Covid related travel restrictions

[Shonil Vijay]

Hi All,

I have been in the US for the past 5 years and was now relocating to Canada.
I applied for the work visa and was issued a W-1 visa for myself and a visitor visa V-1 for my wife and a student visa S-1 for my daughter in January 2020.

I had planned to relocate to Canada on 21st March 2020.
Due to the Covid lockdown, I postponed my travel by a few weeks and then attempted to travel on 22nd April 2020.
I was denied entry at the Toronto airport by CBSA, stating that the travel was not essential.

Now I am back in the US from the last two months and waiting for the covid lockdown to ease.
I recently got to know that I could now travel to Canada and there is no longer a requirement to meet the needs for the essential travel.

However the question that I have is that, how can I relocate with my family.
Will they be considered as dependent visas along with mine and granted entry.

 

[Shonil Vijay]

Just to add to the above,
My current US employer has operations in Canada and had created the Intra-company transfer opening for me to get me the work visa.

 

[scylla]

Hi All,

I have been in the US for the past 5 years and was now relocating to Canada.
I applied for the work visa and was issued a W-1 visa for myself and a visitor visa V-1 for my wife and a student visa S-1 for my daughter in January 2020.

I had planned to relocate to Canada on 21st March 2020.
Due to the Covid lockdown, I postponed my travel by a few weeks and then attempted to travel on 22nd April 2020.
I was denied entry at the Toronto airport by CBSA, stating that the travel was not essential.

Now I am back in the US from the last two months and waiting for the covid lockdown to ease.
I recently got to know that I could now travel to Canada and there is no longer a requirement to meet the needs for the essential travel.

However the question that I have is that, how can I relocate with my family.
Will they be considered as dependent visas along with mine and granted entry.

You should be allowed into Canada but the answer is not as clear for your wife and daughter. Their travel may be categorized as non-essential and it's possible they may be turned away.

 

[Shonil Vijay]

@scylla Thanks for your reply.

I have a follow-up question,
Is there a dependent visa for Canada, like here in US viz. L-1 and L-2 (dependent), H-1 and H-4 (dependent).

I also would like to know can we make a case to CBSA, stating that me as well as my dependents are out of status here in the US as our visas have been exhausted (5 years for L-1). And that they are my dependents and hence need to travel with me.

 

[hv2407]

There are only 2 types of visas for spouse. 1. Visitor Visa and 2. Open work permit. Does your wife’s visitor visa applied based on your work visa? Meaning if she has the same end date as you ?

 

[Shonil Vijay]

My wife's visitor visa was applied based on my work visa, and it has the same expiry date as mine.

 

[hv2407]

Then that’s the dependent visa for Canada. Call CBSA and check with your case. But it’s upto the discretion of CBSA agent at POE.As you have valid work permit and a job offer, it is mostly allowable case.

 

[Shonil Vijay]

@hv2407 thanks for the reply

I will call CBSA and get the confirmation.
Also is there an email address for CBSA that I can use so that I would have any communication that I have with them in writing so that I can get some supporting information to show to the agent at the POE.

 

[hv2407]

Good luck ! Please do let me know what response you get from them. I’m in a kind of similar situation to you. But my husband is already in Canada and I have got Visitor Visa before he entered Canada so there is no connection to his work permit. I am worried about getting denied as I will be not able to return to US with my expired stamped visa even though I have valid i797.

 

[deepi06]

Hi,

I read the guidelines for inviting extended family members to canada and read that Sibling is considered as an extended family member. I have looked through the website and cannot figure out if my brother-in-law and 4 year old niece can also travel with her?
All of them have 10 year canadian visitor visas, and they visited me last year for the summer. I am a canadian citizen and was planning to get married earlier this summer but COVID struck and ruined everything. We are planning to have the wedding with limited family members now, and am not clear if my brother-in-law and niece can even enter canada. I have my house where they all can quarantine the mandatory 14 days.

Please, any help is appreciated.

Take care.

 

[Bs65]

As per other reply to your post in another thread your sister could probably qualify as a sibling through extended family option but not your brother in law or niece. Depends of course when this visit would be whether the restrictions will still be in place in some form which seems highly likely at the moment even should a vaccine become available.