WH IEC Visas: Accompanying Family Members of Foreign Workers. What's your experience?

[Skyshaard]

Hi guys,

I received my LOI and I am planning to go to Canada soon. My spouse (common-law partner) is planning to accompany me as a visitor and she needs ETA.

Based on the current COVID situation, she is unable to travel on ETA only, she also needs a family reunification letter as she'll be travelling with me.
Based on what I read, she needs to take the following steps:

1. Apply for ETA
2. Use a web form to show that she exempt from the travel restrictions under the "You’re an immediate family member of a temporary resident in Canada." section.
3. Receive ETA and Family Reunification Letter.

Does anyone have experience with bringing their spouse with them? Would you be able to share your experience and let me know if I am missing something?

Cheers,
Sky

 

[gill1988]

Hi guys,

I received my LOI and I am planning to go to Canada soon. My spouse (common-law partner) is planning to accompany me as a visitor and she needs ETA.

Based on the current COVID situation, she is unable to travel on ETA only, she also needs a family reunification letter as she'll be travelling with me.
Based on what I read, she needs to take the following steps:

1. Apply for ETA
2. Use a web form to show that she exempt from the travel restrictions under the "You’re an immediate family member of a temporary resident in Canada." section.
3. Receive ETA and Family Reunification Letter.

Does anyone have experience with bringing their spouse with them? Would you be able to share your experience and let me know if I am missing something?

Cheers,
Sky

Hi Sky,

My case is slightly different but I do have experience with the family reunification process.

My spouse (also common-law partner) travelled outside of Canada 2 days before the pandemic started and ended up getting stuck outside of Canada. I was on a work permit and she on visitor status (valid ETA).

Back then, March 2020, there was nothing that we could apply for until this family reunification of temporary residents process came up.

The difference with you is that she already had an ETA and that I was in Canada working. She applied but not through webform but through an specific email address that was listed in the website that had all the information. This was back in August 2020, things might have changed…

She applied, LOE, personal information and attached all the documents. It took 3-4 weeks until she got an email saying that she was authorized to come to Canada to reunite with me.

Just a heads up, it wasn’t easy with the airlines to let her board a flight to Canada. Ended up flying to the border and driving across. At the border, I guess this was all new so it took a bit but she had no problem going through. Border officers where not very (or at all) familiar with her authorization, again this was back in Sept. 2020. So it took some time but it was ok.

Hope that helps.

 

[Skyshaard]

Hi Sky,

My case is slightly different but I do have experience with the family reunification process.

My spouse (also common-law partner) travelled outside of Canada 2 days before the pandemic started and ended up getting stuck outside of Canada. I was on a work permit and she on visitor status (valid ETA).

Back then, March 2020, there was nothing that we could apply for until this family reunification of temporary residents process came up.

The difference with you is that she already had an ETA and that I was in Canada working. She applied but not through webform but through an specific email address that was listed in the website that had all the information. This was back in August 2020, things might have changed…

She applied, LOE, personal information and attached all the documents. It took 3-4 weeks until she got an email saying that she was authorized to come to Canada to reunite with me.

Just a heads up, it wasn’t easy with the airlines to let her board a flight to Canada. Ended up flying to the border and driving across. At the border, I guess this was all new so it took a bit but she had no problem going through. Border officers where not very (or at all) familiar with her authorization, again this was back in Sept. 2020. So it took some time but it was ok.

Hope that helps.

Thank you so much, this definitely helps!

Would you have any recommendations of what to include in the email, as of text and attachments?

To sum up, my partner will mention that she wants to accompany me to Canada as my common-law partner under the immediate family member of a temporary resident as a visitor and that she plans to apply for Spousal Work Permit after the 3 month period.

We're planning to include
- My LOI (approval of work permit)
- Proof of cohabitation (to prove common-law)
- Proof of relationship (mostly photos to showcase that we're in a long-term relationship)
- Joint bank account proof

Would you recommend including anything else?

 

[gill1988]

Thank you so much, this definitely helps!

Would you have any recommendations of what to include in the email, as of text and attachments?

To sum up, my partner will mention that she wants to accompany me to Canada as my common-law partner under the immediate family member of a temporary resident as a visitor and that she plans to apply for Spousal Work Permit after the 3 month period.

We're planning to include
- My LOI (approval of work permit)
- Proof of cohabitation (to prove common-law)
- Proof of relationship (mostly photos to showcase that we're in a long-term relationship)
- Joint bank account proof

Would you recommend including anything else?

Hi there,

No worries! Sorry for the late reply.

About the letter of explaination, in our case we were both in Canada and she travelled on a business trip on March 10th, 2020. That was 3 days before this was declared a pandamic. Then flights stopped and Canada closed their borders. So she was literally stuck outside of Canada even though she was living here (temporary status same as I).

We explained that we were common-law, living together since 2013 but now apart due to travel restrictions. Also attached all that I could think of to show proof of common-law relationship, utility bills from as far as I could find, life insurance showing the other half as beneficiary, joint bank account, lease agreements under both of our names, a statutory declaration of common-law dated in 2018, etc. Attach as many documents as possible as proof of relatonship.

Please check the instructions in this Government of Canada website, scroll down to “Immidiate family members: How to unit with someone who is in Canada temporary.
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/coronavirus-covid19/visitors/immediate-family.html#temporary

Also, you will find instructions on the drop-down menu for the different scenarios like i.e. visitor visa already in hand, or not applied yet, eTA, etc. That is “new”, it wasn’t there when I applied in August 2020. Back when I applied there was a list of the information that had to be included in the LOE, full name, DoB, passport #, etc.

Wish this helps!