Thread for outland Buffalo applicants!

[awor]

Yeah, from the way you described your case, you might very well run in to complications with Buffalo. You know what the good thing about you predicting it'll take up to 11 months or more is, though? When you set the bar that low, you can only be pleasantly surprised when the PPR comes sooner!

Just curious, did you get each of the 4 children to take medical exams as well?

Yes, we all did them...$2200 for the 5 of us *sigh*

I also did a custody modification just for CIC (that's part the reason we didn't get the app off until the end of Aug even though meds were done in April). With my first divorce, I got full legal and physical custody but he got visitation - in 13 years, he never once contacted us, but the advice I got here was that visitation would cause problems, so in the modification, I not only reinforced my sole custody, but took away his visitation and gave myself the authority to get PR for the kids without needing his permission. He never responded, it defaulted to me, and the judge happily signed off on it. Interesting to note, with the original custody arrangement, I was able to get them passports and visit my hubby in Canada without contacting their bio-donor at all... I didn't want to take any chances though. With my second divorce, I got sole legal and physical custody, he got no visitation.

 

[Quince777]

The visa clearly states that hey cannot work or go to school while he's here. BUT, with that Visa, we were able to get him Alberta Health Care for the length of his visit. If you happen to be in Alberta, I'd be happy to help you through it, I have no clue about the other provinces though.

In Ontario am I eligible to apply for Health Coverage while I hold visitor permit or not? Does anyone know?

 

[Kedeisha]

In Ontario am I eligible to apply for Health Coverage while I hold visitor permit or not? Does anyone know?

Not thru OHIP normally visitors have their own insurance as they are not covered

 

[tulamoon]

In Ontario am I eligible to apply for Health Coverage while I hold visitor permit or not? Does anyone know?

My husband is here on a student visa and I don't know if they view visitor visa's the same, or if BC and Ontario have similar policies, but once we were married we were able to get him health insurance both provincial and extended through my work. It just all expires when his visa does. Before we were married he had to have private insurance. I would call and ask....

 

[mumbles]

Yes he can absolutely come and visit while you wait out your pr application. When he crosses the border or flies in, he should have a copy of your receipt, and any other documentation showing that you have applied for his PR. My hubby took our sponsorship approval letter and a printout of what e-cas shows with our file in process etc. He explained that he is coming up to visit while we wait for his PR, the border officer gave him a Visit Visa and stapled it into his passport, it is good for 6 months, after which we can apply to have it extended.

He showed that he has a lot of his belongings in storage in the states and he drove on through. I kept my cell phone on in case they wanted to call me to verify (some people suggest going through together), but they never did need to talk to me. The visa clearly states that hey cannot work or go to school while he's here. BUT, with that Visa, we were able to get him Alberta Health Care for the length of his visit. If you happen to be in Alberta, I'd be happy to help you through it, I have no clue about the other provinces though.

Hope that helps

Thankx Jayde ..but i am a little confused...we are applying outland...why are they ok with him coming to stay for 6 months ? I guess I figured that because we were applying outside of canada that they would expect him to BE outside Canada....not waiting IN canada to get his PR... they were really ok with your husband saying that he was going to visit you until your PR was approved??

 

[ddobro2]

Applying outland does not have anything to do with the applicant living out of Canada during the process. I have been in Canada since I applied. That doesn't make me an inland applicant. Also, Americans can generally stay in Canada for six months without any problems, but everything depends on the POE and the border agent. But for someone who's already got a PR application in process, it's best to show up at the border with lots of information proving your ties to the U.S., etc. But they do understand it when people would like to "wait out" the process with their spouses.

 

[mumbles]

Hey...can someone add me to the time line....Application sent Sent Sept 10th..received Sept. 14th......still no acknowledgemnt of status though...applying out land Buffalo....

Thankx...this thread has already been so helpful

 

[mjh49783aa]

I can't say for those that are going through the in-Canada process, but to the best of my knowledge, you cannot get OHIP on a visitor record while you're an outland PR applicant. You'll have to land first, and then OHIP has you wait 90 days before you can get a health card. I don't know about the requirements for the health schemes that the other provinces offer, but since I'm intending to live in Ontario, I've never looked up that sort of information.

I imagine those in Canada on visitor records will probably have their own health insurance policy to cover them. I myself don't, but since both my wife and I live in a border town, and I have Medicare from the US, I just go back to the US for my medical appointments and stuff.

For what I've also heard, once you land, you only have like a couple of days to seek insurance from a private provider while you wait to qualify for OHIP coverage before they're barred from selling you a policy - though you can get a supplemental policy to cover stuff that OHIP doesn't cover if you already have OHIP. But that's something I really don't know for sure. Perhaps someone that knows better can set the record straight here so freshly landed people in Ontario are armed with the best information possible.

In Ontario am I eligible to apply for Health Coverage while I hold visitor permit or not? Does anyone know?

 

[shelleydalyce]

In Ontario am I eligible to apply for Health Coverage while I hold visitor permit or not? Does anyone know?

On Service Ontario's website it says if you are "approved in principle" (i.e. sponsorship is approved) but when I tried to get mine back dated getting my health card after I got PR they were real sticklers for having a letter in their hands from CIC that said "approved in principle" which in all likelihood you won't get, so no go on that for me. You can always try it though, worst they can do is say no.

 

[ddobro2]

approval in principle is the technical term for the step 2 phase for inland - the stage of processing that roughly corresponds to PPR for us....that's something to check with Ontario.

On Service Ontario's website it says if you are "approved in principle" (i.e. sponsorship is approved) but when I tried to get mine back dated getting my health card after I got PR they were real sticklers for having a letter in their hands from CIC that said "approved in principle" which in all likelihood you won't get, so no go on that for me. You can always try it though, worst they can do is say no.

 

[shelleydalyce]

approval in principle is the technical term for the step 2 phase for inland - the stage of processing that roughly corresponds to PPR for us....that's something to check with Ontario.

Exactly, but as I said all they would accept to back date my coverage was a CIC letter with those exact words. I can show them letters emails things from CIC explaining what AIP means and of course E-cas printouts from every step of the process, (we liked to collect those for border crossings just in case) but they were on a real power trip about having to have that wording. Made no sense to me, seems that they would be dealing with a lot of us dirty immigrants, especially in Ontario.....ANYway......

Long story short my coverage doesn't kick in till 3 months from my landing date unless I can deal with CIC again and beat a letter that suits Service Ontario out of them. I can't speak for how it works for an inland application, that's just the extent of my experience with them.






@OP

http://health.gov.on.ca/en/public/programs/ohip/ohipfaq_dt.aspx#Q4b

What immigration documents must I present to confirm my immigration status as an Applicant for Permanent Residence (previously called an Applicant for Landing) when applying for Ontario health insurance coverage?
Please note: As of April 1, 2009, changes to Regulation 552 of the Health Insurance Act became effective. As a result of these changes, Applicants for Permanent Residence are no longer required to provide confirmation from CIC that they have passed their immigration medical in order to be eligible for OHIP.

If you are applying for Ontario health insurance coverage as an Applicant for Permanent Residence, you are required to present written confirmation from Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) that you are eligible to apply for permanent residence in Canada, which may be one of the following :

CIC Confirmation Letter – letter on CIC letterhead addressed to the Applicant for Permanent Residence that confirms that the applicant is eligible to apply for permanent residency in Canada;
CIC Immigration document such as a Work Permit, Visitor Record, Temporary Resident Permit or Study Permit with note in the “Remarks Section” that indicates that you have applied for permanent residence; or
A Work Permit case type 27, which are issued solely to individuals who have applied for permanent residence within Canada.

 

[shelleydalyce]

I argued the point of my last post to great length with the woman at Service Ontario, but I didn't have a print out in hand. Come to think of it we may just go back down there armed with that and fight them tooth and nail. Most of us on this forum are pretty experienced at THAT by now ;D

 

[ddobro2]

I clicked on the link and read the "am I eligible for Ontario Health Insurance" subsection, and I'm willing to bet when they say "in Canada," they mean in terms of application type, not geography. You don't have a 6 month work permit to use for that, by any chance?

Exactly, but as I said all they would accept to back date my coverage was a CIC letter with those exact words. I can show them letters emails things from CIC explaining what AIP means and of course E-cas printouts from every step of the process, (we liked to collect those for border crossings just in case) but they were on a real power trip about having to have that wording. Made no sense to me, seems that they would be dealing with a lot of us dirty immigrants, especially in Ontario.....ANYway......

Long story short my coverage doesn't kick in till 3 months from my landing date unless I can deal with CIC again and beat a letter that suits Service Ontario out of them. I can't speak for how it works for an inland application, that's just the extent of my experience with them.






@ OP

http://health.gov.on.ca/en/public/programs/ohip/ohipfaq_dt.aspx#Q4b

What immigration documents must I present to confirm my immigration status as an Applicant for Permanent Residence (previously called an Applicant for Landing) when applying for Ontario health insurance coverage?
Please note: As of April 1, 2009, changes to Regulation 552 of the Health Insurance Act became effective. As a result of these changes, Applicants for Permanent Residence are no longer required to provide confirmation from CIC that they have passed their immigration medical in order to be eligible for OHIP.

If you are applying for Ontario health insurance coverage as an Applicant for Permanent Residence, you are required to present written confirmation from Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) that you are eligible to apply for permanent residence in Canada, which may be one of the following :

CIC Confirmation Letter – letter on CIC letterhead addressed to the Applicant for Permanent Residence that confirms that the applicant is eligible to apply for permanent residency in Canada;
CIC Immigration document such as a Work Permit, Visitor Record, Temporary Resident Permit or Study Permit with note in the “Remarks Section” that indicates that you have applied for permanent residence; or
A Work Permit case type 27, which are issued solely to individuals who have applied for permanent residence within Canada.

 

[Quince777]

On Service Ontario's website it says if you are "approved in principle" (i.e. sponsorship is approved) but when I tried to get mine back dated getting my health card after I got PR they were real sticklers for having a letter in their hands from CIC that said "approved in principle" which in all likelihood you won't get, so no go on that for me. You can always try it though, worst they can do is say no.

Thanks a lot everyone for your input!
So who gets a letter "approved in principle"? My app is outland and first sponsorship approval takes now more than 2 months. Can I apply for ohip if the sponsor gets approved or not? I find this wording on OHIP website very confusing ???

 

[Kedeisha]

Thanks a lot everyone for your input!
So who gets a letter "approved in principle"? My app is outland and first sponsorship approval takes now more than 2 months. Can I apply for ohip if the sponsor gets approved or not? I find this wording on OHIP website very confusing ???

No u qualify once u land

Inland apps after stage 1 gets approved for permanent residency whereas outland after "stage 1" is qualifying the already Canadian eligibility to sponsor u the sposnored might not meet the requirements IE MOC so it wouldnt apply to u

you have submitted an application for permanent residence in Canada, and Citizenship and Immigration Canada has confirmed that you meet the eligibility requirements to apply for permanent residence in Canada (please note: applicants for permanent residence are no longer required to provide confirmation of having satisfied the Immigration medical as a condition for OHIP coverage);