Sweden said:
I'm in BC as well. The officer will give you the COPR signed ( the one without the picture, he will keep the one with the picture to issue the PR card, it will take about 2 months to arrive), and with that and her passport, your wife can go to any Service Canada office, and get her SIN ( it takes 10 min). The SIN card will come 10 days later to your address, but she will get a paper with the actual number, so if she needs to work, she'll be fine.
She can open a bank account with the copy of COPR ( + ID forms, ask the bank in advance). There are deals for new immigrants where you can get free banking for a year...
For MSP - I'm still in the middle of that, but it seems that if you are a resident of BC, you can add her already to your MSP, without waiting for the "3 months" period ( in BC it's actually 2 months + the remaining of the month when she lands).
if your MSP coverage is still current, you can go to the website and fill out the "MSP Account Change" form, adding her as spouse (applies to common-law as well). This will give her coverage as soon as it is processed, no 3 month waiting period - that's what I have been told, not sure it actually works, but worth a try.
Good luck, and congrats on getting it done!
Sweden
First, thanks to all the replies...nothing is as helpful as experience.
I should mention that what makes our situation a bit different is that even though we applied outland, my wife is visiting me here in Canada. As we're going through our Member of Parliament's office, they have been making enquiries into our file and since they knew she was here, they sent the two COPR forms to my address. I was under the assumption that these forms were all that were needed to start her procedure of getting medical coverage, SIN, all that stuff.
My MSP people told me yesterday that, unfortunately, they can't add her to my medical because she isn't a resident yet because she hasn't 'landed' yet (she's still technically a visitor). That's why I wanted to know what kind of paperwork she would get after she goes through the border. Now that I know she keeps one of the forms, then it makes more sense to me.
Since she's going to back home to pick up the rest of her belongings, she'll hand carry her COPR forms and present on the way back into the country. We're very fortunate that the paperwork went through so quickly, but I was kind of hoping that since she's technically approved as a permanent resident she could be added to my healthcare plan now, so that when she comes back from getting her things she'd be covered and we won't have to pay for more travellers insurance.
The three month (well, more like two plus the remainder of the month you land in Canada) waiting period looks like it's can't be waived, at least from what the woman from BC Health told me over then phone. This was the biggest source of confusion, because there are forms online like this one:
http://www.health.gov.bc.ca/msp/infoben/pdf/covering-a-spouse-or-child-who-is-an-applicant-for-permanent-resident-status-in-canada.pdf
"Ordinarily, the wait period for coverage for a spouse/child that is an applicant for permanent resident status consists of the balance of the month Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) accepts an application for permanent resident status, plus two months.
In some circumstances, however, the wait period may begin on the date the application fee for permanent resident status was received by CIC. This is provided there is no significant delay between the fee being paid and the application being received by CIC. Please note that although the wait period may begin based on the date the fee is paid, proof the application has been accepted for processing by CIC is required in order to confirm eligibility."
The way I read it, I thought that since CIC accepted our application months ago, we'd be able to get coverage as soon as her COPR forms were approved. Since all fees regarding my wife's application were paid months ago, there would be no issues getting her started right away. That appears not to be the case; as far as I can tell (and what my healthcare plan people tell me) is this: if you live in BC (which I do), you have to wait the remainder of the month from when your spouse enters Canada with her COPR forms, and is processed. Anything other than that, and she's considered a visitor and can't apply for any of the benefits (health, drivers license). And yes, we must wait the required two months-plus remainder of month that she landed.
That's where I'm at right now, but if anybody else knows of any other information (or someone I can talk to regarding this), please let me know. I know there's a lot of hoops to jump through, but at least the COPR is in our hands and it's just a matter of time now. The two months wait for the PR card shouldn't be a problem as she doesn't intend on going back to visit for at least a year.
After reading about having to keep her processed COPR form for essentially the rest of her life gives me concern, lol!...are they impossible to get another copy if something happens to it? I would think that after she gets her PR card that the information on her COPR form must be written somewhere in gov't and could be retrieved if something happens to the original. Is that not the case? And she'll need it for pension reasons?...these are things that concern me, in the long-term.
Thanks again for the help, everyone. I'll post up a timeline and more detailed review of our situation when it's all said and done, in hopes that our experience might help someone else in our situation. God knows I didn't get much guidance from the CIC 'information phone line'!
