Weighing our options, Canada or USA, and have a few concerns/questions

[Tuatha]

Hi all! A little new to the whole Canadian sponsorship visa thing. My wife and I have been mostly planning on me (the Canadian) moving to the USA but we've been recently thinking very hard about our options and the option of her moving to Canada keeps coming up more often.

Anyway, I have a few concerns about the whole process. Reading quickly through the requirements and such this morning, I see that CIC wants to see wedding photos and such. Which isn't a problem - we have some - BUT it's a little complicated. See, my wife is transgender and all of her legal documents still say male, her legal name is still her birth name, etc - we were married in the state of Virginia in January this year as a heterosexual couple (same-sex marriages aren't yet legal in the state of VA) but all of our wedding photos of us look like we're a lesbian couple. Does *anyone* have any idea whether or not that would matter to CIC? Clearly when we submit the photos and the identification photos of my wife it's going to be the same person, but I *really* don't want to have any complications. Maybe a letter explaining or something? I don't know.

I'm almost considering hiring an immigration attorney to help me/us through this process but I don't know if it'd be a waste of money (and by the looks of it they're not cheap - and we're on a tight budget since I've been having to support her some since returning to Canada). It seems people here are divided as to whether or not it is - but our case is a little different than most of the people around here. Sigh.

I know that CIC accepts same-sex marriages for immigration purposes - and while socially we are a same-sex couple, LEGALLY we are a heterosexual couple. So... I don't know, gah! We have lots of supporting documents from our past trips, passport stamps, photos, boarding tickets, etc, but all of our old photos were from before she transitioned so she looks like a male, though it's still apparent it's the same person if you have context to the situation.

Anyway, anyone want to offer some guidance? We can't be the only couple in the history of immigration to have the same situation though I would assume it's pretty dang uncommon.

ALSO - from my understanding if I'm living in Canada and she's residing in the US, I need to send the forms to missasauga and they get sent to an embassy in the US after that? The processing times for the US embassies make my heart hurt. :/

Oh and one more thing - we're planning a trip for her to come up to Canada in May - in theory we'd have sent off the paperwork by then - is that going to be an issue for her crossing the border if we already have paperwork processing? Are they going to give her a hard time because of that?

SO SORRY for the wall of text, I just have so many questions since I've never really started looking into the Canada side of things until this morning.

Thanks everyone

 

[Sweden]

Hey, and welcome to the forum!

On the issue of transgender etc, I can't really comment, because I have no experience.

But - US/Can couples are not usually given a hard time, because there is no suspicion that the marriage is of convenience... so if you have proofs of the wedding, and of your relationship in general, I don't really see why it could be a problem. Surely it's not the most common case, but as gay marriage is not an issue in Canada, I don't think it would affect your case so much. For sure, you will have to explain why she looks different in pictures, and the history behind it, but if anything - it will show that you have been a couple for a while, and that you have proofs of being together... So writing a relationship history (which is advised anyway), you could explain how your relationship evolved, how you met, and got married etc.

For the application itself: you have to complete everything together, then send everything to Mississauga. First stage is currently 21 days which is pretty "low". Then as US citizen your file will be handled by Ottawa (which is the US outland embassy - yes, CIC is a bit confused!). Ottawa lists 13 months but quite a few people are done before that. Also - because your wife is from the US, she is visa-exempt. So she could come and "visit" for the duration of the process. Entry at the border is never guaranteed, but it's not frequent to be refused. She most likely would be let in on a 6 months tourist visa, and she can keep on extending it from Canada ( no need to exit) until her PR is approved. She would not be able to work, no healthcare (for most provinces, Alberta being the exception there), but she could stay with you, so the process is easier. There are quite a few US/Can couples doing that without troubles.

When she comes up in May - she should travel with proves of ties to the US, as well as the proofs that you have applied for PR (first stage approval if already done, or fees receipt), and state that she is visiting you. As stated - she can be denied entry, but most of the time it goes well, and the PR shows that she is serious about getting a status in Canada. She should just be careful what she says ( she is coming to visit you, not live in Canada), and it should be all good!

Good luck,
Sweden

 

[IslandAnnie]

Hi all! A little new to the whole Canadian sponsorship visa thing. My wife and I have been mostly planning on me (the Canadian) moving to the USA but we've been recently thinking very hard about our options and the option of her moving to Canada keeps coming up more often.

Anyway, I have a few concerns about the whole process. Reading quickly through the requirements and such this morning, I see that CIC wants to see wedding photos and such.

Just something to note..we, too, are an American/Canadian couple. We are both living in the US, awaiting my husband"s PR approval to move to Canada....five years ago (just after we were married) we went through my immigration (greencard) to the US. The requirements for proof of relationship (photos, etc.) were exactly the same.

Good luck with your application..which ever country you decide.

 

[gsize]

you should be fine. Just have Plan A) and Plan B)

:-*

 

[Tuatha]

For the application itself: you have to complete everything together, then send everything to Mississauga. First stage is currently 21 days which is pretty "low". Then as US citizen your file will be handled by Ottawa (which is the US outland embassy - yes, CIC is a bit confused!). Ottawa lists 13 months but quite a few people are done before that. Also - because your wife is from the US, she is visa-exempt. So she could come and "visit" for the duration of the process. Entry at the border is never guaranteed, but it's not frequent to be refused. She most likely would be let in on a 6 months tourist visa, and she can keep on extending it from Canada ( no need to exit) until her PR is approved. She would not be able to work, no healthcare (for most provinces, Alberta being the exception there), but she could stay with you, so the process is easier. There are quite a few US/Can couples doing that without troubles.

When she comes up in May - she should travel with proves of ties to the US, as well as the proofs that you have applied for PR (first stage approval if already done, or fees receipt), and state that she is visiting you. As stated - she can be denied entry, but most of the time it goes well, and the PR shows that she is serious about getting a status in Canada. She should just be careful what she says ( she is coming to visit you, not live in Canada), and it should be all good!

Good luck,
Sweden

Thank you so much for your reply - we hadn't even thought of her coming up on a visitor visa while the paperwork was processing - funny because I just spent 6 months there. Duh :/ haha. Our only issue would be trying to prove her ties to the US - she rents an apartment and would probably give that up if she came up here while it was processing - no point wasting $750 a month that I definitely couldn't afford, supporting the both of us while she was here. I had a letter from my employer when I went saying I still had my job when I came back, so maybe she could convince her employer to do the same, that might be enough since it was for me. Hmm. Hopefully if we end up doing that she wouldn't be refused at the border... I luckily live 4 hours from the US border so it's not much of a drive for me to get turned back, her on the other hand... it's a 30 hour drive to the border for my province, so that would be plain awful to get refused. Only other option is going through another border crossing though I like the one I go through since it's usually not too busy.

Going to give that some thought, thank you

So just to clarify, the US embassy for American spouse visas goes to Ottawa? Your answer to that was a little confusing, haha. 13 months is longer than some of the embassies I was looking at in the US

Also, if she in theory *did* come up for 6 months and extend her stay - where would she go for the interview? The closest one to VA would be NY so that's not a very long flight from there but if she's in Canada after we start the process would we have to let CIC know or how would that work exactly?

Thanks again!!

 

[Tuatha]

Just something to note..we, too, are an American/Canadian couple. We are both living in the US, awaiting my husband"s PR approval to move to Canada....five years ago (just after we were married) we went through my immigration (greencard) to the US. The requirements for proof of relationship (photos, etc.) were exactly the same.

Good luck with your application..which ever country you decide.

Yeah, I know :/ I was kind of hoping if we end up going to the US that we could just sort of... not include wedding pictures but I guess that might raise some questions for the immigration people. We have a ton of other proof plus the wedding certificate so I was hoping that would be enough but now I'm not so sure. That complicates things :/

 

[Sweden]

So just to clarify, the US embassy for American spouse visas goes to Ottawa? Your answer to that was a little confusing, haha. 13 months is longer than some of the embassies I was looking at in the US

Also, if she in theory *did* come up for 6 months and extend her stay - where would she go for the interview? The closest one to VA would be NY so that's not a very long flight from there but if she's in Canada after we start the process would we have to let CIC know or how would that work exactly?

Thanks again!!

BUffalo used to be the embassy for US cases, but it closed down a year ago. For now, all files go to Ottawa (for second stage, first stage is Mississauga). Then sometimes it gets transferred to another visa office, but from what I understand everybody goes through Ottawa first. If you click on any of the US offices, it states that it goes to Ottawa. Then from what I understand, if an embassy is required, they will choose one based on the person's residence (and also based on the ones that are still open at that time!).

Note that interviews for US/Can couples are the exception rather than the rule, and they only ask for an interview if there is a suspicion that the relationship is not genuine. If you've been married and have had a relationship for a while, and can prove it, it's quite unlikely that you will be called for an interview.

Once she is in Canada, you can update your address (once you have done the first stage you will be given a file number etc), and inform the embassy that she is visiting in Canada - long time. She could change her address to the Canadian one, so her COPR (Confirmation of PR) is sent to the address in Canada. Then she would only have to go to the nearest border to exit Canada and re-enter to land as a PR. End of the process!

Sweden