US wife being Sponsored by Canadian Husband- living and finance questions

[Wongmuemue]

My husband and I got married in November and we have received all the paperwork to FINALLY send in our application, but we're going through the paperwork now and making sure we answer all the questions correctly and have a few questions.

I don't LIVE in Canada because I am here as a visitor for up to six months, but I am LIVING (i.e. staying and being supported financially) with my husband while I'm here. So when the sponsorship paperwork asks "Do you live with your sponsor", we're stumped on how to answer. If I answer no, I don't really have a living address in the US anymore, just my last address where mail still arrives.

Secondly, I was added to my husband's bank account after we got married. I do not have my own account as I cannot open one in Canada as a visitor- my assets are still in the States. We are concerned about how to answer the financial support question on the paperwork. Since I am attached to the account, how do we list the amount that I am "supported" with? We are concerned we jumped the gun by having me join his account. We want to be as careful as possible but we're just trying to fill out the paperwork as correctly as possible.

We're concerned we're overthinking or misinterpreting. We are trying to achieve clarity and completeness.

If you have any experience to share it's appreciated!

 

[Celandrius]

I am in the same situation. Here's the thing, you never use the statement "living together" on your application.
Use Co-Habitation. It is what they prefer to see. You are technically visiting Canada and your spouse.
In the case of application I just filled it out like I was visiting my husband, but I put his address as my mailing address so I could receive the documents.
The reason you use co-habitation is that it's more like, staying and visiting, and sorta still living together... At least that's what I've gotten out of it. I've been co-habituating with my husband for about a year now with just a short month long states in May. When we actually started the immigration process I asked that very same question on here, and learned not to seem like you're "living" here even though you actually are.
I hope this helps a bit!

 

[canuck_in_uk]

I don't LIVE in Canada because I am here as a visitor for up to six months, but I am LIVING (i.e. staying and being supported financially) with my husband while I'm here. So when the sponsorship paperwork asks "Do you live with your sponsor", we're stumped on how to answer. If I answer no, I don't really have a living address in the US anymore, just my last address where mail still arrives.

Secondly, I was added to my husband's bank account after we got married. I do not have my own account as I cannot open one in Canada as a visitor- my assets are still in the States. We are concerned about how to answer the financial support question on the paperwork. Since I am attached to the account, how do we list the amount that I am "supported" with? We are concerned we jumped the gun by having me join his account. We want to be as careful as possible but we're just trying to fill out the paperwork as correctly as possible.

You are overthinking things a bit.

The answer is "Yes", you are living in Canada with your sponsor. Use your Canadian address on the app; there is no need to list an American address. CIC will not have an issue with this.

Just pick an amount. CIC is not going to comb through your bank statements and financial information to confirm it.

 

[BeShoo]

You are living in Canada with your husband, although only as a temporary resident. Although you haven't moved to Canada, you are still a temporary resident of Canada.

As for support, when you are living together and sharing a joint bank account, it's not really a matter of him sending you a certain amount of money periodically, so it's not too important to detail exactly what amount of money he is spending on you. If you were living apart and he was sending you financial assistance, this would be more significant.

 

[Wongmuemue]

All these replies were helpful. We are over thinkers and we want to make sure we're clear.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Rob_TO]

When we actually started the immigration process I asked that very same question on here, and learned not to seem like you're "living" here even though you actually are.

Its only when crossing the border and talking to CBSA, that you need to be careful about not using words like "living" or "moving" to Canada.

Once you're in Canada, that is no longer important when dealing with CIC. They don't care if you are cohabiting, residing, living, etc with your spouse here and don't care if you state that in your PR app.

 

[RWoods]

Secondly, I was added to my husband's bank account after we got married. I do not have my own account as I cannot open one in Canada as a visitor- my assets are still in the States. We are concerned about how to answer the financial support question on the paperwork. Since I am attached to the account, how do we list the amount that I am "supported" with? We are concerned we jumped the gun by having me join his account. We want to be as careful as possible but we're just trying to fill out the paperwork as correctly as possible.

Not that you need to but I don't know why you wouldn't be able to open an account as a visitor. I opened an account at RBC YEARS before I even considered immigrating when I first started seeing my now husband. I was able to do so with my American passport and driver's license.

 

[blueangel371115]

I had one with CIBC for over a year now (landed this month). I have a personal one and a joint one with my husband. My personal one is a USD to CAD account. All I needed was 2 forms of ID, no SIN or PR status.

 

[Snowisland]

I opened a checking account with RBC with my then fiance, now husband, over a year ago while I was visiting him. We went to the bank, showed id and deposited the money.

 

[Wongmuemue]

Rob_TO: very interesting. We'll keep that in mind as we finish up with paperwork.

Also, very interesting about the banks- we'll ask some more questions. But it doesn't seem like it's as relevant to the application as we thought it might be

We are almost prepared to send our application!! Just dotting i's and crossing t's, and making sure those questions we had were clear before putting it into the box to mail!

A question on that- for photos, do you send them on photo paper? or printed on a sheet of paper (say, putting them into a Word doc or PDF)?

And I'm typing up my Souse Questionnaire- I am using additional paper to write out our dating timeline, but as far as any of you wonderful, experienced folks on this forum know- do they need to hear the whole thing? We dated for nearly a year before getting engaged. That's a lot of visits and details.. I'm guessing keeping it simple is likely the best way- perhaps the pictures are worth 1,000 words in this case?

All the responses are SO appreciated! Hope everyone is having a great day

 

[rhcohen2014]

A question on that- for photos, do you send them on photo paper? or printed on a sheet of paper (say, putting them into a Word doc or PDF)?

whatever works best for you. i put everything on pp slides and printed them out.

And I'm typing up my Souse Questionnaire- I am using additional paper to write out our dating timeline, but as far as any of you wonderful, experienced folks on this forum know- do they need to hear the whole thing? We dated for nearly a year before getting engaged. That's a lot of visits and details.. I'm guessing keeping it simple is likely the best way- perhaps the pictures are worth 1,000 words in this case?

well the objective of the application is to prove your relationship is true and ongoing so there leaves no question about the validity of your relationship and you avoid an interview. how you do that is up to you. 1 year of dating really isn't that long of a history to write out. i would think they would expect you to take the time to discuss all the times you and your sponsor spent time together (especially when it specifically asks about it in the application) without leaving gaps.

IT is not necessary to send pages and pages of information, pictures and "relationship proof". we dated for 3 years before we were married and our timeline included every trip to see eachother, because that showed how our relationship developed. considering we saw each other about once a month, it took a while to compile. i wrote a little blurb/couple sentances about each trip and if a picture was available, i added it underneath. Our package totaled 95 pages with all answers, pictures, supporting/required documents. It's possible to shorten the story without leaving information out. it's usually best practice to not leave any gaps in timelines so that cic doesn't come asking about it later.

 

[blueangel371115]

Rob_TO: very interesting. We'll keep that in mind as we finish up with paperwork.

Also, very interesting about the banks- we'll ask some more questions. But it doesn't seem like it's as relevant to the application as we thought it might be

We are almost prepared to send our application!! Just dotting i's and crossing t's, and making sure those questions we had were clear before putting it into the box to mail!

A question on that- for photos, do you send them on photo paper? or printed on a sheet of paper (say, putting them into a Word doc or PDF)?

And I'm typing up my Souse Questionnaire- I am using additional paper to write out our dating timeline, but as far as any of you wonderful, experienced folks on this forum know- do they need to hear the whole thing? We dated for nearly a year before getting engaged. That's a lot of visits and details.. I'm guessing keeping it simple is likely the best way- perhaps the pictures are worth 1,000 words in this case?

All the responses are SO appreciated! Hope everyone is having a great day

We just kept it simple. I couldn't remember the dates of every single visit so I wrote 'I visited for 2-3 days with x may days interval between, on average, starting on this date and I included messages from the sites we used to communicate and several pictures plus flight and hotel itinerary for trips we took.

 

[Wongmuemue]

Thanks rhcohen2014 and blueangel371115

We had monthly visits too, with Skype, gchat and viber filling up the time between. I am a huge picture taker, so we aren't lean on that evidence. We will try to avoid leaving any gaps in the narrative.

Speaking of phone app communication, I found a way to get viber chat history off devices. It's just an easy google search. Looks like I can't post the link here.

in case that helps anyone. We sent a lot of voice messages, which we obviously can't send, but it makes a nice spreadsheet of everything!

 

[vinotintazo]

I do not have my own account as I cannot open one in Canada as a visitor

just an FYI, my wife tried to open accounts as a visitor in 3 locations:

- CIBC, you can, but they require some form from CIC, I did not have at the time, plus 2 pieces of ID
- ATB, no accounts for visitor, need proof of PR or Citizenship
- RBC, just required two pieces of IDs...

In conclution, go to RBC, we opened a no-fee Savings account with no issues.

 

[blueangel371115]

just an FYI, my wife tried to open accounts as a visitor in 3 locations:

- CIBC, you can, but they require some form from CIC, I did not have at the time, plus 2 pieces of ID
- ATB, no accounts for visitor, need proof of PR or Citizenship
- RBC, just required two pieces of IDs...

In conclution, go to RBC, we opened a no-fee Savings account with no issues.

That's odd. I went to CIBC and all I needed was ID, I was still a visitor. It was right around the time we got married. But then again, my husband has had an account with them since he was in his teens. So I think that helped. I'd just shop around.