taxes. getting married in 3 weeks. and many other questions too

[Snowisland]

After we get married in BC, next month, get my name changed, and file taxes, we will file outland for me (USA) to move to Cananda where he was born. I am assuming this is the correct order to do things, so my name will be current on all forms....So how do we report taxes when I live in USA and he lives in Canada?

Also, we met online, playing a game on facebook 2 1/2 years ago. We chat on facebook daily and do free skype video nightly. Is there a way to get proof of all the skype calls even though they were free? Does this relationship raise any flags? We have travelled back and forth to visit a total of 9 times now to visit each other (visits range from 2 to 5 weeks each trip) and we will have civil wedding with 15 to 20 guests. I have met his parents and coworkers and he has met my coworkers. We have a few selfie pics and lots of pics from trips together, but usually only one of us in the pic. We opened a bank account together last year in Canada.

I see people refer to passport...we both have a passport, do we have to mail in our passport at some point? We plan to continue to visit each other until I am pr and can move there. I have a house and am not selling it and moving until i have a permanent residency.

Fees, do we both pay 1000.00? Do we both get fbi background checks? Do we both get health checks?

Thanks for your help!

 

[Kayaker]

For US-Canadian couples, the level of scrutiny is much lower. My husband and I met on a game too!

Regarding proof - I guess you can copy paste your Skype log onto a Word doc. I did that, and got about 20 pages showing Incoming Outcoming calls and call duration. However - this would probably be considered secondary proof by CIC - because anyone could have made up that whole Skype call log, and it doesn't Really prove anything. Screenshots are a bit better I guess, harder to forge maybe, but they're still not going to really look through that.

Best proof: photos together (a picture is worth a thousand words!) and proof of visits to each other. Do you have bus tickets, plane tickets, or anything? If you traveled by car and there is no documentary evidence, maybe you could show having bought gas on the other side of the border or something like that. Receipts of hotels if you stayed in any. Photos with each other's friends and families are great too.
I also printed out screenshots from FB where we checked in at places together, and photos of us together (with comments from our friends) and our engagement announcement (with congratulatory comments from everyone).

Joint bank account is great, anything showing joint finances is great.

When I got my PR they sent back all the proof we had sent them. The photos and the facebook screenshots (mostly of photos) looked thumbed through. All the rest of it (extracts from whatsapp chats, extracts from FB chat, Skype log showing calls, screenshots of Facetime showing FT video calls, 200+ copies of our snail mail letters, emails) looked virtually untouched. They were in the same clip we'd sent them out in.

We also each wrote a personal statement (his 2 3 pages, mine 11 pages) describing our relationship, and why we did everything we did. Why we decided to be in a relationship, why we decided to get married, why we decided to have only a marriage at city hall, why his family and friends did not come, why we are having a wedding reception in Canada later, why we decided to settle in Canada. I described our whole thought process, showing them that everything makes sense. "oh, we just met, we clicked, and it just all happened!" isn't very convincing from CIC's perspective, you know.

As a US citizen you won't have to send your passport. When you get your PR they will send you a document called COPR, and it gives you a deadline for entering Canada as a Permanent Resident.

The fees are 1040 total for you two.

Only you get a medical (it's valid for 1 year, and your COPR will also be valid for as long as your medical is valid, so don't do it too early. Do it right before you send the application in.). You also need an FBI certificate and police certificate from wherever else you have lived in for more than 6 months. FBI certificates take like 3 months now, apparently. Also, certificates must be received by CIC within 3 months from date of issue. So plan accordingly. Also, I've heard that it takes a while to get your marriage certificate in Canada after you get married.

 

[Snowisland]

Thanks for your response and suggestions, which I will follow.
I do have airline itineraries, boarding passes and credit card statements to show where we spent money. I use the credit card for everything. i have postal receipts for when I mailed him boxes of my things, so I wouldn't have to take luggage. I order him dominoes pizza every Friday and have it delivered to him. We call it guy flowers. lol. So, my credit card shows i am using a USA credit card and ordering pizza in Canada.

I took pics of him and his dog while we were on skype. We met playing mafia wars on facebook. But, even we don't know the exact date of when we started talking. We do know that in May of 2012 we were very attracted to each other and declared our feelings to each other. We agreed to call May 1st, 2012 our romance start date. In December of 2012 we had our first in person meeting and he proposed officially on bended knee. We posted that on facebook along with pics. We had holiday ornament made with the year and our pics on it last year.

We have spent every night since May 2012 playing our mafia war game and chatting on facebook and then about an hour before bedtime, we switch to skype vidoe and talk face to face.

I am 10 years older than him, hope that doesn't matter to immigration.

We will be sure to get lots of pics at our wedding.

 

[Kayaker]

Age difference doesn't matter too much in the case of US-Canadian couples. I guess, if you want to cover all your bases, you could, in passing, mention in your personal statement what your ideas about the age difference are. But I don't think you'd have a problem whether you mention it or not!

Since you've been engaged since Dec 2012, you don't really have any red flags, I think. Maybe try to take more pics of the two of you together with friends and family? We did that consciously before we applied. I'm sure CIC knows we do some of these things consciously, but they're still good. We also included testimonial letters from friends and family, saying who they are (aunt, colleague, best friend, etc.) and when they met our significant other, and how they think we're in a committed loving relationship. Just a few sentences. The letters weren't notarized, just had the writer's name and contact details. I don't think they're necessary really, but you Could do that if you wanted to.

Sorry I don't know much about the tax issue - hopefully someone else can help.

 

[Snowisland]

Thank you. I am 56 and he is 46. We do have some emails from his mom and dad also, after we met in person, because i met them that trip also. Do you agree that it is best to wait and get the marriage certificate, change my name and then request the fbi background check? I'm so grateful for your help!

 

[Kayaker]

My FBI background check and other police certificates were in my maiden name. (My medicals too.) I changed my name and passport sort of last minute. I think it's fine even if some of the documents are in your maiden name, because on one of the forms, you write down other names you have used in the past, such as a maiden name.

So I'm guessing you don't have to wait to get the FBI certificate, but if you'd rather wait, that's fine too.

And I don't think your age difference would raise anyone's eyebrows! I think CIC scrutinizes age differences in cases where the sponsor is female and her spouse is a much younger guy from a very conservative culture, such as a Muslim culture where having children after marriage is very important. Or if the man is Canadian and his wife is young enough to be his daughter or something, and they don't have a common language. I don't think CIC would ever suspect you of trying to perpetuate immigration fraud

 

[Snowisland]

Thanks! You have cheered me up! And probably shortened my wait to live with husband by about 3 months.