DESPERATE FOR SOME ANSWERS

[catjane]

I have been trying to figure out how to immigrate my American husband to Canada. Here's the complication. I am Canadian and have been married and living in Florida for the past 10 years. We now want to move to Canada from here. Does anyone know what he needs to cross the border with me and all our belongings? Our house is up for sale and we are looking for a place in Canada. I can't seem to find information on this anywhere. Does anyone know the Canadian Immigration phone number. My husband wants to apply after entering Canada, not before as that would take too much time. Is this possible? I don't want to show up at the border with all our stuff and find out he can't cross. Please help! Thanks

 

[Jurjen]

If you can't find information (not even the phone number), it looks like you didn't even try to find it. Start reading on http://www.cic.gc.ca/ and you'll find a lot of information (including their phone number).

By the way: writing your name in capital letters is not helping, it's rather annoying.

 

[kelKel]

Well first off before you sell your house quit jobs ect you should definitely do some research. Your husband can't move up to Canada with all his belongings. Doing that would most likely give concern to the border and they may not allow him in. You can submit an application now while you're both living in the States. If it's a straight forward case you may even be approved before you come up here.
You download the forms at the above posted link. You need to provide documentation if your relationship. You've been together for 10 years so that shouldn't be tough. Also you need to submit evidence you're planning to move back to Canada and reestablish yourself here.

 

[Baloo]

Selling up right now would be a bit premature.

Your husband can come to Canada as a visitor - as long as he meets the conditions defined at http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/index.asp
Click the link, "Who is eligible" then check out the section on Inadmissibility.
You should also look at "Visa exempt – Important information for travellers".

As a visitor he needs to show that he has ties to the USA and that he will leave Canada at the end of his visit.

IMHO You need to read a lot more before you jump in...

 

[catjane]

First of all my name isn't in capital letters and so what if it was. I have been researching for the past 10 years but now I go to court Jan. 19th and have to ask for an extension which at the most will be 120 days, if I'm lucky, which only gives us until May 2011. I should have had the house on the mret months ago.

I have printed out applications and I have called both the Buffalo border, the Buffalo Consulate, the Miami consulate and still can't seem to figure how to cross him. What I want to know is this: Should he apply before we go, which could take up to six months, which I don't have, or just go and have him apply while in Canada. The reason we are selling the house is because we have to move and very soon. My husband is disabled and can't do it on his own, so we need to go together. Why can't we bring "our" belongings across the border if we are going to live in Canada? Does the Canadian gvt. expect us to sell everything we own and start over? The border officer told me we could bring everything but that it would all have to be catologued.

This is all a little more complicaed for anyone here to help, so I'll go back to my research and trying to find a phone number for Immigration Canada that I can actually call from Florida. The phone numbers listed, you can't call from the states, believe me, I hve tried.

 

[catjane]

If you can't find information (not even the phone number), it looks like you didn't even try to find it. Start reading on and you'll find a lot of information (including their phone number).

By the way: writing your name in capital letters is not helping, it's rather annoying.

My name isn't in capital letters and, excue me, but your rather annoying for even nitpicking about that rather than trying to be helpful. Those phone numbers listed on that site (which I have been to a million times) are for Canada only....go check it out. do you think I would come here and ask anything if I could find it myself?

 

[Baloo]

do you think I would come here and ask anything if I could find it myself?

Actually many people do.

 

[kelKel]

Catjane You can definitely bring all your belongings into Canada as a returning resident, no problem there. Like I said earlier you could get your application in as soon as possible. Many spouses come into Canada and wait out the process. The issue is the border officials might be concerned with your husband bringing all his belongings with him as until he us granted Pr he is only considered a visitor. I'm sure he'd be given a visitor record which you extend once here. Get everything for your application ready and send it asap. Some people being processed in Buffalo have be getting through quickly.

 

[Baloo]

First of all my name isn't in capital letters and so what if it was. I have been researching for the past 10 years but now I go to court Jan. 19th and have to ask for an extension which at the most will be 120 days, if I'm lucky, which only gives us until May 2011. I should have had the house on the mret months ago.

I have printed out applications and I have called both the Buffalo border, the Buffalo Consulate, the Miami consulate and still can't seem to figure how to cross him. What I want to know is this: Should he apply before we go, which could take up to six months, which I don't have, or just go and have him apply while in Canada. The reason we are selling the house is because we have to move and very soon. My husband is disabled and can't do it on his own, so we need to go together. Why can't we bring "our" belongings across the border if we are going to live in Canada? Does the Canadian gvt. expect us to sell everything we own and start over? The border officer told me we could bring everything but that it would all have to be catologued.

This is all a little more complicaed for anyone here to help, so I'll go back to my research and trying to find a phone number for Immigration Canada that I can actually call from Florida. The phone numbers listed, you can't call from the states, believe me, I hve tried.

Your husband is very unlikely to be able to take all his belongings into Canada before he is a PR.
Being married to a Canadian does not bestow any rights or privileges upon him.
He would be a visitor until he becomes a PR, visitors "visit" they do not "move".

The Canadian Government makes the rules, not people here. You have advice, it was given based upon the information that you provided in your post.

What does the court have to do with an extension? Canadian visa extensions are not normally limited to 120 days. I assume this is something being processed in the USA?

If the case is complicated then it may be better if you contact an immigration lawyer.

 

[MandiF]

I have printed out applications and I have called both the Buffalo border, the Buffalo Consulate, the Miami consulate and still can't seem to figure how to cross him. What I want to know is this: Should he apply before we go, which could take up to six months, which I don't have, or just go and have him apply while in Canada. The reason we are selling the house is because we have to move and very soon. My husband is disabled and can't do it on his own, so we need to go together. Why can't we bring "our" belongings across the border if we are going to live in Canada? Does the Canadian gvt. expect us to sell everything we own and start over? The border officer told me we could bring everything but that it would all have to be catologued.

This is all a little more complicaed for anyone here to help, so I'll go back to my research and trying to find a phone number for Immigration Canada that I can actually call from Florida. The phone numbers listed, you can't call from the states, believe me, I hve tried.

This forum is a really good place to research and find out a lot of information about partner sponsorship into Canada. We're all either going through or have previously gone through the same frustrations and stress and I think one of the things that might be really useful for you is to have a good read of the forum to see other people's experiences and the information that is already up there.

You might want to start by ready the basics, as you seem not to be aware of them and the best place to start with that is the very very first thread on the forum here http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/spousal-sponsorship-t46995.0.html. This thread will give you the initial basic overview of what you need to do in order to obtain PR status for your husband.

Once you've read that any other questions you may have, you can use the forum search which is on the top right hand part of the page. Just as you would with any search engine, just put in what you are trying to find out i.e. CIC phone number and it will bring up a lotof posts that have this information in. It might first off have inside Canada numbers, but if you take your time and look, then it will also have the out of Canada number. Or if you are unable to find it there, you could always look on the CIC website which will have a link to the Buffalo VO which will also give you the number.

Also please note that no one can advise you whether it is best for your particular situation to apply one way or the other, you must make that decision yourself after taking in all the information and experience of everyone here.

We're all here to help each other, but I think you need to make an effort to try and locate the answers to your queries from the information already here first, and once you've exhausted that, then request additional information which most people who have had a lot of experience with will be happy to help.

 

[ditta]

Hi Catjane,

Please don`t be so defensive or take it too personally what you got in the previous answers. It is a very helpful forum with great people who do want to help each other.
First, you can contact CIC from outside via Foreign Affairs Canada:
+1 613 944 4000 (for an agent: options 1,2,1,2,1 ... then 0 to skip the message)

Second, you have two options:
1. Apply right now for your husband`s PR while you are still in the States. You apply through Buffalo and if you have a straight forward case he more likely to get it in less than 6 months. If you choose to apply outland and want to move to Canada, there is no guarantee that your husband will be let in. The border usually suspect that spouses will not return to their home country after their visitor visa is up if they have a PR in process.

2. Move to Canada and apply inland. In this case your husband come as a visitor and the PR application will put him on implied status that means he can stay during the process, also if you get First stage approval he can obtain an open work permit and begin to work, get health coverage. Inland processing is way longer than outland and there is no right to appeal if they refuse it.

The reason why you cannot bring all your belonging and your husband as well when you cross the border is simple. Your husband going to arrive as a visitor and the border officer will doubt whether he is going to go back (I know you want to stay but the border officer has to be convinced that a temporary visitor is staying temporary).
You could cross the border with your husband and I`m sure you could organize that your belongings will follow you somehow.

Hope that helps.

 

[kiwikris]

Inland first stage approval is 9 months vs outland 30-40days. Second stage Inland can take up to 9 months and can be even longer if your file is transferred to your local office. Outland second stage vaires between countries. Buffalo does seem to process quickly. If you say to the border people you are planning to apply for PR they can refuse you. It is like a lottery dealing with border services
Also when applying Inland you shouldn't leave the country as there is no guaruntee you will be allowed back in and you will have to do the process outland anyway.

It depends which direction you want to take. I hope this has helped a little. For more info on Inlanders read the threads and there are Buffalo ones as well. Takes a while but well worth it!

 

[catjane]

Thanks people, lots of good information here. I know the best thing for me would be to go to Canada first, then have him apply and come over, but he's different than most people and doesn't do stuff on his own too well. He'd just be overwhelmed with having to move everyhing. I just don't know what to do. the states wants to send me back, I may not even get an extension of removal, but he would be lost without me. I am the backbone of this family and it's all just so overwhelming for him. If I would have known any of this was going to happen, I would have stayed in Canada.

I'm not getting my back up, but you have no idea what I've been through and the thought of having to live wthout my husband is very sad and upsetting to me, then to come here and have someone snap at me about using caps....sorry, just kind of pissed me off. None of this is fair or right. I am Canadian and I love my country, but I question an immigration department that would cause this much pain for a family and split them up, make life difficult just because my husband wants to move to Canada with me. I can't come back and help him with the move or the sale of the house and he can't do it on his own. He is alone here, no family, just me. I'll call that number and see if I can get him in somehow. I just need a little support from someone that this will work. I won't have any place to live in Canada if he stays here...period. We move together, or we don't move at all and we go underground.

 

[heatherusa]

Get the application typed up and sent in as soon as possible. Some people have had no problems successfully bringing their spouses across by showing that their application is in process.

I am not saying that you will be able to get him across that way but having the application in process can help.

Others on this forum have made the mistake of trying to import their belongings before they had PR and it has caused them to be denied entry in to Canada... and even get exclusion orders because they misrepresented the truth at the border.

I crossed as a returning resident with a UHaul full of stuff that was "mine". Some of the boxes had stuff in it that was technically my husbands but the majority of it was household stuff that I claimed as my own.


There is nothing to stop you from moving your belongings to Canada as a returning resident and then have your husband fly up to visit you shortly after you land. The problem with getting across the border is that he has to be able to show that he will leave if he is required to. It is always a risk.

An outland application will take approximately a month to get sponsorship and then if your application is complete and straight-forward and your relationship obviously genuine then you can get approval anywhere from 2 months to 9 plus months.

Bear in mind that putting the application together can take quite a while. It took us 2 months to get the application all put together and we sent it off before we had the FBI certificate - we have been married 12 years.

Good Luck

 

[waitingintz]

Hi Catjane

If you want him to come across with you, you just need to demonstrate that it's a temporary visit at the border. My best suggestion would be to bring your stuff across as yours and bring evidence of his maintained residence in the US. This might mean evidence that he's taking leave from work and is expected back or a lease agreement (do you know someone who could "rent" a room to him at low cost?), current phone bills etc to show that he hasn't severed ties in the US and is simply coming to help you settle in etc.

Keep in mind, however, that the inland application process is long so you'll want to have everything ready to go as soon as you arrive in order to avoid his allowed time to lapse. FBI certs etc seem to be a big hold up for many Americans.

The other option is to apply outland and hope he doesn't have to go for an interview (in which case if you can't go with him, hopefully someone else can). If you apply outland and then cross into Canada soon after, the application probably won't come up on their system yet.