Sponsoring my Korean wife for permanent residency

[CanNZ]

My wife got her new police check back, no surprises which is good. Will be sending off the requested docs to Manila tomorrow or the day after, just waiting on a letter of employment from my job to make our application look a bit better. (It's been made so I should get it today or tomorrow)

 

[bartjones]

1. Proof of sponsor's intent of returning to Canada.[/b] Do the letters from family need to be actual letters that have been notarized, or can they be emails?

Emails are okay, but you've got lots of time. I'd get originals. They do not need to be notarized, just signed originals.

2. Our daughter (22 months old) has her Certificate of Canadian Citizenship. Will she need her Canadian passport for the application? We know that she does not need to be part of the application (IMM 0008ENU_2D – can we “remove dependant” from this form?) as she is a citizen, however as the time for the application to process as well as the time for getting a passport are both long it will push back out plans. We realize that she will need to enter Canada with a Canadian passport. We will then not need to complete the Additional Dependants (IMM 008DEP) file I assume.

Not sure, so I can't answer. My wife and I have no kids but others in this thread do. Maybe someone else can help out on this one.

3. The most recent Option C printout I can get is from 2005 when I graduated and them worked for 2 months. Will I need to request this or supply financial details from 2013 and a letter explaining that my situation? Changing my Canadian address to get access to the Option C may not be as easy as I had thought. I haven't filed taxes in Canada since 2005 and am planning to submit the nr73-fill-12e.pdf (Non-residency status) form when I return to Canada.

Just call CRA and ask them to send you your most recent Option C. They will mail it to your address in Korea.

4. Proof of employment. In Korea, I work at a mid-sized company as a curriculum marketing/managing manager. Would my supervisor's letter be sufficient as proof of employment along with an official form from the company stating that I am a current employee, tax information for the most recent 12 months, and a form with my monthly salary listed?

If you get the Option C printout, then all you need is an original letter from your current employer stating your period of employment, salary and regular working hours per week.

5. Maintaining Contact
As we have lived in Korea after meeting and lived together since getting married, what evidence would we provide? We haven't lived apart. Would we need to submit other evidence in addition to the pictures included with proof of relationship?

Yeah, it was the same for my wife and I. Just explain in your covering letter that you have lived continuously together since you were married and have never been separated for any significant amount of time. That question is really aimed at those types of marriages where the couple live in separate countries.

Good luck.

 

[bartjones]

My wife got her new police check back, no surprises which is good. Will be sending off the requested docs to Manila tomorrow or the day after, just waiting on a letter of employment from my job to make our application look a bit better. (It's been made so I should get it today or tomorrow)

Did you ever find out what was insufficient about her first police check?

Also, how did you get the second police check? Family member or did you go the Korean embassy route?

Just wondering. This question seems to get asked here a lot.

 

[Rob_TO]

2. Our daughter (22 months old) has her Certificate of Canadian Citizenship. Will she need her Canadian passport for the application? We know that she does not need to be part of the application (IMM 0008ENU_2D – can we “remove dependant” from this form?) as she is a citizen, however as the time for the application to process as well as the time for getting a passport are both long it will push back out plans. We realize that she will need to enter Canada with a Canadian passport. We will then not need to complete the Additional Dependants (IMM 008DEP) file I assume.

Because your daughter is already a Canadian citizen by birth, she is NOT a "dependent" for PR application purposes. Note on IMM 0008ENU_2D for instructions on dependent section it states "who are not already PRs or citizens of Canada".
The Additional Dependent 008DEP form, does not need to be included in your application.
Your daughter will need to be included in the Additional Family Info 5406 form, along with spouse (you), her mom, dad and any other siblings. But your daughter doesn't need any medical, photos, or anything like that since she isn't being sponsored.

I believe in order for her to fly to Canada, she will need a passport. But passport is not required for the application, just her proof of citizenship.

3. The most recent Option C printout I can get is from 2005

One of the main reasons they want to see Option C printout, is it will indicate if you received any welfare. Since your last one is from 2005 and you haven't lived in Canada since, that will easily prove you have not been receiving it. So that plus your current employer info in Korea should be fine.

5. Maintaining Contact
As we have lived in Korea after meeting and lived together since getting married, what evidence would we provide? We haven't lived apart. Would we need to submit other evidence in addition to the pictures included with proof of relationship?

We applied as a common-law couple. Since we were living together I just wrote in we saw each other and communicated in person every single day, so we didn't include any emails, chats, phone logs etc.

Honestly with an 8 year marriage and child together, there should be absolutely no question when it comes to your application on the genuineness of your relationship. I wouldn't worry about the relationship proofs section. Your marriage certificate, some photos of your wedding and you guys together with your daughter, friends and family, and perhaps showing any joint finances, accounts, rental or whatever... and that should be more than enough.

 

[gibbles]

Thank you CanAsian, bartjones, and Rob_TO for your help.

I will try to get signed letters sent from family to show they know of our intent to move back.
Also from my parents stating that they will help us out (housing) till we find a place.
A follow-up question. Will the envelopes need to be included with the letters to show that they were sent from Canada?

I guess the tricky part of getting a Canadian passport is you have to have reason to travel, but since we don't have any yet, it will be difficult to get her passport now.

Being a foreigner in Korea, it was easier to have most of the important paperwork under my wife's name so unfortunately we do not have any joint accounts or contracts with my name on them. Will have to find out what we can supply other than pictures as proof.

Thank you again.

 

[Red Tape Sucks]

Hello Again,

I have noticed that many of you who are a lot further along into this process have been asked by Manilla to send additional information. What kinds of extra information have you been asked to send? I would really like to get a head of the game and get together all of the extra info that could be asked for, and get it sent off to them before they even ask.

We are going to be moving to Canada in July, about 6 month's after my sponsorship application was accepted, and anything we can do to potentially speed up this process is worth trying.

Thanks again!

 

[bartjones]

Hello Again,

I have noticed that many of you who are a lot further along into this process have been asked by Manilla to send additional information. What kinds of extra information have you been asked to send? I would really like to get a head of the game and get together all of the extra info that could be asked for, and get it sent off to them before they even ask.

We are going to be moving to Canada in July, about 6 month's after my sponsorship application was accepted, and anything we can do to potentially speed up this process is worth trying.

Thanks again!

Assuming your application is in order, the only additional document they should request is the Appendix A thing, and you can't send that until they ask for it. Once you get it you can just fill it out and email it back to them, so there's no real delay there.

Problems with the Korean Criminal Background check are fairly common because of the way they maintain the database in Korea. Make sure your criminal background check included the search of "Lapsed Records". The Korean police won't search that database unless you specifically ask them to. Check the box on the search result that says "Scope Requested". If it says "including any lapsed records" you're fine. If not, go get another one that includes "lapsed records" and forward it to Manila.

The only other thing I've heard of is the entry/exit record showing when your spouse entered or left Korea. I think you can get that in English online, so it's no big deal.

 

[tpx1915]

Bart Jones and Marticus, thank you so much for the VERY helpful replies. My wife and I were stressing when we got this email a week before making the big move. I feel assured now that this is pretty routine and your advice/directions will help me make short work of this new hurdle.
This forum is really awesome thanks to people like you.

But, if I may, I have two more questions:

1. We want to buy a ticket out of the country for my wife to show to the customs officer just in case. We need it be fully refundable. Does anyone know where we can get a fully refundable ticket out of Canada? Does it have to be a ticket to South Korea or can it be to the USA? Although we don't plan on having to use it, we want something that shows that we are ready for the possibility that my wife will no get permanent residence in Canada.

2. When we arrive in Canada, we won't have health insurance. In Ontario, it takes 3 months before you get back on OHIP. My wife won't get health insurance until she receives her PR card. Can anyone recommend a good health insurance provider? Preferably one that covers the basics but not much more. We are healthy and would only be using it in case of an emergency.

Thanks again very much!

Tom

 

[costaudjoe]

I am no expert but since you are going to get a refundable ticket anyways, why wouldn't you get one for Seoul? A ticket to anywhere else may elicit questions as to why she isn't returning to South Korea. Why bring unnecessary attention when clearing customs?

As for insurance, my common-law partner insured herself in Korea. I suspect you could look into Blue Cross (http://www.bluecross.ca/en/index.html) or the like if you wanted something in Canada.

Good luck!

 

[Red Tape Sucks]

1. We want to buy a ticket out of the country for my wife to show to the customs officer just in case. We need it be fully refundable. Does anyone know where we can get a fully refundable ticket out of Canada? Does it have to be a ticket to South Korea or can it be to the USA? Although we don't plan on having to use it, we want something that shows that we are ready for the possibility that my wife will no get permanent residence in Canada.

Hey Tom,

What we did was simply purchase a return ticket. The difference in price between a one way ticket and a return ticket was less than $200. A fully refundable ticket is crazy expensive and if for some reason she needs to return, you will be out a lot of money. We simply bought the return ticket and will eat the $200 if the ticket isn't used.

Hope that this helps.

 

[Marticus]

No worries at all, Tom. Bartjones is a legend on this forum - he also helped me out a ton - so I'm just trying to pay it forward here. Particularily now, that I have more time on my hands, with the Canucks being out of the playoffs

1. We want to buy a ticket out of the country for my wife to show to the customs officer just in case. We need it be fully refundable. Does anyone know where we can get a fully refundable ticket out of Canada? Does it have to be a ticket to South Korea or can it be to the USA? Although we don't plan on having to use it, we want something that shows that we are ready for the possibility that my wife will no get permanent residence in Canada.

In my experience, fully refundable tickets are massively expensive. You can use expedia.ca (or the like) to give you the jist). My recommendation would be to YES get a round-trip ticket, for peace of mind at airport customs. Even if you aren't going to use the leg back for your wife - it's far cheaper, and at the end of the day, you might lose out on a couple hundred bucks. (There isn't much of a difference between one-way and round-trip). So, again, i would recommend buying a cheap-o round-trip (non-refundable ticket), save yourself a ton of cash on purchasing the official refundable ones, and just not using the leg back.

For example, to ballpark it for you

Refundable round-trip ticket = 3.5 million won
Non-Refundable round-trip ticket = 1.5 million won
Non-Refundable one-way ticket = 1.2 million won

So even with 'refunding' your money on a refundable ticket, you will actually lose out on more cash than you would if you just bought a non-refundable round-tripper and just flagged the return airfare.

2. When we arrive in Canada, we won't have health insurance. In Ontario, it takes 3 months before you get back on OHIP. My wife won't get health insurance until she receives her PR card. Can anyone recommend a good health insurance provider? Preferably one that covers the basics but not much more. We are healthy and would only be using it in case of an emergency.

Same in BC, with the 3 month thing. I'm not sure about me, I might just chance it for those 3 months, but for your wife, any travel insurance would be fine (do NOT book those off expedia, as those are for Canadian citizens only) - just go into a travel agent and make sure she gets the legit Korean travel insurance. Travel insurance will cover all emergencies for your wife while abroad. Not too costly, we went home from korea for a month last year, and I think it cost my wife 50,000 won for the month's worth of travel insurance.

I'm not sure for you (us) who are Canadian citizens in the 3 month limbo, but either 'chancing it' or perhaps buying our own travel insurance? Not sure if it counts as travelling when you are in your own country, waiting for healthcare to kick in haha, but i think it does?

 

[bartjones]

1. We want to buy a ticket out of the country for my wife to show to the customs officer just in case. We need it be fully refundable. Does anyone know where we can get a fully refundable ticket out of Canada? Does it have to be a ticket to South Korea or can it be to the USA? Although we don't plan on having to use it, we want something that shows that we are ready for the possibility that my wife will no get permanent residence in Canada.

I agree with what everyone else has said. Just buy a regular return ticket from Seoul. We did that and then got a refund on the return portion. It was the value of the return trip, less about $200. A fully refundable ticket will cost you too much.

2. When we arrive in Canada, we won't have health insurance. In Ontario, it takes 3 months before you get back on OHIP. My wife won't get health insurance until she receives her PR card. Can anyone recommend a good health insurance provider? Preferably one that covers the basics but not much more. We are healthy and would only be using it in case of an emergency.

I don't know much about private insurance. As far as the OHIP eligibility question, you may want to take a look at what I wrote in this thread.http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/important-ohip-eligibility-info-for-all-pr-applicants-residing-in-ontario-t56695.0.html

If you follow that process, your wife will become eligible for OHIP earlier than 3 months after she gets PR.

 

[Rob_TO]

2. When we arrive in Canada, we won't have health insurance. In Ontario, it takes 3 months before you get back on OHIP. My wife won't get health insurance until she receives her PR card. Can anyone recommend a good health insurance provider? Preferably one that covers the basics but not much more. We are healthy and would only be using it in case of an emergency.

My wife used this site to shop around for lowest cost emergency medical insurance while waiting for OHIP: https://www.kanetix.ca/travel-visitors-to-canada

We ended up paying around $50 a month for a basic plan. Actually used it once, and the claim process was pretty simple to get the money back.

 

[Red Tape Sucks]

I don't know much about private insurance. As far as the OHIP eligibility question, you may want to take a look at what I wrote in this thread.http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/important-ohip-eligibility-info-for-all-pr-applicants-residing-in-ontario-t56695.0.html

If you follow that process, your wife will become eligible for OHIP earlier than 3 months after she gets PR.

This is fantastic news!!! Thank you BartJones!!

I wonder if my wife will have that AFP status before we leave in July.... would be nice!

 

[CanNZ]

Did you ever find out what was insufficient about her first police check?

Also, how did you get the second police check? Family member or did you go the Korean embassy route?

Just wondering. This question seems to get asked here a lot.

It was the lapsed records, our original police check didn't cover it.

My mother in law got my wife's new one. My wife had to scan the info page on her passport and write a letter authorizing her mother to request the new police check for her, as well my mother in law had to go to the local gu office and get a family registry form proving that they were indeed mother and daughter. That was it.