Spousal sponsorship

[Sama.Karady]

I am currently a PR and I want to sponsor my husband (to-be), but I am not currently living in Canada.
If we get married, then I go to Canada for like 2 or 3 months, find a job, and send in the sponsorship and pr applications..I'll be sponsoring him outland...
If after I send the application, I travel back to my hometown and wait there till the PR is in process (18 months) then travel with him again, I will only have almost 3 months left in my 5 years...Will it be a problem for me to enter Canada and keep my PR?

 

[Leon]

I am currently a PR and I want to sponsor my husband (to-be), but I am not currently living in Canada.
If we get married, then I go to Canada for like 2 or 3 months, find a job, and send in the sponsorship and pr applications..I'll be sponsoring him outland...
If after I send the application, I travel back to my hometown and wait there till the PR is in process (18 months) then travel with him again, I will only have almost 3 months left in my 5 years...Will it be a problem for me to enter Canada and keep my PR?

As a PR, you must be residing in Canada in order to sponsor your spouse. If you leave Canada after having applied, you risk that immigration will find out that you are not in Canada and they will cancel your application.

If you meet the residency obligation as a PR, that is you have spent at least 730 days in Canada in your first 5 years as a PR and in the past 5 years if you have been a PR longer than that, you will not have a problem entering Canada with 3 months validity left on your PR card. If your PR card expires while you are outside Canada, you can apply for a travel document in order to return as long as you have spent at least 730 days in Canada in the past 5 years.

 

[Sama.Karady]

As a PR, you must be residing in Canada in order to sponsor your spouse. If you leave Canada after having applied, you risk that immigration will find out that you are not in Canada and they will cancel your application.

If you meet the residency obligation as a PR, that is you have spent at least 730 days in Canada in your first 5 years as a PR and in the past 5 years if you have been a PR longer than that, you will not have a problem entering Canada with 3 months validity left on your PR card. If your PR card expires while you are outside Canada, you can apply for a travel document in order to return as long as you have spent at least 730 days in Canada in the past 5 years.

Actually no, I won't have stayed the 730 days yet...Will the immigration office ask me for things after I apply for the application? I might try to manage and go to Canada in the last year and stay there until I finish my 730 days, but I'm still not sure about that.. Do you know who I can ask to know more about this issue?

And what about if they ask us for an interview ( my spouse and i ) will this be in Canada or in our hometown?


Thanks a lot =)

 

[frege]

Your children are Canadian. You just need to get their paperwork and then they can obtain Canadian passports. That means none of you can be refused entry into Canada.

My understanding from other posts is that the children are from a previous marriage and were not born in Canada - Please correct me if I'm wrong, Hungary.

 

[Leon]

Actually no, I won't have stayed the 730 days yet...Will the immigration office ask me for things after I apply for the application? I might try to manage and go to Canada in the last year and stay there until I finish my 730 days, but I'm still not sure about that.. Do you know who I can ask to know more about this issue?

And what about if they ask us for an interview ( my spouse and i ) will this be in Canada or in our hometown?

If you are still on your first 5 years as a PR, the residency obligation is met as long as you are still able to meet 730 days in Canada on your 5 year landing anniversary. If you are unable to meet these requirements when you try to sponsor your spouse, you will have a problem.

Basically, if you want to keep your PR, you should meet the RO. End of story.

If you apply outland and if immigration decides to ask for an interview, they will likely ask you to interview in Canada and your spouse at the visa office that is processing your case.

 

[Hungary]

Your children are Canadian. You just need to get their paperwork and then they can obtain Canadian passports. That means none of you can be refused entry into Canada.

Personally, I'd think the risk of being reported isn't that high anyway. The CBSA officer has the right to accept your arguments and with a Canadian family and you being a PR moving back now that you know it's an option I suspect that's where it all ends. But even if they report you then you can appeal from inside Canada.

If they reject your appeal, you would stop being a PR but can then be sponsored from inside Canada (no legal status is required for inland sponsorship).

Bottom line: you end up where you want to be and can then proceed forward while you are all together. The PRTD approach likely means living apart for quite a while to process tons of paperwork.

Computergeek , the kids are not Canadians, they are from my previous marriage which was a mistake btw so I got divorced and my now Husband flew to me right away to propose. So the kids are not his. Although I have the full custody and a declaration from the father written by the judge that I am allowed to take the kids permanently abroad. (anywhere not only to Canada).
So I would LOVE to go to Canada to be with my Husband only I don't know what will happen to the kids this way out there. They are so tiny, the schooling won't be an issue for another 3 years so that's okay. But what if they have to leave after 6 months? or they can simply stay with me? Hmmmmmmmmm.... ???

 

[zardoz]

Hi
I am new to this group.

Please tell me one thing.I have applied for my spouse visa this month only and my wife she is in Canada. If she come to India for a month. Is there any problem occur in my spouse case or not

If your wife is a Canadian citizen, no problem. If she is a PR, then a month might be a little bit too long. PRs are supposed to remain in Canada during the application processing except for short periods. How long is "short"?

 

[frege]

Computergeek , the kids are not Canadians, they are from my previous marriage which was a mistake btw so I got divorced and my now Husband flew to me right away to propose. So the kids are not his. Although I have the full custody and a declaration from the father written by the judge that I am allowed to take the kids permanently abroad. (anywhere not only to Canada).
So I would LOVE to go to Canada to be with my Husband only I don't know what will happen to the kids this way out there. They are so tiny, the schooling won't be an issue for another 3 years so that's okay. But what if they have to leave after 6 months? or they can simply stay with me? Hmmmmmmmmm.... ???

This raises a good question.

Computergeek or Leon, say she returns to Canada with the kids, gets in, and then applies for a TRV/TRP for them.

In order for your residency obligation to be investigated, it has to be "at examination", which I understand can occur only after you have made an application of some kind to an immigration officer (to enter Canada, to sponsor someone, etc.). If she applies for a visitor extension on their behalf, would this be allowed, legally, to trigger an investigation about her? Or am I way off base?

Hungary, I agree the kids' legal status will be something of a problem. Overstaying would - possibly - make them inadmissible for sponsorship (for non-compliance) unless they left the country at least once before the sponsorship process began.

I don't know about BC, but here in Quebec, the kids would be covered by Medicare. On the other hand, they wouldn't be eligible for free tuition until they became PRs.

 

[Hungary]

Frege, thank you for your answer... I thought that the kids' status will cause problems...
It would've been too nice to be true anyways..
I suppose I will have to apply to Vienna, submit the TD for PR, and fill out the H&C part in a smart and honest way. Or maybe my case wont be good enough to win their sympathy.....
I am wondering how long would it take, and I already emailed them but no reply yet.
Maybe I could phone them... i dont know.
BUT have a look at this, if you scroll down it shows H&C cases processing time, I know it is inside Canada, but what if it is something same outside Canada? I just have to sit here and wait for maybe years? I mean I would sooner drop this PR from earlier and apply for sponsorship.
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/perm-other.asp

How can I find out what to do? I need an immigration lawyer for sure.

 

[Leon]

If she applies for a visitor extension on their behalf, would this be allowed, legally, to trigger an investigation about her?

I don't think so because for a sponsorship application for the kids, she needs to do an address history but for a TRV extension she doesn't so there would be nothing on paper to attract the attention of immigration to the fact that she doesn't meet the residency obligation. However, they might be suspicious and want to know why she isn't applying to sponsor them for PR and they could refuse their visitor status extensions. She could also keep their status alive by having them leave the country and return on a regular basis to get entered for 6 months again. However, if she goes with them, she is at risk every time that immigration may decide not to let her in and she will have to tell them about her PR status in order to be allowed in and then they may report her for not meeting the residency requirements. It would be simpler if the grandparents or father of the children come and pick them up and bring them back.

Staying for 2 years is a fairly simple thing if you get in if you are alone or with a PR family but as soon as there are non-PR kids in the picture, it quickly becomes complicated.

 

[Leon]

BUT have a look at this, if you scroll down it shows H&C cases processing time, I know it is inside Canada, but what if it is something same outside Canada? I just have to sit here and wait for maybe years? I mean I would sooner drop this PR from earlier and apply for sponsorship.
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/perm-other.asp

You are looking at processing times for permanent residency for H&C grounds and refugees inside Canada. You are not applying for permanent residency on H&C grounds, you are applying for a travel document. Completely different ball game. You should ask Vienna about the processing times but they will not be that long.

If you don't want to do it, you can just skip the H&C grounds all together and ask them to revoke your PR. That is still an option. Then you can apply for sponsorship.

 

[frege]

Frege, thank you for your answer... I thought that the kids' status will cause problems...
It would've been too nice to be true anyways..
I suppose I will have to apply to Vienna, submit the TD for PR, and fill out the H&C part in a smart and honest way. Or maybe my case wont be good enough to win their sympathy.....
I am wondering how long would it take, and I already emailed them but no reply yet.
Maybe I could phone them... i dont know.
BUT have a look at this, if you scroll down it shows H&C cases processing time, I know it is inside Canada, but what if it is something same outside Canada? I just have to sit here and wait for maybe years? I mean I would sooner drop this PR from earlier and apply for sponsorship.
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/perm-other.asp

How can I find out what to do? I need an immigration lawyer for sure.

Hungary, I do think you should speak to an immigration lawyer. Before relinquishing your PR, you need to be sure that there is nothing that would prevent you or the kids from being sponsored later. This is unlikely, but it is possible.

There is a useful table for visa officers facing this kind of PRTD application on pp. 25, 26 of OP10. One possibility would be to apply for a TRV.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/manuals/op/op10-eng.pdf

Edit: If you could move to Canada for a year to be with him, and then he moved outside Canada to be with you for a year, you'd be in the clear to sponsor the kids. Your total time together in the same place since you got married would need to be at least two years.

 

[Hungary]

Yesss I was thinking about that at first as well. Not to ask for H&C and ask them to revoke my PR so we could be sponsored with the kids. Maybe we will choose this way, only I need to get an answer somehow about the processing time for h&c.
OMG thanks Leon soooooooooo much for opening my eyes about this h&c stuff, I didn't realize it was that. Huuuuhhhhh what a relief ;D :-[ :
Hoooow do you Guys know so much?! This is crazy, I mean I learnt a lot about the sponsorship which was my original case and I wanted to see clear, but you all know EVERYTHING : great help for everyone

Ooohhhh and what about my Husband taking the kids to the US for a Weekend. Oh no, not good either, Hun is not visa exempt for the USA ... And I would die without them even for a weekend so never mind.

Okkkaaay so either travelling back and forth for for time, 6months *4 so I gather the two years , but risk to be reported..... Or submit to Vienna and decide to try H&C or ask them to revoke it and resubmit sponsorship. Oh wow. Yes, this is just me, the more complicated the more JUST ME :-\

 

[frege]

Ooohhhh and what about my Husband taking the kids to the US for a Weekend. Oh no, not good either, Hun is not visa exempt for the USA ... And I would die without them even for a weekend so never mind.

Hungarian tourists are eligible for visa waivers for the US: http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/without/without_1990.html

They can enter for three months at a time, just like people from western Europe.

 

[Hungary]

Ooooooooohhhhhhhhh I heard about this ESTA thing, only I never read about it, what could it be oh well, this could be a solution.... Only if I join them (kids and husband) i could be still caught being a PR at the US- CA border and again could be reported.