Any information is appreciated....Thank You!

[jaimew123]

Hi everyone...thank you for taking the time to read my post. Any information that you have to offer will be greatly appreciated. I will explain my situation and hopefully someone will tell me if it is as complicated as I feel it is and what my next step is. Basically, I am confused as what to do next and wondering if this is a situation where I need a lawyer or if I am able to do it on my own.

I met my husband 14 month ago online. He lives in Canada (born and raised), I live in New York (born and raised). He is 42, I am 37. I have two children...18 year old boy (he will graduated in June of 2014 and go to college in the US in the fall of 2014, he will not move to or ever live in Canada)....13 year old daughter (she will be 14 when I plan to move, and she will move with me, I am currently in the process of getting full custody of her and court permission to take her to Canada with me).

August 17, 2014 is the day we were married. I have been able to visit him on several occasions in the last 14 months and we have talked on the phone for endless hours and skyped sometimes for 12 hours a day. We have a very strong relationship...just so no one thinks we jumped into marriage. Anyway, that is a little of the topic. LOL!

I plan to pack my son and send him to college in New York mid-August 2014, at the same time I plan to pack the rest of my life and my daughters life and move to Nova Scotia so that I am able to begin my life in Canada with my husband.

After lots of research I believe my first step in to fill out the sponsorship application and pay the fee, I have made a couple phone calls to immigration lawyers and have been told that even though my son will not be moving to Canada I still have to include him on the application and pay the extra fee and that he will also have to have the medical exam, as well and my daughter and myself.

What I do not understand is....do I have to apply for temporary residency or permanent residency, and do I do that application at the same time as the sponsorship application? Or do I wait until the sponsorship application is approved? If I plan to move August 2014 when should I start the application? I was told by one of the lawyers that I spoke with that I can move while my application is in process, so I do not have to wait to move (as I would like to move so that my daughter can start school in Canada next fall and not have to move mid-year)...is this true? Also, will I be doing an in or out of Canada application? Since I will be out of Canada when I start but move to Canada while processing this confuses me.

I understand that I will not be able to work in Canada until my application is approved, but I am in the process of getting into a flight attendant training, so by the time I move to Canada I will hopefully be working for an airline out of the US. So, in this case I will be able to work as I will be working for an airline in the States.

While reading some posts on this site and other sites I see that people have talked about pictures (of themselves and their partner)...is this a requirement? My husband and I both do not like having our pictures taken, we do have a couple of us together, I have several of him with my daughter, and a few from our wedding (it was not a big wedding, just by a Justice of the Peace). If pictures are required....what for? and who and when do these get sent?
I have proof of the fact that we spent 5 days last September in Toronto (such as a hotel receipt), and proof of my flight to Nova Scotia in February (plane ticket...was there a month), and proof that I drove to Nova Scotia for 7 weeks this summer (such as hotel receipt in Maine, took time off from work, consent letter for my daughter from her father to cross the border). What else should I be saving?

This is the basic information...if you have any information I will be very happy to hear what you suggest. If you require more details from me, please just ask.

Thank you so much for any advice you can offer.....Jaime

 

[Leon]

Your son needs to be included on your application if you were applying now because he is considered a dependent child by immigration until the age of 22. You can however include him as a non-accompanying dependent and therefore avoid paying the processing fee for him. He will however have to do the medicals and there is also a cost to that. If you wait with your application until the new year and until he turns 19, you would not have to include him because the rules for dependent children are about to change. Children 19 and older would then not have to be included. However, the sooner you apply, the sooner you get your PR.

If you apply while you are living in the US, you would apply outland. Moving before you get your PR is a little touchy because you are officially not allowed to move to Canada on visitor status. People showing up with their stuff in a u-haul have in many cases been turned away at the border. As a visitor, you would not get your health care and you may have problems enrolling your daughter in school. Therefore, it would be better to apply asap to make sure you have your PR before you move.

Photos and other proof of the relationship are needed to show immigration that it is genuine. You may know that it is genuine but immigration doesn't. There are many people who marry just to get PR and immigration is trying to prevent that. Scan the photos you have and print them out on paper and send them along. You can write little captions about where they were taken. If you email each other a lot, you can also take a screen shot of your inbox showing all the emails from him at different dates. Many people also print out selected emails, chat logs or whatever else they have. You could send copies of phone bills too.