven't worked thus far are informing the case processing center(Ottawa) - no reply from them thus yet regarding how to proceed.

Please- any suggestion on how to add the baby to this application.

Thanks

1. yes, the baby will require a medical exam by a panel physician.

2. you will be able to add the baby to the application by either 1) sending the information to the visa office per the instructions written in the sponsor approval letter you received about how to notify CIC of changes to the application. 2) sending the items through a case specific inquiry on the cic website.

 

[profiler]

Just guessing here:

1)As I understand it, baby will need a medical - is this correct?

Yes.

2) Notwithstanding that it will take about 8-10 weeks to get a birth certificate and then a US passport for the baby, how do we go about to amend/add baby to my wife's application?

You can change the sponsorship dependant form and submit (CSE or courier). It will likely take them a few weeks to figure out what to do with your paperwork. Then they would likely request the documents for the child.

You could also wait until you have the forms, and perform the update then (assuming the process is still on-going).

 

[tucosword]

Hi profiler.
Thank you for your reply. This has been very frustrating thus far.

Wrt to your suggestion - do you mean the additional dependants/declaration form? This comes as part of the application package but when we did it for my wife, we didn't fill this in then.
Do we then fill it in(only after passport is issued - so 10 weeks after birth)(also the form requests passport details) and then send it with a cover letter to Ottawa quoting my wife's application and UCI numbers?

Your second suggestion was wait till we have the forms in hand- you meant documents, correct - in this case passport?

 

[profiler]

Wrt to your suggestion - do you mean the additional dependants/declaration form? This comes as part of the application package but when we did it for my wife, we didn't fill this in then.
Do we then fill it in(only after passport is issued - so 10 weeks after birth)(also the form requests passport details) and then send it with a cover letter to Ottawa quoting my wife's application and UCI numbers?

Yes, Resubmit that form and I think it's Schedule A (basically where ever you have questions regarding dependants).

You can submit it via Case Specific Enquiry: https://secure.cic.gc.ca/enquiries-renseignements/canada-case-cas-eng.aspx and if you wanted to back it up with a delivery to CPC-Mississauga so they had a hard copy just in case, you could include a cover letter with the UCI/Application number, etc.

Your second suggestion was wait till we have the forms in hand- you meant documents, correct - in this case passport?

Documents as in birth certificate and passport.

In your covering letter or in the note via CSE, you should explain the situation. New baby, etc.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Wrt to your suggestion - do you mean the additional dependants/declaration form? This comes as part of the application package but when we did it for my wife, we didn't fill this in then.
Do we then fill it in(only after passport is issued - so 10 weeks after birth)(also the form requests passport details) and then send it with a cover letter to Ottawa quoting my wife's application and UCI numbers?

Your second suggestion was wait till we have the forms in hand- you meant documents, correct - in this case passport?

You do not fill in the Additional Dependents form. That form is only required if you have more than 5 dependents.

You will need to fill out a new IMM0008 listing the child in the dependent section. You will also need a new IMM5481 and IMM5406. Wait until you have all of the required documents and the medical done and send everything together.

 

[profiler]

You do not fill in the Additional Dependents form. That form is only required if you have more than 5 dependents.

You will need to fill out a new IMM0008 listing the child in the dependent section. You will also need a new IMM5481 and IMM5406. Wait until you have all of the required documents and the medical done and send everything together.

Thanks, canuck_in_uk -- I couldn't remember which form it was on.