Outland Spousal Application/USA

[janyte]

A question for those of you who have been through the process.  When my husband has his interview (Buffalo), we will probably not be ready to make the move.  Our house is on the market - which is going very slow here in Massachusetts - so we will have things to do here in the US to finalize before making the actual move up to Ontario.  Is that a problem for the immigration folks?  We figure we have a few months before the interview, as they only say they received his application July 5th.  But we don't know where to look for this type of information.

Thanks for your help!

[CharlieD10]

An interview is not mandatory, in fact for many American spouses it is waived. 

If you mean, when he receives the visa, you may not be ready to move immediately, no, this is not a problem.  His visa will expire one year from the date of his medical examination, or by the expiration of his passport, whichever occurs first.  He needs to land before that expiration date, that is all.

Additionally, he can land as a PR, and then return to the US to tie up loose ends, if need be. 

[can_usa_97]

I'm in the same situation - in fact. I landed in June and told the IO when I landed the situation and it was OK,  a few days before my visa expired and am still staying in the US until it sells or we can't bear ot be apart anymore. My husband who has lived in the US with me for the last 14 years -is moving next month as he secured a job back in Canada. Silly housing market!

[janyte]

Thank you both for the information!  Yes, this US housing market is terrible....and with the "debt crisis" no one is even looking this month!  Having some wiggle room helps a lot:)

Buffalo got our application from Mississauga 7/5/11.  Hopefully we'll hear something other than "received" in the next few months.

Good luck on your house sale too can-usa-97!  Thank you for the note about the medical exam - so we're set until May CharlieD10!

[can_usa_97]

Yes, really could not be a worse time to do be doing this - we'll even lose on transferring our currency at this point!  Last time I checked it was 5c per dollar.

[AllisonVSC]

Yes, really could not be a worse time to do be doing this - we'll even lose on transferring our currency at this point!  Last time I checked it was 5c per dollar.

I left my US bank account open and transferred only the amount I needed to get established here. That way I have access to money back in the states when i am home visiting. I also left an unsold property in the US, as I have mentioned to you, can_usa, before and found a rental agent to manage the place for me (they deposited the rent payments into my US bank account for me too). I did finally sell it about 6 months ago, sadly for a loss, but at least that headache is gone.

[AllisonVSC]

Additionally, he can land as a PR, and then return to the US to tie up loose ends, if need be. 

I'll just add that after landing he can stay out of Canada for up to 3 years and still maintain his PR status. The obligation requires PRs to live in Canada for 2 years (730 days) in a rolling 5 year period. So once he lands you should have plenty of time to tie up loose ends.

[can_usa_97]

We did look at that option, briefly, Alison -because with the mortgage covered here and management taking care of things we'd be able to live up there without issue... at least we'd be together but then we thought it would eventually be a headache when we tried to sell again at a lease ending or having someone live here not having much notice. If we don't sell by Xmas, I think the kids & I will end up moving up.

We do intend to leave our account open and our credit cards too, at some point, we will need those funds though - hopefully sooner than later when this house sells to buy a new house there. So we will lose on whatever transfer occurs then. For now, err starting in September, I'm going to be using our savings to pay the bills here while dh setups an account up there to pretty much just save the funds there. He'll need very little living expense - being he will stay with his sister/hubby & their 3 kids and his mom.

I'm glad you sold Alison! We recently dropped our price 10K and last week added on a few perks. We did have it sold 2x last year, but the buyers house did not sell. We just re-listed again about 1 1/2 months ago after Jan-May off.

CharlieD ^to piggy back Alison, time spent with you physically can count toward the residency requirement as though he was in Canada- though it might not be allowed for the entire time - its' something we highly considered but this job opportunity arose in hubby's hometown which the jobs in his field are far and few between and is expected to be worse when RIM in Waterloo area lays off.