help about addresses....

[abedelia]

I am currently in Canada on a visitor record and I plan to say here (if possible) by renewing my visitor record until my PR status (sponsored by my husband, applying outland) is finalized. I'm a US citizen. I am currently on my second 6-month visitor record, so I guess I have technically been lawfully admitted to Canada for at least a year(?).

I have read on this forum that in this situation if applying outland while physically residing in Canada, it is best to give your residential address in the US because then if the Buffalo visa office gets backed up, they can transfer your application to a regional visa office. In addition, since I'm not a resident of Canada (I'm technically a visitor), I feel comfortable saying that I live in the US (I mean, I could be asked to leave Canada at any time and I have really no rights here).

However, it asks on the sponsor questionnaire if my sponsor lives with anyone. Well, he lives with me. It feels untruthful for him to say that we don't live together. We do live together, we're on a lease together, the electric bill is in my name here, etc.

How consistent does all of this need to be? Can I explain in a cover letter our rationale for answering all the questions as we have or should I just make sure all of the answers are very consistent? And if that is the best way, then what should I list as my address "where I live". Thanks!

 

[Leon]

Answer what you feel as being truthful and include a cover letter explaining your answers. That way, you are not lying about anything.

 

[canadianwoman]

You will have to prove your marriage is genuine. Having lived together is very good evidence of that - and the fact your name is on the lease and utility bills is great. Don't ruin this evidence by claiming you are not living with him. Writing a letter to explain everything is a good idea.

 

[RobsLuv]

I am currently in Canada on a visitor record and I plan to say here (if possible) by renewing my visitor record until my PR status (sponsored by my husband, applying outland) is finalized. I'm a US citizen. I am currently on my second 6-month visitor record, so I guess I have technically been lawfully admitted to Canada for at least a year(?).

I have read on this forum that in this situation if applying outland while physically residing in Canada, it is best to give your residential address in the US because then if the Buffalo visa office gets backed up, they can transfer your application to a regional visa office. In addition, since I'm not a resident of Canada (I'm technically a visitor), I feel comfortable saying that I live in the US (I mean, I could be asked to leave Canada at any time and I have really no rights here).

However, it asks on the sponsor questionnaire if my sponsor lives with anyone. Well, he lives with me. It feels untruthful for him to say that we don't live together. We do live together, we're on a lease together, the electric bill is in my name here, etc.

How consistent does all of this need to be? Can I explain in a cover letter our rationale for answering all the questions as we have or should I just make sure all of the answers are very consistent? And if that is the best way, then what should I list as my address "where I live". Thanks!

OK, a couple of things - first, no, you have not been lawfully admitted for at least one year. In order to have been lawfully admitted for at least one year, you have to be admitted for that long on your initial entry - it's not a cumulative total of time spent. So, you'll need to use a US residential address - even if it's just a family member's address - and then use your Canadian address as your contact/mailing address. It's not that it really makes that much difference - Buffalo will still at least start the processing of the application - and will likely finalize it, too, if there are no "issues" with it. If there is a problem with processing, or if you require an interview, then Buffalo will transfer the application to one of the other US visa offices (Detroit, NYC, Seattle or Los Angeles). Normally they send it to the office that is closest to your residential address, but if you use the "Interview Preference Location" form in Appendix A of the Region Specific Guides to designate an interview location close to your location in Canada, it will go there - but only if you're going to be required to attend an interview. If they are transferring only to "expedite processing", they will still send the ap to the office closest to your US residential address.

"Where you live" is the same thing as "What is your permanent address?" You are visiting Canada - you may consider yourselves to be "living together", and technically, you are - but for immigration purposes, you can't be. The fact that you are on the lease and utility bills is irrelevant - as spouses, you are not required to be living together. The only time lease agreements and utility bills factor into this process is when a couple is applying as common-law partners. So don't even go there. Your permanent address is in the USA - you are currently visiting your husband in Canada and it's okay to disclose that on the application where you're detailing your visits to substantiate your "genuine & continuing" relationship - but photocopies of your lease or your utility bills are not part of what you need to submit for that purpose. Living together, as spouses, is not what "proves" your relationship. Your marriage makes you an eligible PR applicant - the documentation of the development of your relationship, your contact with each other, your visits with each other, photos of you together - those are the things the prove you're "genuine". Hope that makes sense.

 

[abedelia]

RobsLuv, thank you so much, this is enormously helpful and clears up a lot. The only thing I'm still unclear about is what should my husband answer to the question "do you live with anyone"? It feels like a lie to say that he doesn't live with me. We live together like a married couple and intend to do so forever. And I have been here for over 6 months and immigration knows that I have every intention to stay here on my visitor record as long as they will let me. Do you know what the purpose of that question is? It seems like it's just to make sure you're not co-habitating with someone else (which would raise a red flag?)??

I wasn't planning to submit bills in our name together... I was planning to submit proof of joint bank accounts and copies of apartment leases we've held together (both currently and also in the past, when we both lived in the US together--my husband is a dual citizen), not to prove that we live together, but as proof that our financial affairs are intertwined. Does that sound right?

 

[BeShoo]

As strange as it seems, I think that your husband lives alone. Remember that you are not living in Canada--you are only visiting, so you are not living with him.

I think the purpose of the question is for situations other than yours, situations where the genuineness (?) of the marriage would be in doubt: he is living with an ex-wife, or and ex-common law partner, or he is living with his parents and they know nothing about you, etc.

I went to "live" with my same-s*x partner in the U.S. for 3 1/2 weeks in 2008. We used that time to essentially "try out" living together before we became really committed to each other. This consisted of me making lunch for him each day, dropping him off at school every day while I went to work on my university thesis, washing each other's laundry, shopping for food and cooking together, stuff like that. I want to say we were living together, but I suppose that legally we weren't. Any opinions on that are welcome. (I haven't sent the forms yet, though I tentatively filled in that we were living together.)

 

[abedelia]

Thanks to both of you. Here is what we did, in the end. He checked the box for "no", he isn't living with someone. And then wrote "see additional explanation, attached". Then we had an attachment to that form (it's the Sponsor Questionnaire) for explaining more details of the relationship. So on that attachment we just said "additional explanation about question 12". And he basically wrote that he wasn't sure how to answer that question. But that he checked no because I'm a visitor and not a resident of Canada, but that when I am visiting him in Canada, we "live" together like an ordinary married couple would. Something like that. I hope that was an OK thing to do.
Thanks for all of your help.