tavora said:
I have a question for those of you who have your American spouse (or you are the American spouse) who is staying in Canada as a visitor while your PR application is in process:
What method of travel did you or your spouse use to enter Canada for the extended visit? I ask because I think I'm going to have my husband come up to visit me in February until we're finished the process.
We filed in July, so I think it would be optimistic to assume we'd be done by February.
Our options are:
1) He flies here and books a refundable ticket with a return six months later
2) He drives up here alone on his own
3) I fly down to him and we both drive back to Canada together. (I have a Nexus card so I have a fairly easy time at the airport).
Which option do you think is preferable? Also, if we drive, he would like to bring his desktop computer with him, but would this look too much like he is trying to 'move' here? With a laptop, few would bat an eye, but maybe a desktop computer would look bad?
Any advice appreciated!
My husband and I began the process with him as a visitor (for 3 months, before he was issued a student visa). What I found was:
-Driving across the border, he has ALWAYS had an easier time (3 times was asked tons of questions while travelling via airport, via car almost never questioned)
-Travelling together is much easier (4 times we travelled together, out of a total 20-30 crossings, these 4 times were the easiest)
So I would reccomend option (3) from personal experience.
Personally, I would not bring the ENTIRE desktop - a hard drive would probably be fine ("its an internal drive, just for storing things"), but I would expect customs to see an entire desktop as suspicious.
Then again, the first time my husband came to visit he brought an entire CAR full of stuff, including a huge TV. So really, it depends on the border agent and how much you can convince them of your intentions NOT to stay in Canada if the sponsorship application falls through (they always assume the worst).
