Hi everyone, my wife was accepted, and has her passport with visa in hand!!! I received so much help from this board, and would like to cobble together a post to make points on issues I had. A bit of back info we have been together for 4 years, married in December 2009 and I have spent about 6 months of each of the past 4 years in Thailand with her. She has not been married previously and has no children.
here is my time-line:
Miss-C Received: March 2nd, 2010
Started processing: March 24th
Decision made: March 24th
Sing-C: Started Processing April 9, 2010
Sing-C: Sent out PPR Letter May 25th, 2010
Sing-C: Wife Received PPR June 1st, 2010
Sing-C: Mailed out Passport via to Sing-C June 7, 2010
Sing-C: e-Cas Updated to Decision Made June 15,2010
Sing-C: Received passport returned via June 16,2010
Worth noting is 2 other people from another site had timelines very similar to mine for Thai outland sponsorhsip.
Proof of relationship documents: there isn't much help I can give regarding filling out the forms but for our proof of relationship we included: a year of bank log showing proof of support, past passport entry stamps for myself, past leases in Thailand, 20 pictures about 8 from the wedding and 12 from various other points of the relationship including my family members and hers, TONS of phone-logs (used jajah VoIP, Yahoo Voice, some cellphones) and about 10 e-mails from early relationship.. it was about a 3 inch package.
Sponsorship Package: I received various different information about this (whether I needed an income level or not) so in the end just played it safe and included past tax levels. I am currently not employed, and have not been since Oct 2009! so you do not need to be currently employed to be eligible to be a sponsor. With that said, I do have + the LICO on all my past tax returns, and did include the paperwork requested from the CRA. Some lawyers have told me you have to have proof of past income, but I cannot verify this but I can verify you do not need current employment.
General Documents: Use colored sticky tabs for areas you don't fill in so you don't' miss anything when you come back to it. It worked great for me. I just went off the checklist they gave me and it seemed to work good as I did not receive any additional document requests. I was quite elaborate about all questions and would write more then less if I was unsure. I included excess documents at points I think but again, was under the impression better safe then sorry as an additional document request will add months of time! It's worth it to spend the extra few hours making the extra documents.
Payment: We paid the $1,040 up front via visa on their website and included an original print out in the package. I don't' remember what this covered, but it was 2 things I think the package review fee and a landing fee. I took the attitude better to pay all at once so they don't ask for more later making a bit of a delay.
Police certificate: Easy to get, you do not need a letter from embassy. Done for free in Bangkok, we took the train and could just walk from it to the police area. Took about 24 days to be mailed back from Bangkok to my wife's apartment in Chiang Mai. One thing I regret is we sat around waiting for this for quite awhile. You have to apply in person, so it is a trip to BKK! A good idea is to get it early then fill out your paperwork well waiting.
Marriage certificate: Registered in Thailand, ran into a small problem when we went to get this and the other documents notarized in that my middle name was on the marriage cert but not on the Canadian passport. The person notarizing didn't like this and delayed us about a week.
Medical Check: Very straightforward, we went to one of the designated centers with the required pictures, my wife went through a quick check out they gave us a form to include and we made a copy of it for ourselves. She also had to go to an x-ray (this was in Chiang Mai though so Bangkok or elsewhere might be a bit different and there might be an on site x-ray) and then brought the x-ray back to the examining doctor. He then mailed it off to Singapore. We did this check BEFORE we send the package into CMC-Mississauga so it is OK to do it like that. Can't remember the exact cost but I think it was 3,400 baht
Pictures w/ proper specifications: This was actually the most difficult part aside from waiting
It was impossible to find a company that would do it properly and not just print it out on regular photo paper then cut it down so it had improper borders ect. We ended up finally finding a spot across the street from the medical examination in Chiang Mai (big yellow Kodak place, so any CMers trying to apply check it out!) He had a print out of the Canadian requirements, so my recommendation.. make sure you go to someone with the print out already who is familiar with it. If you go to BKK first to get the police certificate get it done then. It was a serious pain in Chiang Mai, and imagine it could be worse in other areas!
Translation of Documents: All pages of the taibien Baan and the marriage certificate. We had to send it off to Bangkok and it was fairly pricey ($150ish CAD!) so be prepared it is expensive, but a necessity. It didn't take overly long about a week and a half with the delay. We used a translation service in Chiang Mai that mailed them to Bangkok
Mailing of documents: We sent the package to CMC-M via Canadian express post w/ tracking. They sent it to Singapore. Myself, as the sponsor received the letter confirming acceptance to sponsor my wife did not get one. Only my wife got the PPR letter! When she got the PPR we sent the passport and the additional documents via EMS express (Tracking) to Singapore. We included the specified return envelope and checked courier return. They returned it via DHL for about ~1,100 baht. The whole turn around took about 2 weeks.
e-CAS: My wife never looked at this, but as the sponsor it updated only a few times in the whole process: it let us know when CMC-M received the package, when they finished it and were contacting me. It updated again when Singapore received the app and started processing it, and then nothing until it was approved (decision made) in which it updated to "medicals received" and "a decision made, we will be contracting xxxx regarding the application". I accessed it repeatedly using the receipt number option, then entering my name birthdate ect.
So overall it was a long, stressful wait because you don't know what is going to happen but have hope! Some people do get through it quicker then the time-line listed. I hope this list helps people as I know I was confused at a few different stages and I tried to make outlines as to what I did! I hope this helps at least one person!!
GLUCK ALL!
here is my time-line:
Miss-C Received: March 2nd, 2010
Started processing: March 24th
Decision made: March 24th
Sing-C: Started Processing April 9, 2010
Sing-C: Sent out PPR Letter May 25th, 2010
Sing-C: Wife Received PPR June 1st, 2010
Sing-C: Mailed out Passport via to Sing-C June 7, 2010
Sing-C: e-Cas Updated to Decision Made June 15,2010
Sing-C: Received passport returned via June 16,2010
Worth noting is 2 other people from another site had timelines very similar to mine for Thai outland sponsorhsip.
Proof of relationship documents: there isn't much help I can give regarding filling out the forms but for our proof of relationship we included: a year of bank log showing proof of support, past passport entry stamps for myself, past leases in Thailand, 20 pictures about 8 from the wedding and 12 from various other points of the relationship including my family members and hers, TONS of phone-logs (used jajah VoIP, Yahoo Voice, some cellphones) and about 10 e-mails from early relationship.. it was about a 3 inch package.
Sponsorship Package: I received various different information about this (whether I needed an income level or not) so in the end just played it safe and included past tax levels. I am currently not employed, and have not been since Oct 2009! so you do not need to be currently employed to be eligible to be a sponsor. With that said, I do have + the LICO on all my past tax returns, and did include the paperwork requested from the CRA. Some lawyers have told me you have to have proof of past income, but I cannot verify this but I can verify you do not need current employment.
General Documents: Use colored sticky tabs for areas you don't fill in so you don't' miss anything when you come back to it. It worked great for me. I just went off the checklist they gave me and it seemed to work good as I did not receive any additional document requests. I was quite elaborate about all questions and would write more then less if I was unsure. I included excess documents at points I think but again, was under the impression better safe then sorry as an additional document request will add months of time! It's worth it to spend the extra few hours making the extra documents.
Payment: We paid the $1,040 up front via visa on their website and included an original print out in the package. I don't' remember what this covered, but it was 2 things I think the package review fee and a landing fee. I took the attitude better to pay all at once so they don't ask for more later making a bit of a delay.
Police certificate: Easy to get, you do not need a letter from embassy. Done for free in Bangkok, we took the train and could just walk from it to the police area. Took about 24 days to be mailed back from Bangkok to my wife's apartment in Chiang Mai. One thing I regret is we sat around waiting for this for quite awhile. You have to apply in person, so it is a trip to BKK! A good idea is to get it early then fill out your paperwork well waiting.
Marriage certificate: Registered in Thailand, ran into a small problem when we went to get this and the other documents notarized in that my middle name was on the marriage cert but not on the Canadian passport. The person notarizing didn't like this and delayed us about a week.
Medical Check: Very straightforward, we went to one of the designated centers with the required pictures, my wife went through a quick check out they gave us a form to include and we made a copy of it for ourselves. She also had to go to an x-ray (this was in Chiang Mai though so Bangkok or elsewhere might be a bit different and there might be an on site x-ray) and then brought the x-ray back to the examining doctor. He then mailed it off to Singapore. We did this check BEFORE we send the package into CMC-Mississauga so it is OK to do it like that. Can't remember the exact cost but I think it was 3,400 baht
Pictures w/ proper specifications: This was actually the most difficult part aside from waiting
It was impossible to find a company that would do it properly and not just print it out on regular photo paper then cut it down so it had improper borders ect. We ended up finally finding a spot across the street from the medical examination in Chiang Mai (big yellow Kodak place, so any CMers trying to apply check it out!) He had a print out of the Canadian requirements, so my recommendation.. make sure you go to someone with the print out already who is familiar with it. If you go to BKK first to get the police certificate get it done then. It was a serious pain in Chiang Mai, and imagine it could be worse in other areas!Translation of Documents: All pages of the taibien Baan and the marriage certificate. We had to send it off to Bangkok and it was fairly pricey ($150ish CAD!) so be prepared it is expensive, but a necessity. It didn't take overly long about a week and a half with the delay. We used a translation service in Chiang Mai that mailed them to Bangkok
Mailing of documents: We sent the package to CMC-M via Canadian express post w/ tracking. They sent it to Singapore. Myself, as the sponsor received the letter confirming acceptance to sponsor my wife did not get one. Only my wife got the PPR letter! When she got the PPR we sent the passport and the additional documents via EMS express (Tracking) to Singapore. We included the specified return envelope and checked courier return. They returned it via DHL for about ~1,100 baht. The whole turn around took about 2 weeks.
e-CAS: My wife never looked at this, but as the sponsor it updated only a few times in the whole process: it let us know when CMC-M received the package, when they finished it and were contacting me. It updated again when Singapore received the app and started processing it, and then nothing until it was approved (decision made) in which it updated to "medicals received" and "a decision made, we will be contracting xxxx regarding the application". I accessed it repeatedly using the receipt number option, then entering my name birthdate ect.
So overall it was a long, stressful wait because you don't know what is going to happen but have hope! Some people do get through it quicker then the time-line listed. I hope this list helps people as I know I was confused at a few different stages and I tried to make outlines as to what I did! I hope this helps at least one person!!
GLUCK ALL!