An Americal illegally in Canada, Inside or outside class??

[minx83]

I have been living in Canada for 3 years. I moved up to be with my girlfriend(who is now my wife) and she has been supporting me until we could get the money to apply. I try to cross the border back to the states(I am a US citizen) every so often jut to obey the visitor rules although I do not need
a visa so Its hard for them to tell how long I have actually been here. I know this is not the right way to do things but I'm already here now so it can't be changed. My question is that given the long time I have been living in Canada, must I use the In-Canada application? I'm concerned with the wait time and having no right to appeal. Most of all I'm worried that if I should have to go back to the States at anytime(my grandparents are not in the best health) I will be turned away when I try to re-enter Canada and will have spent a lot of time and money for nothing. I would prefer to apply out of canada class but them I'm not sure how to answer some of the questions relating to my residence. So when they ask for my address on the forms do I go ahead and put my address here in Canada or is it better to put my roommates address in the states? Or can I still put the address here in Canada as my mailing address and the address of my old roommate in the States as my perm. address? aren't they going to question why I have not lived at my perm. Address for the last 3 years? I dont' want to take any chances of my app being held up or refused. Also when it comes to the question asking your country of residence and your status in that country do I say that my status is a legal visitor in Canada since I Crossed the border as recently as March?

 

[mitamata]

I don't have all the answers, but I can tell you that you should definitely do an outland application. You can always do that one, even if you're legally living in Canada. It's faster and gives you the right of appeal. So by all means, forget about the "inside Canada" class.

It would probably be good if you visited us2canada, that forum has a lot of info on immigration to Canada from the US (you can find the link in RobsLuv's profile).

 

[shamrock]

Like minimata said, definitely go with outland. From what I hear overstaying can drag the inland process out a great deal, not to mention the no right of appeal thing and not being able to return to the US if you have a family emergency.

Your situation is very similar to what mine was. Until I applied for my PR visa this past April I had been living here since 2000. I went back to the US every few months to "reset the clock" so to speak, but I knew this was not the proper way to do things. We had a number of things that were obstacles for applying, including as you said the money...but in hindsight..the biggest reason was fear. Terrified that somehow if we did apply we could be refused, despite the fact that we've been together for 19 years, irrational I know.

We finally bit the bullet and applied from outside Canada in April. We were 100% honest about our situation and that I had lived here basically on and off for 9 years and I explained the reasons it happened that way in a letter I included about the history of our relationship. List your addresses however you feel is most honest and explain them further if you feel you need to in your letter.

During processing I stayed with my mother as she had not been well, but I visited home (Canada) for a week or two every month and never had any problems at the border. Less than five months later I am back in Canada with my wife, have my SIN # and am looking forward to starting the next chapter of our lives. My best advice is do it as soon as you can...I obsessed about all this stuff every day for the last nine years and I am surprised it didn't give me an ulcer to be honest and looking back I think we made it more of an obstacle than it really was.

Just get it done ASAP, be 100% honest about your situation, provide LOADS of proof of your relationship and hang in there...you'll be shocked at how soon all this stress will likely be over.

 

[minx83]

Thank-you guys so much for the help. It feels better to know that I'm not the only one! We've got pretty much everything good to go now. Just waiting on my criminal record checks to come back to me and then off for a medical. Anyone know what is involved in the medical? I know they do a basic physical and chest x-rays and bloodwork...what tests do they do with that bloodwork?? I'm not worried about illness or anything, just some...toxins that might be in my system....

 

[tgchi13]

We were 100% honest about our situation and that I had lived here basically on and off for 9 years and I explained the reasons it happened that way in a letter I included about the history of our relationship. List your addresses however you feel is most honest and explain them further if you feel you need to in your letter.

May I ask if you overlapped the addresses? We were thinking of putting the same period of time for my partners US address as for was his Canadian address and just state that the US address was his permanent address and the Canadian address was off and on during the same period.

I just think the room it would take to say three weeks there, two weeks here, crossed the border for a few days (etc) for 18 months is messy. But if you did it that way and won, I'd like to use your method.

 

[shamrock]

No, we didn't overlap addresses, just one ending and the next beginning and so on. I did explain further in my cover letter that my mailing address had always remained at my mother's address.

 

[tgchi13]

Thanks!

 

[The Littlest Hobo]

No matter where you are a resident you can always choose to go outland through your country of citizenship,so no worries on the outland application. Seems like you made the right choice there.

I don't expect they do drug testing during the medical, unlike the US, Canada doesn't take such a hard line on that, but someone else might have the real answer to that question. You should maybe start a new thread about that?

Cheers,
TLH

 

[Karlshammar]

They draw your blood during the medical exam to test for diseases. I'm not sure if drugs would show up on their test, and they do, what would happen...

 

[The Littlest Hobo]

Considering that any criminal record makes it horribly difficult to get PR to Canada and committing a crime while not a citizen might get you automatically deported... well maybe it's best to be extra cautious and just avoid all that "second hand smoke" at parties ;-) ??

Depends how badly you want in I suppose.

Or maybe you should apply for PR in The Netherlands? ;-)

 

[kevinsanders]

hey minx83, I completely understand your situation.

I've been living here in Canada as a visitor as well. It's extremely difficult since:
1) I can't legally work
2) I can't get a driver license
3) I can't apply for a credit card, cell phone or anything that requires a SIN number
4) I can't get medical coverage
etc. etc. etc

My problem is that my spouse and I are becoming parents soon and it would have been too difficult to leave abroad while she carries her pregnancy to full term. I had to be here to support her.
Not to play the victim here but, I feel that the processing times of the paperwork are somewhat unrealistic - and the fact that you can never reach a representative via phone to ask normal questions regaring your application is absurd. I sent them an email several times and the answer I received was "if you don't know how to complete the paperwork, hire someone to help you"

Summary: If you don't have very much money and time is a factor, it's extremely difficult to get into the country and do things legally. Though it's difficult I'm doing my best to do whatever it takes to keep things straightforward with Canadian Immigration and not break any of the regulations here.
Oh, and as an American, realizing how Americans are for the most part "disliked" and "looked down upon" here, it's taking alot of self-control to keep my mouth shut when it comes to my landing status. Am I alone with this opinion? Maybe, but I thought I would take the opportunity to let off some steam!
My answer to one of your questions: Put your canadian mailing address, they shouldn't discriminate against where you choose to receive your mail. Officially, you're in America anyway.

 

[tgchi13]

@kevinsaunders

send me a PM - there are a couple of items I can clear up, as they have been cleared up other posts.

tgchi13

 

[The Littlest Hobo]

it's extremely difficult to get into the country and do things legally.

Oh, and as an American, realizing how Americans are for the most part "disliked" and "looked down upon" here, it's taking alot of self-control to keep my mouth shut when it comes to my landing status. Am I alone with this opinion? Maybe, but I thought I would take the opportunity to let off some steam!
My answer to one of your questions: Put your canadian mailing address, they shouldn't discriminate against where you choose to receive your mail. Officially, you're in America anyway.

Hey Kevin, sounds like you're really frustrated and I totally get it! The system sucks, the wait times are totally outrageous for any normal person with a career or a family to support, you're treated like dirt... The only thing I say that might make you feel better is that many countries are even worse, France's is brutal and absolutely laughable with forms to fill and renew every few months and the only way to do anything is to wait in long queues to be given an appointment for 1 or 2 months later just to ask a question... and the US immigration system is supposedly downright horrid and inhumane, as well they don't even grant a work permit to the family members of spouses! It made me really start to despise the country I was working so hard to get into! So if misery loves company, well, you've got plenty of that... if it makes you feel any better.

And to top it all off you're getting hassled as an ambassador of all that's going bad in your country - that's really awful! It's not fair when people stereotype - that's really small-minded and I'm ashamed to hear that, as I think most Canadians feel proud of our reputation as an open, welcoming place without prejudice. :-( I hope that your experiences are the exception rather than the rule - I'm sure when people get to know you they can move past that although as you've no doubt come to realize, there's a HUGE difference in the mindset and the politics. I think over the years our two countries have sort of kept on feeding and furthering the rift, liberal Canada vs conservative US; in the 60s and 70s a lot of draft-dodgers and hippies and people who just disagree and don't like the gun-toting, electric chairs, flag-waving, or whatever bugs them, they slowly trickle North and establish themselves here while the opposite is also happening: the Canadians who really want to make money and don't feel the difference in values/policy bothers them need to move South to get rich since our taxes are high and we don't have the big salaries of the US so the rift grows and grows... I was in Cleveland with a group of Canadian women the day the US invaded Iraq. We met a really friendly café owner who was chatting and laughing with us on the street. When he found out we were Canadian he started shouting at us for not supporting the invasion, for being bad neighbours...

Hope you have some more progress soon and good luck with the pregnancy!
Cheers,
TLH

 

[kevinsanders]

thank you littlest hobo - I admit it did sound like I was whining instead of venting - but I'm glad that you have some insight to provide. Your words were very helpful to me.
One of the reasons my wife and I chose Canada (aside from the fact that her family lives here and she was born here)
We wanted to raise our child and start a family in a country with less crime, prejudice and a healthier environmental attitude.
Not saying that the US doesn't have these things but, we lived in a somewhat crimehigh area in the States with schools that were less than stellar, Canada seems alot more promising.
I hope to experience the full adaptation process of moving here once all the papers have been processed and I'm legal. I wish you all the same and would love to here some of your experiences. (especially if you have some comparisons to US vs Canada for family life)