US Citizen Married to Canadian
Printed From: Canada Immigration and Visa Discussion Forum
Category: Canada Visa / Temporary Entry Topics
Forum Name: Visit Visa
Forum Description:
URL: https://secure.immigration.ca/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3466
Printed Date: 01 Jul 2024 at 10:53am
Topic: US Citizen Married to Canadian
Posted By: hehasmyheart
Subject: US Citizen Married to Canadian
Date Posted: 24 Jul 2010 at 11:32am
|
My Husband is with the Canadian Military, we have been together almost 2 yrs and Married 7 months. I come to Canada and stay as a visitor for six months, we have been doing this for 1 1/2 now and it gets expensive. I am doing some research and the sponsorship application and that alone seems so long, my question is: I'd like to work while I am here in Canada, Can I ?? Do We need to submit our sponsorship application first??? I will be applying to extend my stay a couple of weeks before i have to leave again. I want to live in Canada. I would really appreciate some help cuz This sponsorship application is really overwhelming. ------------- Mrs. Richard |
Replies:
Posted By: dpenabill
Date Posted: 24 Jul 2010 at 4:07pm
|
While there are ways to obtain a work permit, practically speaking the spousal class sponsorship is the route you need to take. It is work, not easy, but should not be overwhelming. The sponsorship application is actually rather manageable and tens of thousands of people make this application every year without professional help. It is not, however, a one-weekend project. It takes a sustained effort, some focused research, a significant amount of document and information gathering, and careful compilation. And it is not cheap. This is a major event in life. Takes effort and it costs some. If it really is overwhelming, there are lawyers and consultants who will prepare the application for you . . . for a pretty substantial fee of course. At this site you really want to be in the "Family Class Sponsorship" forum; lots of people there to give you good advice. A word of caution: the trend at POEs continues to get tougher. The longer you are in Canada, overall as well as relative to the most recent year, sooner or later they are going to get tough on you . . . sooner or later they are going to say "get permanent status if you want to return to Canada." And not too much later than that, they will enforce that admonition. This will be because of your obvious ties to Canada and the increasingly obvious fact you do not really qualify for entry as a "visitor." They are usually very lenient about this (though not any where near what they used to be), but people who spend a lot of time in Canada and who have a permanent partner in Canada are expected, sooner or later, to obtain appropriate status to live in Canada. Back to the sponsorship application: Foremost, take your time going through the CIC website. Be sure to do an "out-of-Canada" application (even though you are in Canada -- ask about this in the Family Sponsorship forum, and the response will be loud and clear). Thus, start at http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/fc.asp READ carefully, thoroughly, and re-read, re-read. A few times. Take your time. Especially the "Guide to sponsorship" and the "Guide to Immigrating." Do not worry about what you do not understand the first couple times through! Focus on what you do understand. Print copies of the various forms and begin filling in draft responses, very rough draft responses, focusing on -- -- identifying information you need to collect (there will be quite a bit . . . reconstructing one's address, work, and educational history alone can require quite a bit of work); -- documents you need to obtain (such as police clearance certificates, birth certificates, marriage certificate) -- evidence to support your story of the relationship (from photos to correspondence, evidence of living together, evidence of contact when apart, letters of support from family, friends, colleagues) -- and noting what you do not quite understand . . . recognizing, though (trust me on this), as you work your way through the application forms multiple times and gathering the documentation, the fuzzy parts will come into better focus . . . so you can ask questions by either calling the CIC helpline or, probably better, coming back to this site and asking questions in the Family Sponsorship forum. ------------- Bureaucracy is what bureaucracy does, or When in doubt, follow the instructions. Otherwise, follow the instructions. BTW: Not an expert, not a Can. lawyer, never worked in immigration |
Posted By: hehasmyheart
Date Posted: 24 Jul 2010 at 6:39pm
|
Thank You Very much for this information....I am going to print out several applications and get this started. The idea of spending 2-3 thousand dollars for an attorney to process this will really sink us. I am going to get right on it. Again, Thank You ------------- Mrs. Richard |
Posted By: scylla
Date Posted: 26 Jul 2010 at 3:05pm
|
Most of us here have submitted our applications without the assistance of an attorney and I'm sure you'll be fine without one as well. Just read through things carefully and slowly as dpenabill has suggested. Good luck! ------------- Outland Spousal (Buffalo): App recd: 05/28/2010 Sponsor approved: 06/28/2010 Processing started: 08/19/2010 Passport request: 10/01/2010 Landed: 10/05/2010 |
Posted By: hehasmyheart
Date Posted: 26 Jul 2010 at 5:26pm
| Since I will be here in Canada for 6 months with my spouse, should we file Inland or Outland? I just go back to Texas for a couple of days because my 6 months are up, but this comming and going is expensive and we wanna do this right eh. If anyone can give me some advice I would truly appreciate it. |
Posted By: dpenabill
Date Posted: 27 Jul 2010 at 7:38am
|
As I said in my first post: almost certainly file "Outland," even though you are in Canada, still file an "out-of-Canada" application. The url I provided was specifically to the application forms for the out-of-Canada process. Visit the "Family Class Sponsorship" topic/thread here for more pertinent information about this. Many, many of us did it this way. I am an American who remained in Canada from months prior to applying to well past having the PR visa in my hand. My route is an incredibly common one for Americans with partners in Canada (for couples who want to settle permanently in Canada . . . of course some couples go the other way, to the States). For Americans who are otherwise not out-of-status, the inland process is almost always a bad idea (and even for most Americans who have overstayed and are out-of-status, the best route is to fix the status problem first and then still file an out-of-Canada app). Lots of discussions about this in the Family Class Sponsorship threads, but virtually no disagreement: for an American without status problems, even though in Canada, file the out-of-Canada application (which just means it goes to the Canadian Visa Office in the Embassy in Buffalo for processing). ------------- Bureaucracy is what bureaucracy does, or When in doubt, follow the instructions. Otherwise, follow the instructions. BTW: Not an expert, not a Can. lawyer, never worked in immigration |
Posted By: hehasmyheart
Date Posted: 27 Jul 2010 at 12:54pm
| I really appreciate your response, I have another question: Is it possible to also file for Dual Citizenship while filing for the sponsorship application? And Im sorry, I am new to all this, and again I thank you and anyone that can help us. |
Posted By: goblinny
Date Posted: 28 Jul 2010 at 7:07am
|
what is wrong in filing inland though? i did it years ago all by myself.. no problem.. you won't be able to work for several month though, not until your application is aproved in principle.. as soon as it is they will issue you a temporary open work permit valid for 1 year. it's renewable (150$ for a year) so again... there's absolutely no problem.. just make sure to be in status all the time, you will have to concurrently file 6 month extension for your stay ------------- Montreal Received June 25 2009, In Process January 20 2010 Transfer to Montreal February 26 2010 Test September 27 2010 |
Posted By: dpenabill
Date Posted: 28 Jul 2010 at 7:55am
|
hehasmyhear -- The path to Canadian citizenship is first becoming a PR, then residing in Canada the required time (1095 days out of four years; minimum of two full years as a PR), and then applying, take test and interview, take oath. Become a PR first. One does not apply for "dual citizenship" -- there is no such status. "Dual citizenship" simply refers to people who have citizenship in two or more countries. Thus, if an American citizen (or British citizen or so on) becomes a Canadian citizen, they then have citizenship in both countries and that is commonly called having "dual citizenship" even though there is no official status as dual citizenship (some countries, like the U.S., explicitly will not recognize dual citizenship . . . which does not stop an American from having multiple citizenships it just means the U.S. only recognizes their U.S. citizenship). goblinny -- There is nothing wrong per se in applying for sponsored partner PR via the inland process. It is simply, usually (by a very wide margin) a lot better for most Americans to file via the out-of-Canada process . . . for many reasons, but how quickly the process is completed is probably the most significant (anything that will delay the outland app process will almost undoubtedly also cause an inland one to be delayed, probably delayed longer, and potentially delayed for a lot, lot longer). There are other advantages. Again, see discussions about this in the Family Class Sponsorship threads for full explanation -- and again, this is the consensus of the vast majority who have considered this. (I personally almost filed inland but after seeing cautions in the predecessor to this forum, I re-evaluated, and actually went to an immigration lawyer to consult regarding the issue, and was very glad I did -- favorable decision made in about four months, less than the usual time it takes just to get past the first stage of the inland process.) ------------- Bureaucracy is what bureaucracy does, or When in doubt, follow the instructions. Otherwise, follow the instructions. BTW: Not an expert, not a Can. lawyer, never worked in immigration |
Posted By: optimus
Date Posted: 19 Sep 2010 at 7:13pm
|
but even if it takes longer doing inland at least both of them will be living together and its not like flying back and forth.
------------- Finally Canadian Citizen , yahoooooooo |
Posted By: pmm
Date Posted: 19 Sep 2010 at 7:29pm
Hi
There is nothing to stop them residing together in Canada (as long as status is kept valid) and filing an out-of-Canada sponsorship. ------------- PMM |
optimus wrote: