Received PR acceptance but given a very difficult entry deadline

[dpsylk]

This story is a bit complicated but please bear with me.

Me and my wife are currently living and working abroad. I am a Canadian citizen and sponsored her under the family class last year. Online we found that the Manila office could take 11 months to process our stuff, as well there would be another ~2 months to process my sponsorship of her. We both work, but my contract ends after hers (end of July 2015), so we decided to hand in our application ~13 months in advance for the decision to be in time for our planned moving to Canada. So we sent it in June of last year. However, we just received the OK, it was accepted in January, and her landing has to be by May 20th, 2015. This puts us in a serious bind, as we can't really move out of the country until July/August.
My wife's visa here expires in April, and she had plans to go back to her country to be with her family for a few months before we move to Canada.

Now, with this earlier than expected deadline for entrance into Canada, we are faced with 2 options:

1) I quit, and we both move to Canada in May. This is the simpler option but has 2 drawbacks. I will have to quit before my contract ends, and I've been working here for a while, I'd hate to leave on bad terms, and we lose 3 months of pay. As well, this way my wife can't go back home to see her family.

2) My wife travels to Canada to get her PR started, and then returns back here. We then move to Canada as we planned in late July/early August. This way my wife will have to get a new visitor visa here (it lasts 3 months), but she'll be able to go see her family before we leave and I can continue working until my contract ends. However, we will need to spend the money for a short trip to Canada just to get the PR started, plus get a new visa for her.

I have questions related to the second option:

On the forms it says that my wife has to cohabit with me for 2 years from the day she gets her PR. Can we still live abroad or does it have to be in Canada? If she goes back to be with her family for a few months, does that breach this condition?

Is it possible for her to make a short trip to Canada just to start the PR and then leave the country?

Bonus question: In the documents the Manila embassy sent us it said that her visa is now affixed in her passport. But it isn't, they never received her passport. Also, the PR document that has her PR information (issuing date, expiry date, personal info, etc. with a line on the bottom to be signed by a customs officer) has "NOT VALID FOR TRAVEL" written across it. What does she use when she goes to Canada?


Sorry for the amount of questions, but we need to urgently figure out what to do. Any advice would be very appreciated.

 

[Leon]

She has to land before her PR visa expires. How you do it is up to you.

She can land quickly and come back or she can go and land and stay. She must cohabit with you for 2 years after getting her PR if you sponsored her. It can be in Canada or overseas. 2 months is a bit long to go on vacation and still be considered to be cohabiting but nothing will happen unless immigration finds out and if you are both overseas, it is unlikely that they will.

The visa is normally affixed to the passport if she is not visa exempt. Does she have another multiple entry visa or is she visa exempt? Otherwise, enquire at the visa office.

 

[dpsylk]

Thanks for the reply.

Yes I think she is actually visa exempt, that makes sense. I will confirm with the Manila office anyways.

Say that immigration does find out that she was with her family for a few months, what would the reprocussions be? Would we be called to a hearing run by CIC to see if she can keep her PR or not?

 

[Alurra71]

There was a case recently where someone attempted essentially what you have planned here, only they were doing it from the US. The husband came to 'land' and he was denied his PR because CBSA stated the rules are that the sponsoring spouse must be willing and able to move to Canada when the visa is issued and she wasn't ready for that yet because she was still under contract and studying in the US.

Just giving you a heads up about what CAN happen with your plans. If your wife is denied you will have to start all over again, this time likely giving CIC much more evidence of your impending move.

Good luck.

 

[dpsylk]

Wow, thanks for that info. Several times in our application we mentioned how we can't move until the end of July/early August. That seemed to be completely ignored though. If the CBSA inquired, would that evidence not stand at all as to the fact that we will definitely be moving to Canada together just a couple months later? I guess our chances might be better if I accompany her to do the landing?

 

[Leon]

If she explains that she needs to land before the expiry but you are working out your contract and you will both by moving in August, I don't think it will be a problem. You can even write a letter for her stating the same that she can show them.

 

[Rob_TO]

Here is the post of person who had PR denied at POE: http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/pr-denied-at-port-of-entry-t249762.0.html

Note also there was another story from a US resident that had their PR app denied (not at POE but during processing) because they said they planned to settle in Canada 16 months later as per the timeline given for CPC-Ottawa on the CIC website. But their PR was actually ready in less than 6 months and since they weren't ready to move they had their app denied and told to re-apply later.

In general, when talking to CBSA you don't need to offer up information if they don't ask you directly. So you don't need to volunteer info that you intend to leave Canada immediately and not return until August. When my wife landed as PR, they didn't ask anything related to intention to stay in Canada immediately (they hardly asked anything). Even if you did mention this though, I'm sure most CBSA agents wouldn't care. It would take an agent having a real bad day or one who's just a jerk and on a powertrip to deny her PR because of this.

If she has the address of any friend/family in Canada, she can give their address to ship the PR card to. Then when it arrives a couple months later, they can courier it to her. If she has her actual PR card, she won't need to go through the hassle or cost of getting a PR Travel Document.