The troubles of a 20-year old spousal applicant

[Nielse]

Oh excellent, does this mean I'll be able to apply for a work permit, and get it within the next 2 months while I'm waiting for it with my fiance in Canada? And apply for outland-processed PR while I'm at work in Toronto?

I've received your message by the way, thank you!

EDIT: Apparently I'll have to stay here and wait for my Letter of Introduction. My currently my plane would take off on the 22nd of December, would I have it by then?

Other question I had; when asked for any other name (nickname, alias etc), should I give them the artist name under which I create music? If so, should I keep the other 'family name' box blank, or should I still give my family name in that specific box?

Not related to the youth visa subject but to the PR part through Sponsorship... First of all, when applying for PR as a spouse, your wife will be assessed by CIC Mississauga to see if she can maintain you financially and she'll be responsible for you for the next 5 years.
First you'll have to apply for a marriage license for which you'll need 2 forms of ID.
Second, it takes a bit before you get the license and it will cost you around 75 CAD
Third, after the wedding you'll receive a record of solemnization which you can't use in your application so you'll have to wait another 10 weeks untill you can request your marriage certificate that you'll have to send in with the application. It'll take another 2 weeks to receive the certificate in the mail.

Apply outland through Paris. If you do inland and your application gets denied, you can't reapply!
When you would apply outland and you notify them your address is Canadian (so you're living there), you are gonna have to wait longer cause you're already "reunited" with your wife so there's no need to process your application asap.

And don't forget... The new rules for Spousal PR... If you haven't lived together for 2y straight before you apply and your application is approved, you'll get CPR for 2y instead of PR.
And much more, but like i said, just email me if you want more info

 

[tuyen]

First of all, when applying for PR as a spouse, your wife will be assessed by CIC Mississauga to see if she can maintain you financially

Sponsoring spouses are not subject to income requirements. The only thing that would prevent her from sponsoring him from a financial standpoint was if she was in undischarged bankruptcy, or if she was on welfare.

If she has no income at all, they might ask her how she plans to support the two of them, but they can't deny the application based on that one thing alone.

and she'll be responsible for you for the next 5 years.

It's actually 3 years for adults, and 10 years for children.

 

[computergeek]

I'd like to comment a bit on this feedback:

Not related to the youth visa subject but to the PR part through Sponsorship... First of all, when applying for PR as a spouse, your wife will be assessed by CIC Mississauga to see if she can maintain you financially and she'll be responsible for you for the next 5 years.

Spousal undertaking is three years. There is no specific income requirement, CIC must just be convinced that you won't need to rely upon social assistance (and your own skills can be considered as part of this).

First you'll have to apply for a marriage license for which you'll need 2 forms of ID.

I only recall being asked for one here in BC, but it has been a while. It certainly wasn't onerous - we did it after breakfast without any significant preparation.

Second, it takes a bit before you get the license and it will cost you around 75 CAD

It took us 15 minutes. Ready for use. They did warn us it had to be used within 90 days.

Third, after the wedding you'll receive a record of solemnization which you can't use in your application so you'll have to wait another 10 weeks untill you can request your marriage certificate that you'll have to send in with the application. It'll take another 2 weeks to receive the certificate in the mail.

Wow. We signed the marriage licence, then the witnesses and the marriage commissioner signed it. I've read of at least one couple who were able to use a copy of their executed marriage licence. We didn't do that - we waited the three weeks for the marriage certificate to arrive in the mail. But of course this will depend upon where exactly you get married.

Apply outland through Paris. If you do inland and your application gets denied, you can't reapply!

This is patently untrue. You can reapply. An inland application does not have the right of an IAD appeal, but you have the right to request review of a legally or procedurally flawed decision. An outland application that is refused may be appealed to the IAD. In either case, if you are refused, you may apply a second time, though it is usually advisable to resolve whatever issues led to the refusal in the first place.

When you would apply outland and you notify them your address is Canadian (so you're living there), you are gonna have to wait longer cause you're already "reunited" with your wife so there's no need to process your application asap.

This is definitely not the case. The processing time of an Outland application is not related to your location. We applied outland, we lived together in Canada, the application was done and I landed 7 months + week later.

And don't forget, your application fees will be around 1200 CAD and your medical, in Antwerp around 100 euro

$550 is the application fee ($75 sponsor + $475 applicant)
$490 is the Right of Permanent Residence Fee - it may be paid with the application, but it must be paid before they will grant you PR.

And don't forget... The new rules for Spousal PR... If you haven't lived together for 2y straight before you apply and your application is approved, you'll get CPR for 2y instead of PR.

This is correct.

 

[Nielse]

I'd like to comment a bit on this feedback:

Spousal undertaking is three years. There is no specific income requirement, CIC must just be convinced that you won't need to rely upon social assistance (and your own skills can be considered as part of this)

there might not be a specific income requirement though CIC needs proof that your spouse has a consistent income. Hence the fact why my wife's boss had to write a letter stating how long she has been working there and what her general monthly income is.
This letter needed to be attached to the application.

Sponsor must be able to demonstrate a financial ability to provide for essential needs for his or her spouse.

They did warn us it had to be used within 90 days

.

this is true

Wow. We signed the marriage licence, then the witnesses and the marriage commissioner signed it. I've read of at least one couple who were able to use a copy of their executed marriage licence. We didn't do that - we waited the three weeks for the marriage certificate to arrive in the mail. But of course this will depend upon where exactly you get married.

trust me, I got married last summer in Niagara on the lake... You sign a record of solemnization after the ceremony. The officiant does all the paperwork and sends it in. She will also tell you, you can apply for your marriage certificate after 10 weeks. They tell you the same thing when you request your license at city hall.
We've tried requesting the certificate earlier than the 10 weeks but the online system won't let you since your paperwork isnt processed yet. (not always the case and sometimes you might be lucky)
You can keep trying till it works and maybe you can get it in 8 or 9 weeks but you'll still have to wait up to 2 weeks before you receive it in the mail unless you pay to have it processesed for urgent matters...
The record of solemnization clearly states is not an official document. Who knows, they might except it or not.
But personally I think you shouldn't be rushing this process... Whats the point??? You are going to marry her cause you love her and want to be with her but what is waiting another couple weeks? If the send your application back to you cause you didn't put in the right documents you'll be apart even longer.

This is patently untrue. You can reapply. An inland application does not have the right of an IAD appeal, but you have the right to request review of a legally or procedurally flawed decision. An outland application that is refused may be appealed to the IAD. In either case, if you are refused, you may apply a second time, though it is usually advisable to resolve whatever issues led to the refusal in the first place.

True, you can always appeal but again sets you way back.

This is definitely not the case. The processing time of an Outland application is not related to your location. We applied outland, we lived together in Canada, the application was done and I landed 7 months + week later.

So when you handed in your application, your address was the same as that of your spouse? Or did you change it during the application and notified the VO of the change of address?
In my case, we applied outland through VO Paris. My wife her address in Canada and mine states my Belgian one. I'm moving dec 9th but not changing my address yet.
The immigration consultant told us that in a lot of cases if you would notify the VO of your address change (so you're now living on the same addres) they are gonna consider you as reunited and it isnt urgent anymore and they would ratherstart processing a file that's more urgent.
Hence the fact why my address will stay here in Belgium and i'll fly back to cancell it once i have my passport and stamp.

Or from your experience would you suggest otherwise? I'm always open for new ideas.

$550 is the application fee ($75 sponsor + $475 applicant)
$490 is the Right of Permanent Residence Fee - it may be paid with the application, but it must be paid before they will grant you PR.

I just made a rough estimate with the 1200 CAD
It's 1040 CAD and take into consideration x amount to mail it, copy it, have pictures printed...

 

[computergeek]

there might not be a specific income requirement though CIC needs proof that your spouse has a consistent income. Hence the fact why my wife's boss had to write a letter stating how long she has been working there and what her general monthly income is.
This letter needed to be attached to the application.

Sponsor must be able to demonstrate a financial ability to provide for essential needs for his or her spouse.

I've seen several successful cases of sponsors with zero income sponsoring their partner. For example, this seems to happen in single income married couple cases. CIC will consider the abilities of both parties, though there is nothing formal about this - it's all highly subjective.

trust me, I got married last summer in Niagara on the lake... You sign a record of solemnization after the ceremony. The officiant does all the paperwork and sends it in. She will also tell you, you can apply for your marriage certificate after 10 weeks. They tell you the same thing when you request your license at city hall.
We've tried requesting the certificate earlier than the 10 weeks but the online system won't let you since your paperwork isnt processed yet. (not always the case and sometimes you might be lucky)
You can keep trying till it works and maybe you can get it in 8 or 9 weeks but you'll still have to wait up to 2 weeks before you receive it in the mail unless you pay to have it processesed for urgent matters...
The record of solemnization clearly states is not an official document. Who knows, they might except it or not.
But personally I think you shouldn't be rushing this process... Whats the point??? You are going to marry her cause you love her and want to be with her but what is waiting another couple weeks? If the send your application back to you cause you didn't put in the right documents you'll be apart even longer.

I specifically described BC. It sounds like it is quite a bit different than ON. In BC there was no separate step of waiting 10 weeks. We signed the marriage licence and 3 weeks later received the marriage certificate in the mail. The first thing I did with it was scan it, in fact. When I ordered a certified copy of the marriage certificate - that's what I submitted with the application even though it wasn't required - it included a reduced size copy of the original marriage licence. That took me two days to get (ordered on Sunday, arrived Tuesday).

True, you can always appeal but again sets you way back.

Independent of appeal, you can actually submit a new application. I actually think that for many couples that a new application is often faster than an appeal, especially in Toronto, since the IAD calendar is 2-3 years out for appeals.

So when you handed in your application, your address was the same as that of your spouse? Or did you change it during the application and notified the VO of the change of address?

The same, both residential and mailing addresses. We'd been married almost a year at the time we filed and I'd been living in Canada for several years at that point and we only decided to file the spousal application because they rejected my FSW application.

In my case, we applied outland through VO Paris. My wife her address in Canada and mine states my Belgian one. I'm moving dec 9th but not changing my address yet.
The immigration consultant told us that in a lot of cases if you would notify the VO of your address change (so you're now living on the same address) they are gonna consider you as reunited and it isnt urgent anymore and they would rather start processing a file that's more urgent.
Hence the fact why my address will stay here in Belgium and i'll fly back to cancel it once i have my passport and stamp.

Rather odd, since it doesn't seem consistent with anything else that I've read. If anything, it seems they challenge relationships where the couple are not living together more than when they are living together. But then again, I've heard consultants reported as saying some pretty crazy things on here. But different VOs have different processes as well.

 

[amikety]

It's different by province. Alberta takes three weeks to register the marriage. You can't apply for the license beforehand. Cost was $70 plus $200 for a marriage commissioner. We no longer have Justics of the Peace weddings here.

We did get a handwritten marriage statement at the ceremony, but it's decorative. Still nice to frame

 

[Creampop]

While not clear from the text you quoted, this is specific to spouses and dependents. It does not mean your parents, siblings, grandparents, cousins, or any other family member. I've also seen examples of the cases where it isn't true (e.g., if the visa office declines to examine them.)

So think of it this way: if you declare your parents and siblings and the VO doesn't ask for them to be examined, they aren't excluded anyway as a matter of the regulations.

So just out of curiosity, what about children that are not dependent?

 

[Sweden]

So when you handed in your application, your address was the same as that of your spouse? Or did you change it during the application and notified the VO of the change of address?
In my case, we applied outland through VO Paris. My wife her address in Canada and mine states my Belgian one. I'm moving dec 9th but not changing my address yet.
The immigration consultant told us that in a lot of cases if you would notify the VO of your address change (so you're now living on the same addres) they are gonna consider you as reunited and it isnt urgent anymore and they would ratherstart processing a file that's more urgent.
Hence the fact why my address will stay here in Belgium and i'll fly back to cancell it once i have my passport and stamp.

Or from your experience would you suggest otherwise? I'm always open for new ideas.

Hey Nielse,

Just to add from my own experience... So - I'm common-law with a canadian. We lived together outside of Canada, and we decided to move back to Canada before I got my PR, because it made a lot of things much easier (mainly closing things in our country of residence, and moving to Canada at the date we had decided, not depending on the PR, having time with friends and family etc).

So we applied with an address outland, got approved for sponsorship and then moved to Canada. I update my VO (london) with the information, explaining that I would go to Canada to wait out ( I did it before I moved, just in case the COPR arrived - I wanted the VO to send it to Canada and not risk sending it to my old address if it took them a while to process my address change), and that both me and my partner had moved to Canada.

I arrived here 15th of October, and got "decision made" on the 8th of November - so approximately 4 months for processing from the VO, London is quoted at 7 normally.

A lot of people who are visa exempt do that, and it didn't seem to affect the processing times. So in my opinion definitely an option, as it makes the moving process much easier, and avoid having to fly back to cancel previous residency etc...

Good luck,
Sweden

 

[computergeek]

So just out of curiosity, what about children that are not dependent?

You're right. I should have said that all children (including non-dependents) are also listed on IMM 5406. Note that IMM 0008 only requests "dependents" (I just went and looked).

 

[Creampop]

LOL I dunno what I am "right" about... I was asking if children that are no longer dependent need to have the medical exam, from my understanding only dependents needed to be examined.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/apply-after.asp

Medical exams
You must have a medical exam before coming to Canada. Your dependants must also have one, even if they are not coming to Canada with you.

So am I correct in assuming that as long as the child is not dependent, not listed on the IMM 0008 but is listed on the IMM 5406 then they would not have to be examined? unless the VO requested it?

 

[OhCanadiana]

LOL I dunno what I am "right" about... I was asking if children that are no longer dependent need to have the medical exam, from my understanding only dependents needed to be examined.

Your understanding is correct. Only dependents need to have the medical exam.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/apply-after.asp
So am I correct in assuming that as long as the child is not dependent, not listed on the IMM 0008 but is listed on the IMM 5406 then they would not have to be examined? unless the VO requested it?

Correct

 

[Creampop]

TY for clearing that up! I was starting to second guess myself, have an older son 24 done school, married, child etc... not that he has any interest in coming to Canada other then to visit...

 

[computergeek]

TY for clearing that up! I was starting to second guess myself, have an older son 24 done school, married, child etc... not that he has any interest in coming to Canada other then to visit...

Oh, it's very easy to second guess one's self with respect to immigration, especially as the months flow by...

If he were to want to come to Canada, he would need to qualify on his own (e.g., skilled worker) though he would gain points for having family in Canada.

 

[canadianwoman]

www .cic.gc .ca/english /information/applications/guides/3999Etoc.asp (minus the spaces)

"Medical requirements

You and your family members, whether accompanying you or not, must undergo and pass a medical examination in order to come to Canada."

On the immigration forms, 'family members' has a special restricted meaning; it does not include cousins, grandparents, parents, siblings, etc, - people we usually think of as 'family members'. On most of the forms it means your spouse or common-law/conjugal partner, and your dependent children.
So your sisters, parents, cousings, grandparents, etc. do not get medicals, and they do not need photos. They are not part of your application.
However, there is one form - the Additional Family Information form - where you do have to list your parents, and all siblings.

 

[computergeek]

However, there is one form - the Additional Family Information form - where you do have to list your parents, and all siblings.

As well as all your children, even those who are not dependents.