Moving from Australia to Canada

[Varney]

Hi there,

I was born in Canada, but moved to Australia in 2006. I then got married to an Australian woman, and have become an Australian citizen. My wife is currently pregnant, and we wish to move to Canada on a permanent basis before our child is born (Due in early June). I want to sponsor her so that she can get PR. I know that Australians can go to Canada without a visa for 6 months, but:

1. If we do go to Canada now, will she be able to extend her stay after the 6 month period when she has no visa? (I wouldn't want anything to happen where she'd need to return to Oz with no house or family to return to!)

2. If so, how can we go about extending her stay??

3. For what reason would my wife have to leave the country for immigration purposes if we have a PR application in progress?

4. Is there any way we can do this while in Canada? Or does this need to be done from Australia?

Thanks very much!!!

V

[CharlieD10]

1. Yes.  as she is visa-exempt, you apply to extend her visitor status.

2. At least 30 days prior to the expiration of her current status, submit an application, either paper-based or online, requesting an extension of her stay.

3. If there is an interview, and you apply Outland, it would be in Sydney.  It is highly unlikely that one would be required, however.  I can recall no Australian applicants on this board being convoked to an interview.

4. Yes, you may apply for her to become a Canadian PR while she is visiting with you in Canada.  The best option would be an Outland application through the embassy in Sydney, again, this can be done while she is visiting with you in Canada.  Sydney typically processes most applications in 7 months, many on this board have been done in about 4-6. 

[AAL1984]

Yeah I agree with Charlie.

File an outland application, (DO NOT DO AN INLAND APP), even if your wife is with you in Canada you can still file an outland based application, it'll be much faster. Should be a relatively quick and straightforward process, chances for an interview are highly unlikely, next to impossible if you ask me.


The reason you want to do an outland application is because it's much faster for Australians to do it outland vs Inland.

[Varney]

  Thanks very much for the information! Very helpful!

[TracyS]

But would she have medical cover for the birth while in Canada waiting for PR??  Correct me if I'm wrong, but you may have to pay for it privately without healthcare coverage.  That could be costly.

[CharlieD10]

No, you are correct, as a visitor she would need to pay for her own medical care.  That is something the OP will have to factor into his moving plans.

[Varney]

Hmmm...that was going to be my next question. My wife is 20 weeks along now, and we're planning on going in 2 weeks. Is there any insurance that would cover pregnancy all the way through?

Thanks again!

[CharlieD10]

Not that I know of.  It's a pre-existing condition, and insurance won't cover it.

[inlimbo]

It may be worthwhile to make a few phone calls. I think that midwifery care costs less than maternity doctors and you can likely find a good health care situation.

[Kazakhstan]

No travel medical insurance will cover prenatal care and childbirth.

Which province are you guys planning on moving to? From my own experience, Alberta Health Care Insurance Plan covers spouses and children on visitor visas if another spouse is a Canadian citizen or PR and Alberta resident.

After we submitted our PR application INLAND, we applied for visitor status extension and it was extended for a year "automatically" because there was a PR application in process. Is the same true for OUTLAND applications??

Not only Australians are rarely called for a personal interview at the embassy, but especially pregnant wives or spouses with children... "Yes, it's a marriage of convenience, that's why we're starting a family together"... (sarcasm)  

My only question is, would there be any risk of troubles with immigration at the airport in Canada upon arrival? When I flew in with my pregnant wife on TRV, we were very close to being sent back due to high suspicion of her staying in Canada permanently... But they did let us in eventually, having grilled us quite enough... I don't know was it a rare precedent or not? Maybe nothing to worry about in your situation...

[Nordiques32]

Varney,
All I can say to you mate is, make absolutely sure you get health insurance for her before she sets foot in Canada. You need to make sure she's not only covered for birth but for any other unseen health issues that may arise related or unrelated to her pregnancy.
We're finding ourselves in a jam because when I girlfriend came over, she came over without health insurance. She got pregnant, we applied for an extension of the 6 months thinking it would cost us about 2000$ for birth, or so we were told. About 7 months into her pregnancy she had a gall bladder stone attack and landed in the hospital for 7 days. No surgury, only a barage of tests, and we were billed 20K for this. Now what do we do???