Visitor visa?

[Silver_Spirit]

Okay so my visas sent off, the cats are fully sorted, and our shipping stuff leaves next week.
However.

1. you guys have said i'll need a visitor visa as my apps not even in process yet but i've really got to be there for april 24th. Ive got that booked, and a return ticket now booked for about 5 months after, hopefully only as a backup! Is there anything else i need to sort out for a visitor visa? A letter saying i can rent the house im living in again perhaps? And what do i say to immigration when i land? That i plan to return on the date my tickets booked for, only if i dont have my visa? Do i even mention my visa?

2. Also, what do you guys know about shipping UK - Canada, with regards to taxing the items and any inventory ill need to make? They'll be being shipped under my husbands name (the sponsor) so do i need to include these items on my good to follow list if/when my visa is fully processed? they will already be in the country...

If anyone has any info it would be hugely appreciated, the visa seems like a breeze now compared to the other hoops im having to jump!

 

[RobsLuv]

First of all, you're visa-exempt if you're a UK citizen . . . so there is no such thing as a visitor visa for you. You have to pass an entry interview when you reach the Canadian port of entry. If you can convince them that you'll return to your home country within a reasonable period of time you should be alright. That said, I think your return trip ticket of 5 months out is a huge red flag - it's likely to get you hauled into secondary to prove that you 1) have funds to support yourself in Canada, and 2) that you have sufficient ties to the UK that you'll go back. With no job and no place to live there anymore - having shipped all your belongings to Canada - your intent is clearly to move to Canada prior to obtaining permanent status, and you can't do that! You're taking a huge risk of being turned around - and possibly even being excluded from Canada for up to two years for attempting to move here without authorization - and that means you can't "land" - even after your PR is approved - until that period of time is up.

Coming to Canada to stay with a spouse/sponsor while awaiting PR finalization is a delicate dance. First, you must understand that being married to a Canadian does not give you any right to live in Canada prior to being assessed and approved for permanent status. It only makes you eligible to apply for PR. Until you pass the assessment and are approved for permanent status, you are only a visitor, and you can't just come to a port of entry and announce your intention to live in Canada with your spouse and become a permanent resident - especially when he's not with you. What you should be doing is having him accompany you when you arrive at the Canadian port of entry - that means, because you're flying from the UK, he has to either fly back with you from the UK, or you'll need to land at an airport in the States and have him meet you there and drive into Canada. He needs to prove to the Canadian authorities that you're legally married and that he's sponsoring you for permanent status - and he needs to ask that you be allowed to stay with him to wait out the process. As a favour to him, they will issue you temporary status (if all is in order) and that status document (a Visitor Record) will give you what you need to apply from within Canada for extension if your PR visa isn't approved before the VR expires. That eliminates your need to leave Canada, as you plan now, on your five months from now flight.

As far as shipping stuff to Canada - if you're shipping it to your husband, he's going to have to pay duty on it. And you can't bring it in yourself until you're a PR. Most of us have left our things in storage at home, and then include them on a Goods to Follow list when we land, so we can bring them into Canada at a later date without paying duty.

Hope this helps . . . bottom line, if you really want to be able to enter Canada on your own, you need to be able to avoid being questioned about your marriage, your application for PR, the fact you have no job and no home at home anymore, and that you're shipping all your stuff to Canada. And you need to get rid of that ticket that says you intend to stay for 5 months - it's a huge mark against you.

 

[Silver_Spirit]

My husbands been in the UK with me for the last two years, he'll be on the same flight as me when i enter. Someone else on here told me i get the same thing as a visitor visa that can be extended if im lucky. The return ticket i was told was proof of my intent to return home. I will also have a letter stating i have a home when i get back to the UK. With regards to funds, my husband will be living with me and therefore working, his mother is also totally willing to help out if we need it. Do i need a letter from her?

If i dont have that return ticket, which i just threw money on then what am i meant to do to prove im going to return?

And the things we are shipping are really only the bare essentials, but as stated, will be under my husbands name, they are HIS house items as much as mine. Paying duty on them is fine, if we arent bothered by this do i then have no technical goods to follow? would this count against me? Our cats are being flown under my name but thats again because they are his pets as much as mine and they had nowhere else to live.

 

[Silver_Spirit]

can anyone help me here? do i keep the ticket or not? we're not gonna ship our stuff now but the cats are going regardless, theyre his as much as mine.

I was under the impression the plane ticket is proof i will return to my country? How would it count against me as its a one way ticket? And being visa exempt i thought i had the right to 6 months (providing they dont decide otherwise) so surely i was well within my rights to book a ticket home in that period, its simpler than trying to get bank statements my bank wont give me??

 

[fallenstar831]

RobsLuv is right... there is a difference between what we advised you of previously on the other thread and MOVING to Canada on a visitor visa. Coming to stay as a visitor and shipping all of your stuff over with no intent to go back are 2 different things.

You may be permitted to enter... there are others who have not had an issue... but it's all a gamble.

 

[Silver_Spirit]

The point is though that my husband IS moving to canada, im waiting out the process there, everything we own is ours not his or mine so theres not a simple inbetween here, id hope theyd understand that. We're no longer shipping the main boxes over, but will be bringing clothes and the pets, if i point out he is the one moving back and im waiting it out does that help my case any?
I know im not going to stay without a visa, i just need them to believe me >-<

 

[fallenstar831]

Hope for the best, expect the worst...

I hope everything goes okay for you.

 

[Ssarah183]

I am from the UK. I entered Canada as a visitor for the period that my application was being processed. When asked why I wanted to be in Canada I said to see my gf while we wait the visa application results. My GF was with me, they turned and asked my gf what she did for a living, looked at my return ticket and stamped me in for 6 months with no issue. I was prepared fully with statements showing the money I had to support myself for 6 months but they never asked to see that. I never had anything that showed I intended to return to the UK except the return ticket.

 

[Inlandappl]

I have arrived without a visa(I'm italian, we don't need a visitor visa)at the border and i said to the IO that my intention was to stay and live in canada and apply from inland (spousal PR). I said the truth.he asked me if i had a return ticket, i said no. I arrived at the border with my wife and my kid. The officer told me to go to the immigration office in the airport for further investigation and when i arrived there the other officer put me a stamp in the passport with no expiring date(so it' s valid for 6 months) and she told me "remember to renew it every six months until you get PR.....maybe i was lucky but also maybe i didnt know what i was risking.....

 

[Silver_Spirit]

This thread is old and already answered =\

 

[wilder1047]

SSOOOO, does that mean you got in with no problems? Or did you wait for the PR to be approved?

 

[Silver_Spirit]

Yup got in and had a bit of apper stuck in my passport, then got PR whilst here - couldnt change my address though!