parents sponsorship, by PR

[nymorales03]

Hello everyone,

I am new here and I have some questions, I hope someone can help me:

I am a permanent resident and would like to sponsor my parents,,,I know to maintain my status I have to live in Canada 2 years of a 5 year period. So far, I have been here one year.

I would like to know if it is possible to start and send the application process,,,,I hear it takes around 45 months for processing in Canada,,,,so can I leave Canada after being here for 2 years have the application on process and then go back to my contry with my parents while the aprox 5 year waiting takes place and then come back to Canada???

I was planning to stay 2 years in Canada,,,,then leave for 6 and come back the last 2 years (then its 2- 5 year periods where I am 2 years here) and by then the sponsorship would almost be finished.

In the meantime I could prove I still have income although it would be foreign,,,,,,so my question is then,,,,,do I have to stay in Canada while the whole 5 to 7 years waiting takes place or is there anyway around it??? because I dont want to be seprarted from my parents for that long.

thank you!

[Stumpedmom]

If you are a PR sponsoring family members you are supposed to be in Canada for the duration of processing, short trips out of country are usually acceptable but not as you have described.  If they find out that you are out of country they can cancel the application....

"If you are not a Canadian citizen, you cannot sponsor if you live outside Canada." from http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/guides/5196E4.asp

[canadianwoman]

I would like to know if it is possible to start and send the application process,,,,I hear it takes around 45 months for processing in Canada,,,,so can I leave Canada after being here for 2 years have the application on process

No. A PR has to stay in Canada during the whole processing time. Short vacations abroad are fine, but not years.

I was planning to stay 2 years in Canada,,,,then leave for 6 and come back the last 2 years (then its 2- 5 year periods where I am 2 years here) and by then the sponsorship would almost be finished.

This will not work. Be really careful with your residency requirements. It is not '2 years out of every 5' as you describe; you could not stay for 2 years, leave for 6, and then get back in - you will lose your PR trying to do that.
The 5-year period is always continuing. So for the first 5 years, you could stay for the first 2 years, then live elsewhere for 3, then come back in. But when you come back in, they start counting from when you left: so they consider that you have lived for 3 years outside of Canada, and so for you to live 2 years out of 5 in Canada, you must stay in Canada for the next two years - with no chance to leave, for any reason.

This is an example:
2001 in Canada
2002 in Canada
2003 in India
2004 in India
2005 In india
2006 in India
2007 in India
2008 in India
2009 in Canada
2010 in Canada

You think that because out of the 10 years, 4 have been in Canada, you have fulfilled the requirements. But that is not true, and in fact the Canadian border officials would not have let you back in to Canada in 2009, because you would have lost your PR.
For the five-year period 2001 - 2005, the requirements were met. For the five-year period 2006 - 2010, the requirements were met. But for the five-year period 2002 - 2006, only one year was spent in Canada, so the requirment was not met. Same for the five-year periods 2003 - 2007, 2004 - 2008, and 2005 - 2009.

[Stumpedmom]

Excellent breakdown Canadianwoman!!!

[nymorales03]

wow thanks so much everyone this has been very helpful,,,,unfortunately, this is not such a good situation for me now because they tell me it takes about 7 years in total for my parents to get the sponsorship,,,,about 4 years the application in canada process plus about 3 more years in mexico,,,,so in this case, I would not like to live 7 years apart from my family :S

I dont know however if there is anyway around this or if anyone has any ideas,,,,like if they could remain in Canada with some permision or turist visa extension or apply from inside Canada and get some insider applicant status or anything that would help in this situation.

I believe maybe only if they setup a business in CAnada, under the investor category, maybe then that could be the only way for them to be in Canada way sooner that 7 years,,,,maybe in one year,,,,and then once here I could apply for sponsorship although this would not be an easy process either.

If anyone has any advice or ideas please let me know

thanks so much!

[canadianwoman]

They can apply for a visitor's visa, but will have to prove they will go back to Mexico at the end of the stay. So they have to show ties to their home country, just like any other TRV applicant: a job, a lease or mortgage, savings accounts, investments, young children left behind, etc. Even then, if the visa officer thinks that really they want to stay in Canada, the TRV will be refused. Still, you could try that - but they certainly won't be able to stay for years on one.

As you noted, there are other ways to immigrate to Canada. How old are your parents? And how is their health? If they are still fairly young and healthy, they may be able to immigrate as a Federal Skilled Worker. They could also try one of the business classes. If one parent can get accepted under one of these other classes, the other parent comes along as a dependent. And if they get in through one of these other classes, you don't then have to sponsor them later - they will have gotten PR on their own. And if they are applying for PR on their own, you don't have to stay in Canada the whole time the application is being processed - you just have to stay in Canada long enough to keep your PR.