PR sponsorship for my Venezuelan wife - advice needed

[moonrider_99]

Greetings,

I am a Canadian Citizen currently on a TN visa in the USA. I maintain bank accounts and a permanent address in Canada, and filed my Canadian taxes while being in the USA. I married a Venezuelan Citizen on a student visa in USA (legal civil marriage). My wife will be returning to Venezuela shortly (end of studies).We will be applying for a US spouse visa (TD) in the States but we want her to be in Canada and hopefully start working as the TD does not allow work in the USA.

I want to bring her back to Canada (QC) from Venezuela and make sure she can work as soon as possible.


- What are my options to bring her to Canada (QC)?
- Can I sponsor her right now for permanent residency?
- At what point can she start working in Canada (QC)?
- Can I bring her to Canada as a visitor?
- Are there any special visa types applicable to my case?


More about myself
- I'm 31 years old
- No dependents of any type
- Never been married before, never sponsored before, no children.
- Yearly income: >60k USD, no financial problems.
- TN Visa in NJ (Research Scientist), maintaining QC address, bank accounts, filed all
Canadian taxes.*
- Resident of Quebec


* is this an issue? Me currently working in NJ full time? I have 2 more years on my contract and intend to finish it before starting my job search in Canada.

Please advise me whether there's anything we should do right now before she leaves to Venezuela. I assume the best way is to apply for an outland PR sponsorship when she is in Venezuela. And get a Canada temp visitor visa as well in case the TD takes too long? Are there any complications I am not aware of and if anyone knows a good lawyer in MTL, please let me know.

best regards and thank you for reading,

Nic

 

[rjessome]

As a citizen, you CAN sponsor your spouse while residing outside of Canada but only if you intend to move back to Canada once the PR visa is issued. You must provide proof of this intention in the application. If you do not intend to come back to Canada within the next year, I would hold off applying until you are about a year away from moving home.

 

[moonrider_99]

As a citizen, you CAN sponsor your spouse while residing outside of Canada but only if you intend to move back to Canada once the PR visa is issued. You must provide proof of this intention in the application. If you do not intend to come back to Canada within the next year, I would hold off applying until you are about a year away from moving home.

Can I get her a visitor visa now? We don't want her to stay in Venezuela for too long. I was hoping to help her re-locate to Canada somehow (even if it is on a temporary visa).

The US TD is a back up. I would like to know what are my options.

thanks

Nic

 

[The Littlest Hobo]

If you are outside of Canada for a certain number of days in any calendar year (I believe 183 or so) you are a non-resident. I was told that even though I am a student maintaining a Canadian permanent address, bank accounts, and owning a property there, I am a non-resident for the simple matter of not being physically present. The same applies for retired people who take a lot of vacation, or people working abroad for Canadian employers. I don't see how you managed to keep your residency, I didn't think it was possible. There advantages and disadvantages to being a non-resident, an advantage normally being that you wouldn't have to file income taxes in Canada... I've been paying only in France where I live. So that strikes me as odd. Hmmm...

The rules/procedures for Spousal Sponsorship in our case (as a Canadian citizen residing outside Canada) are quite clear, you can find the details on the CIC website. As rjessome says they have to be convinced you plan to resettle in Canada.

Depending on the wait times for Venezuela it could take 2 years anyway (again check the CIC website, and even better is trackitt.com) I know there are a few countries which are very slow compared to others... I'm not sure whether Venezuela is one of them. Once she is legally in the US with a visa good for at least 1 year you could apply outland and choose either the US (Buffalo I guess) or Venezuela to process your application, so that could speed things up since it seems that Buffalo is one of the quick ones (although maybe as she's not a US citizen it could be just as slow).

One of the fastest lessons you learn about immigration: There is no fast way, no short-cut, no quick solution. It takes months and sometimes years. Sorry to squelch your optimism Nic. Anyhow, if she's there on a TD she might find an employer to sponsor her somehow, no? If she was educated in the US I'm surprised they don't have an easier way for her to work there.

Or she could do like all the poor bored wives of my former Canadian colleagues (we were stationed in the US for a Canadian company, 2-5 yrs) when they weren't allowed to work: Raise babies. Not allowing the spouse to work is still a ridiculous policy in my opinion, but the US is not the only place, France is the same, there might be others. It's just a friendly way of saying "stay out" because it makes it virtually impossible for a married career couple to move there together. I knew couples who basically blackmailed their employers to help saying "get my wife a work permit or I'm quitting" and sometimes it was necessary to call one's senator, they weren't able to leave the US for years and years waiting with no idea of their status, etc. US rules are merciless and nepotism seemed to flourish there like any other corrupt dictatorship ;-)

Well, have fun discovering this process and I wish you luck figuring out the best course of action for you. I hope your wife enjoys her holidays ;-)
Cheers,
TLH

 

[Pablojinko]

As a Venezuelan I can tell you what I know about a couple of subjects... If she is not a permanent resident in USA her application should be process in the Caracas embassy, for what I understand you can only apply in a visa office in a country where the sponsored person is a citizen or a permanent resident... My wife's file is on its way to Caracas right now, the Embassy there works fast but they actually have a LOT of applications due to the difficult political situation down there, there's a lot of people applying to come to Canada... from what I heard I would say that 5 month to process a PR looks like and honest time.

As for the temporary resident visa (visitor) it's a little more complicated... My wife got refused one time before we married and like two months ago she applied again to come for the holidays while we waited for the sponsorship process, but got refused one more time. That time the embassy made clear that she need to wait for the sponsorship process to be completed before coming to Canada... so chances are minimum that they issue a TRV if there's an immigration application in process

Hope this help you, and good luck!!

 

[SEVEN07]

Hi what happen with your case????how long takes? are u with your wife in Canada?
Im from Venezuela i applied in august...
let me know
Regards