Citizenship for the wife and kids only..is it possible?

[mamoudi]

I have a straight forward question and I appreciate any help and enlightenment.
My family and I just landed like two months ago. Because of high living expenses and tight job market, we decided that my wife and the kids will live here in Canada but not me. I’ll continue my work outside Canada to be able to support them. Certainly, I will not be able apply for citizenship or even renew my PR. However, will my wife and kids be able to get the citizenship if they satisfy all the requirements?
Thanks in advance for your input

 

[om saif]

yes they will.

I have a straight forward question and I appreciate any help and enlightenment.
My family and I just landed like two months ago. Because of high living expenses and tight job market, we decided that my wife and the kids will live here in Canada but not me. I'll continue my work outside Canada to be able to support them. Certainly, I will not be able apply for citizenship or even renew my PR. However, will my wife and kids be able to get the citizenship if they satisfy all the requirements?
Thanks in advance for your input

 

[eileenf]

As Om saif says, they will.

However I encourage you and your family to consider some issues you may run into further down the road if you decide to leave Canada and do not maintain your PR residence obligation:

1. If you are outside of Canada for more than 3 years out of any 5, you will be in breach of your PR residence obligation, meaning you will lose your PR status.
2. Without PR status, your right to enter Canada to see you family is much more precarious. It would be at the discretion of the border guard and subject to the visa requirements of your country of residence and/or origin.
3. Your wife and family will likely face increased scrutiny in their future citizenship application since you, a member of the immediate family, is living overseas. This may mean that their application will take a long time to finalize (2-4 years after it is submitted, as a guess). They will need to maintain their PR status until the day they take their citizenship oath.
4. Your wife and family should keep every bit of evidence of their life and residence here along the way, given that they are at risk for further scrutiny of their residence by CIC. This would include rental contracts, rent receipts, any work or volunteer documents, any traffic tickets, hydro bills, school records, report cards, attendance records, etc.

Two months is still not very long at all, so I encourage you to think through all the possible ramifications before separating from your family for years and facing all the incredible challenges and drawbacks of that. Immigration is a lot more traumatic a process than it seems like it's going to be and that our families, friends and colleagues at home are able to understand.

There is no easy path, but I wish you and your family luck.

 

[rsrz]

Although I agree with Eileen's comments on non-fulfillment of PR Residency Obligation for yourself and visa requirement for yourself once your PR lapses, I do not agree with the comment of the 2-4 year processing time - I personally know of several people whose families are in Canada while they work overseas. CIC's measures under Bill C24 (has now become Law) are geared towards a quick processing time of less than a year by 2016-17 . The only additional clarification that can be sought from your wife is how she supported herself during her stay here (as her tax return will be 'nil' since I assume she will not be working with you overseas) and the simple response to this will be that she was supported by her husband who works overseas.

The law is very clear - each application is assessed individually.

 

[eileenf]

Although I agree with Eileen's comments on non-fulfillment of PR Residency Obligation for yourself and visa requirement for yourself once your PR lapses, I do not agree with the comment of the 2-4 year processing time - I personally know of several people whose families are in Canada while they work overseas. CIC's measures under Bill C24 (has now become Law) are geared towards a quick processing time of less than a year by 2016-17 . The only additional clarification that can be sought from your wife is how she supported herself during her stay here (as her tax return will be 'nil' since I assume she will not be working with you overseas) and the simple response to this will be that she was supported by her husband who works overseas.

I agree heartily that 2-4 years could be wrong. We can't accurately predict individual processing times, especially 4+ years into the future! There are too many variables (CIC future budget, staffing levels, political climate, what local office, # of applications, merits of individual applications, implementation of new procedures, pilot projects, etc.)

However, I mentioned the 2-4 year timeline because it's better to assume there will be a challenges and then be pleased when things go smoothly rather than assume that everything will be perfect and then be knocked flat by an extra 2 years of delay and separation.

We've seen processing timelines of anywhere from 12-36 months over the last 4 years, so it's wise to remember that the situation is always changing. Some things that probably won't change though is that there will not be much political pressure to resolve "non-routine" applications in a timely manner and your wife's application may be at risk of being deemed "non-routine". It also might garner increased scrutiny under the "intent to reside" clause and result in less-than-optimal processing times.

I want to clarify, as my own application was deemed "non-routine", that that label doesn't mean the applicant has done anything wrong or is less deserving of citizenship!

Bill C24 offers no guarantees for processing times. Ministers have said that it will speed things up, but this is a political gesture rather than a factual one. The speed up that we are currently seeing (which Min. Alexander attributed to C24 even before any provision of C24 came into effect "Look it's already working! Even though it's not even in effect yet! Wow!") is due to the special $44 million one-time-funding that Parliament passed last year than C24.

Anyway, there are no official processing timelines or benchmarks for citizenship processing, so planning a life around things going perfectly is risky in my opinion.

The worst case scenario would be sacrificing so much as a family only to run into additional difficulties years later and decide that the sacrifice wasn't and isn't worth it. It's good to have a good sense of what you might be sacrificing before you commit to sacrifice it.

 

[May2014]

All the above is very true .. However we need to look at this in another's perspective also
1) you will be able to visit your family for the first 3 yrs until you cross the absence of more than that you may encounter some hardship ( questions ) upon entering via airport ... The law says that if the border officer confirms you didn't full fill your residency obligation .. He should report you .. Y enter Canada with 30 days allowance .. During this you can appeal .. ( which is a long process but I think requires you to remain ).. If you loose y loose yr pr status ... To tell you the truth but please don't hold me to this .. Usually you don't get reported ! However it may happen !!!
2) your family in the coming law for citizenship ( bill c24... I recommend you search it ) must remain for 4 out of 6 years with 183 every year prescence ... So again they can visit you in Christmas and summer holiday ...then upon applying they must reside or wait till they take the oath
Every piece of residence presence must be kept ( start a file ) hv your wife do volunteer work , find even a part time , survivor job ... This will strengthen her citizenship application to avoid what is known as a residency questionnaire due to being unemployed ! Which will lengthen greatly her grant of citizenship ... However she can renew her pr status ( but only 6 months before it's expired ) may also take time during which she can still visit but after it's expired cannot leave to visit you
3) some people ( not guaranteed ..) enter Canada with an expired pr ( most probably valid Ohip and driving licence) using their landing document via the land border through the US ... The officers at that end may allow this but again not guaranteed
4) there is also multiple visit visas ( again depending on your country of origin and office involved you may be given that or not )
That said .. Note the following
1) if your wife retains her pr by renewing it and you lost yours .. She can sponsor you for another pr status ( please read in this forum about this under sponsorship ) again a long process but a possibility !
2) if your wife becomes a citizen ( but must have a valid pr status to apply ) supposingly when she returns premanatly to live with you ( if then you don't hv a pr valid she can sponsor y to hv one ) every day you spend with her is towards your pr residency ( which you hv to accumulate 2 yrs out of 5 to renew)

My humble advice is as follows
1) try to organise the visits to ensure family integrity
2) go to a certfied immigration lawyers for consultation ( search for the list of those only certified immigration and citizenship lawyers ) to get a practical on earth advice of the current situation and their predictions
3) decide if you plan for your children to enter university in Canada as it is one of the best most safe countries for such purpose... And they can upon that age live alone as this country teaches you a lot of independence !
Living in Canada is a challenge ... Weigh your benefits and losses !!
Pls anyone is free to add , correct any info I provided here
Gdluck