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robertj01

Full Member
Sep 30, 2015
22
0
WOW. From the bottom of our hearts, we cannot thank you kind people enough. When we were in the dark, you were there to support us and I will forever be grateful for what you have done for us.

It ended up taking many many months to actually understand the process of the application and then pulling together all the pieces. But finally, in the first week of May we had our application ready to send in. One month later (June) we had confirmation that it had been recieved, two months later (August) I had been approved as a sponsor. Only four months later (December, a few days before Christmas) she had been approved as an applicant! We had drilled it into our heads that we shouldnt expect a response until atleast summer the following year so that envelope in the mail was quite the surprise. Due the the relatively short nature of our relationship (married less than 2 years) our acceptance is conditional.

Due to work and Holiday season we have not been able to make it into the Immigration Office to formally accept the conditions but will be doing so in the near future. However, we do have some new questions and concerns that once more we are lost regarding.

Particularily, what is the protocol surrounding time spent in the country? I have heard variants of rules from different people. You must stay in Canada for 6 months of the year OR that trips out of Canada for her should stay below a 2-week timeline OR that you must stay in Canada for X amount of time and that the time spent out of the country is actually considered double (So 3 months out is considered 6 months - This was particularily confusing advice). SO what is the protocol?
For example: Since an University education is offered for free in my wife's home country, is it possible for her to return home to pursue this degree while remaining a permanet resident here in Canada? Does our conditional acceptance affect this?

If it is not possible for her to go back home and study then the the next logical step would be to acquire Citizenship, correct?

Again, thank-you.
 
robertj01 said:
Particularily, what is the protocol surrounding time spent in the country? I have heard variants of rules from different people. You must stay in Canada for 6 months of the year OR that trips out of Canada for her should stay below a 2-week timeline OR that you must stay in Canada for X amount of time and that the time spent out of the country is actually considered double (So 3 months out is considered 6 months - This was particularily confusing advice). SO what is the protocol?
For example: Since an University education is offered for free in my wife's home country, is it possible for her to return home to pursue this degree while remaining a permanet resident here in Canada? Does our conditional acceptance affect this?

If it is not possible for her to go back home and study then the the next logical step would be to acquire Citizenship, correct?

Again, thank-you.

In order to retain her PR status, she must spend at least 2 years in every rolling five year period in Canada, or out of Canada with a Canadian citizen spouse.

If her degree course would be three years or less (or she could return to Canada during vacations), she could do that and retain her status. If you are a Canadian citizen & you accompany her, she can stay as long as she likes.

Citizenship will take about 4 years to qualify for, if she spends the time in Canada. If she spends time outside Canada with a citizen partner, she will accrue days towards retaining her PR-status, but NOT days towards earning citizenship.
 
Bcboundboy said:
In order to retain her PR status, she must spend at least 2 years in every rolling five year period in Canada, or out of Canada with a Canadian citizen spouse.

If her degree course would be three years or less (or she could return to Canada during vacations), she could do that and retain her status. If you are a Canadian citizen & you accompany her, she can stay as long as she likes.

Citizenship will take about 4 years to qualify for, if she spends the time in Canada. If she spends time outside Canada with a citizen partner, she will accrue days towards retaining her PR-status, but NOT days towards earning citizenship.

Spot on AIUI.

Suggest you are VERY careful here. Your wife needs 2 years in any 5 rolling years to retain PR etc. as described above. If she goes back for university, she could easily fall foul of this and she would lose PR. Either do the calculations very carefully and allow a good margin or apply for a course in Canada (and bite the financial bullet). Perhaps by the time you factor in air fares for her and accommodation overseas for this course, it might work out much the same to attend a local Canadian Uni??