TRV and Study Permit Extensions: Some Basic Qs

[TripleP]

Hey guys. This board is really a fantastic place for people like me to get help with confusing immigration issues. Not enough thanks can be said to those that take the time to assist others on here. Thanks in advance to anybody willing to take the time to read and respond to my queries!

Background information first:
My girlfriend is an international student here in Toronto. For this past year, we have been living together in a common-law relationship. For part of this year, she was attending an English as a Second Language (ESL) program at a university. Before coming to Canada, she obtained a multiple entry TRV and a study permit. The TRV and study permit are both valid until Nov. 21, 2009. In September, she will be starting a one year Master’s program at a different university in the same city. She and I will be travelling to see her family throughout most of July (we return on July 27th). This may or may not be relevant, but she will be applying for permanent residency as my common-law partner (family sponsorship) in early August.

Questions:
1. Is there any reason why my girlfriend will have problems re-entering Canada with her current TRV and student visa? My worry is that she is changing from an ESL (non-degree) program to a Master’s program and from one university to another one. However, according to this CIC webpage: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/faq/study/study-faq13.asp it seems you can change universities/program without changing your study permit or its conditions. It says: "if you are enrolled in a post-secondary program (doing studies after the high school level), you may change your school, level, program and field of studies without applying for a new study permit. You don’t need to apply for a change to the condition of your study permit either. You may continue to use your study permit as long as it is valid." Any thoughts on this either way?

2. While we are visiting her family back in her home country, we could potentially extend her TRV and study permit. However, we will be there less than three weeks, so that’s cutting it kind of tight to get the paperwork done and have the office verify and approve things (for the study permit, in particular). Would there be any other advantages/disadvantages of extending either of both of these while we are in her home country that I am missing?

3. Let’s assume my girlfriend has no problems getting back into the Canada with her current TRV and study permit (tell me if that’s a really bad assumption!). From other threads on these boards, it seems to me that the TRV is only needed when *entering* Canada. In other words, if her study permit is still valid, it is OK if she has an expired TRV, as long as she doesn’t try to leave and re-enter Canada. Is that correct?

4. Is there any reason why our applying for common-law sponsorship (in early August) would interfere with the extending of her study permit and TRV?

Thanks again so much in advance for your assistance!

 

[daehder]

The TRV is the document that allows your girlfriend into Canada the expiry date is the date up to which she can enter Canada. The Study Permit allows her to study at any recognized Canadian institution. If the TRV expires she can remain in Canada as long as she has a valid Study Permit she will not be issued a TRV extension if her Study Permit is not valid. As long as you visit and return before the TRV expires you will be fine there should be no trouble at all. It would be virtually impossible to extend the TRV overseas within a three week period and you should not need to at all.

I would suggest your girlfriend apply for the study permit extension and extend her TRV before you apply for the sponsorship is there some kind of rush to apply for the permanent residency?

 

[TripleP]

daehder, thanks for your quick and helpful reply!

There is somewhat of a hurry for her to get her PR - the sooner she has PR, the sooner she can get switched over to domestic tuition rates at university, which will save us a *significant* amount of money. Don't get me wrong! The reason we are applying is because we want to share the rest of our lives together and to get things set up for her more permanently in Canada so that she can get a job etc. However, if we can save money on tuition costs at the same time, all the better.

Is there any particular reason why she can't extend her study permit and her TRV after she has filed for her permanent residency? Is there a reason why you suggested we do the opposite?

Thanks again for all of your help!

 

[kyu010170]

Hi Triple P,

I am an international student in Canada and, for the most part, I had been in your girlfriend's situation in the recent past.

I agree with Daehder, get her study permit extension done prior to filing her PR application. It is better to stay on the safer side. Besides, her study permit will not expire until Nov. 21st. If you use the online system for renewing study permit, it will only take a few days to receive your renewal. CIC website says they only process study permit extension in 1 day (ok, you and I know you have to cut them some slack ) You can do this when you get back from your trip and a lot earlier than Nov. 21st.

CIC also allows a temporary resident to have "dual intent" (i.e. have temporary status and apply to stay permanently). You can do more research on that from the CIC website, information is easily accessible. Having said that, still you never know how CIC will decide on her study permit extension so you want to renew the permit prior to filing her PR application.

Good luck to you both!

 

[TripleP]

Hi kyu,

Thank you so much for your response as well.

I've started wondering about another thing. Before coming to Canada last summer, my girlfriend applied for her TRV (student visa) in her home country. However, she did not actually get her study permit until she reached her Canadian port of entry (i.e. the Toronto airport). At that point, they just asked her some questions, asked to see her acceptance letter and proof of finances and then printed off a study permit for her on the spot. I am not sure if this is standard procedure or not.

Since we will be reentering Canada this summer after visiting her family, might the border official print out a new study permit for her since her old permit will be expiring shortly, she is changing programs, and has a new letter of acceptance? Or is this not how things are done?

Any help from anybody is much appreciated.

 

[kyu010170]

Hi TripleP,

Sorry but the responder is still me LOL. I just happen to have gone through the same procedure and wanted to share my experience.

Hi kyu,

Thank you so much for your response as well.

I've started wondering about another thing. Before coming to Canada last summer, my girlfriend applied for her TRV (student visa) in her home country. However, she did not actually get her study permit until she reached her Canadian port of entry (i.e. the Toronto airport). At that point, they just asked her some questions, asked to see her acceptance letter and proof of finances and then printed off a study permit for her on the spot. I am not sure if this is standard procedure or not. I'd like to think this is standard procedure. I've applied for two student TRVs in the past and in both instances they just issued me the permit at the port of entry.

Since we will be reentering Canada this summer after visiting her family, might the border official print out a new study permit for her since her old permit will be expiring shortly, she is changing programs, and has a new letter of acceptance? Or is this not how things are done? If her study permit is still valid when she changes programs and/or school, then there is no need to request for change in study permit. Whatever study permit she has, if valid, will also cover her in case she switches her school or program of study. Now, if study permit has expired and she is in Canada when it expires, then she has to apply to extend her permit through Vegreville processing Center in Alberta. She can do this online and Vegreville processes much, much faster if you did this online than paper application (mailed). All this information you can find on the cic website, just click on link "Study" and you will see all options.

Any help from anybody is much appreciated.

 

[TripleP]

Hi kyu,

Thanks again for helping me out - I really appreciate. And I definitely do not mind if the person replying to this message is you again! I respect and appreciate your advice on here as much as anybody else's (perhaps even more since you have been in a similar situation recently!)

Just one or two last questions/comments and then I think I will have everything straightened out!

1) Kyu: For the longest time I did not notice the processing time for on-line study permits (for some reason my eyes just kept skipping over that row in the table). But I finally saw it this morning. It seems that they have slowed down from the 1 day processing time that you mentioned before, but the processing time is still very quick (12 days) when compared to mail (60 days). Thanks again for that advice!

2) After receiving her study permit extension from Vegreville, my girlfriend will apply for a new TRV at a Canadian office in the US by mail. Do you have experience with this process? It looks like processing time will typically be less than 3 weeks, but you have to send in your passport with the application. Do you have experience with that procedure? The idea of sending your passport in the mail and being without it for a few weeks unnerves me a little bit, but I guess it's something that people do all the time.

Thanks again!

 

[kyu010170]

Hi TripleP,

1) Kyu: For the longest time I did not notice the processing time for on-line study permits (for some reason my eyes just kept skipping over that row in the table). But I finally saw it this morning. It seems that they have slowed down from the 1 day processing time that you mentioned before, but the processing time is still very quick (12 days) when compared to mail (60 days). Thanks again for that advice! You are very welcome. And yes, you are right, time for processing has gone up to 12 days. You can check again it tomorrow, Monday, when this information is normally updated.

2) After receiving her study permit extension from Vegreville, my girlfriend will apply for a new TRV at a Canadian office in the US by mail. Do you have experience with this process? It looks like processing time will typically be less than 3 weeks, but you have to send in your passport with the application. Do you have experience with that procedure? The idea of sending your passport in the mail and being without it for a few weeks unnerves me a little bit, but I guess it's something that people do all the time. Yes, this is the way they do it, they ask for the passport with application forms plus supporting documents. My experience with the CHC is that they keep their promised processing time so barring any major hitch, your gf will receive her passport back as expected. You want to send your package by courier and not by regular mail. Please check the CHC country-specific instruction because at times they provide you instructions on how to send package. All the best to both of you!

Thanks again!

 

[HankScorpio]

TripleP: Thank you so much for posting these questions - it's amazing how timely this was for myself and my girlfriend. We are also in Toronto and my girlfriend is planning on extending her student visa by attending a post-graduate program, as well as living common law and planning on applying for PR towards the end of the year. In addition, she is planning on heading back to her country at the end of the month to visit. The one difference between your and my situation re the visa/permit is that her existing TRV and Study Permit are scheduled to expire in late August and not November. So your exact questions are directly applying to us. I wish you the best of luck with everything and keep us posted on your status and application.

Daehder and Kyu: Many many thanks for the answers to our questions. You helped us focus on the answers that were all over the CIC website, but it was hard to make sense of it and know we were interpreting it correctly.

Additional questions: Any thoughts on which visa office in the US to send the TRV renewal to? We're in Ontario so the three natural choices are Buffalo, Detroit, and New York. Buffalo looks slowest and Detroit the fastest for processing, but are there any other considerations? Both will be similar in terms of transportation time from Toronto based on ground distance.

 

[kyu010170]

TripleP:


Additional questions: Any thoughts on which visa office in the US to send the TRV renewal to? We're in Ontario so the three natural choices are Buffalo, Detroit, and New York. Buffalo looks slowest and Detroit the fastest for processing, but are there any other considerations? Both will be similar in terms of transportation time from Toronto based on ground distance.

Hi Hank, I'm glad to know that you find my postings useful.

Are you sure both Buffalo and Detroit are equidistant from your place?

This is the exact quote from the Detroit website.

Persons lawfully admitted to the United States or Canada may submit Study Permit applications, either in person or by mail, at any of the six Canadian Visa Offices listed below:

* Buffalo
* Detroit
* Los Angeles
* New York
* Seattle
* Washington

It is advisable to choose the Visa Office nearest your current place of residence.

You may be required to attend an interview at the Visa Office where you submit your application.

Bottomline: I have not checked either Buffalo's nor Detroit's processing times for TRV renewals, but if you think Detroit is faster and distance is not a factor in deciding between Buffalo and Detroit, I will go with Detroit then. Buffalo is swamped with permanent residence applications. One thing I know, they do have separate departments which process permanent and temporary residence applications but I can imagine how loaded Buffalo is these days.

Also, you may want to check that Buffalo's and Detroit's required supporting documents are the same. I imagine they are, but you want to make sure yourself. Last thing you want to know is that one visa office requires more document/s than the other.

Other than those things, i.e. processing times and documentary requirements, everything else should be the same. Good luck to you and your girlfriend.