Initial assessment complete: details/information/proof/plans as to your intent

[SquirrelBR]

I strongly advice you to call the CIC. They may very well still think your sponsor and/or you will not be in canada after. Perhaps they got something wrong, or perhaps its something specific to your case. Call them. Then inform us why they are asking you this. I'm sure everything is going to be fine, but first you must understand what exactly are their concerns.

 

[IslandAnnie]

SquirrelBR is exactly right (as was the earlier poster that suggested you call)! Your ability to provide what they are looking for is greatly increased if you understand why it was requested, rather than speculating.

 

[PerrinAyabara]

Update:

Well the CIC call center was utterly useless. I spent 20 minutes on hold just to be told by an incredibly bored sounding guy that they can't give me any information because my case is being handled in Ottawa and evidently Ottawa has no phones so the ONLY way I can make an inquiry for clarification is to email or fax the Ottawa office. He told me he'd send me the proper email address to inquire to me by email (he couldn't just tell me it over the phone?). So far, I've gotten nothing from him. Useless...

 

[IslandAnnie]

That's too bad. Now that you say that, I think I recall hearing that you cannot call Ottawa. I would just send everything you can from the earlier posters suggestion.

I'm sure they just want to see that you DO have a plan. You're almost done! Congrats and good luck to you.

 

[PerrinAyabara]

Ok, the email finally came and directed me to the Case Processing Pilot-Ottawa (CPP-O) website. Among the FAQ is some information I was not aware of stating that the Visa office in Buffalo New York (USA) was closed last year and that all of their applications have been sent to be processed in (what almost looks to be a temporary processing center) Ottawa.

Im emailing them for clarification. Looks like that's all I can do...

 

[fandv]

No, My wife is canadian and lives full-time in Canada and I was pretty specific on the application that I am a US citizen that spends a good portion of my time in Canada but not all of it. I applied outland at Buffalo because people here told me that was the best way to go.

So this is not typical?

Perrin...

I'd say: the letter that they sent you is really bizarre!

Here's the rule: a sponsor who is a Canadian citizen may sponsor his/her foreign spouse while the sponsor is living abroad, provided that the sponsor can show (strong) proofs of intention to resettle in Canada (with the sponsored person, obviously), once the sponsor's foreign spouse is granted PR.

So the facts are:

* Your wife is the sponsor, and she is Canadian
* You are the husband, an American, who is the sponsored person

The letter that they sent you would've been valid and would've made sense if your wife was living outside Canada while sponsoring you. Then it would've been their rights to want your wife to show proofs that she will settle permanently once you got your Canadian PR.

However...you told us that your wife lives full time in Canada...

So there's absolutely no reason for them to want proofs that your wife will want to settle in Canada, because she does in fact already lives there full time...

I think the following might've happened:

- The VO/CIC misunderstood your application....may be they mistakenly thought that you were the sponsor......or may be they mistakenly thought that your wife has been outside of Canada during the whole sponsorship process

or

- You might've inaccurately portrayed your situation in your application, causing the CIC/VO to misunderstand your situation.

or

- Admittedly, if we don't concentrate, the application forms can feel like they are traps.....when you finalised them, did you check to make sure that the fields were filled out correctly? It's possible that when it asks for the sponsor's name, you might've accidentally typed your name instead of your wife's.......and many other things could've gone wrong.....


If I were you, I would just send them a letter, clarifying that:

a. Your wife is a Canadian citizen, and she is sponsoring you
b. Your wife has been living in Canada the whole time, which means that there's no reason why she should provide any more proofs of her intention to resettle in Canada (how can she resettle when she's already living in Canada full time! ;D )
c. You are the sponsored person, who's obviously going to settle in Canada permanently, or else you wouldn't have submitted the PR application

The more senior members can probably advise better...

 

[PerrinAyabara]

"Admittedly, if we don't concentrate, the application forms can feel like they are traps.....when you finalised them, did you check to make sure that the fields were filled out correctly? It's possible that when it asks for the sponsor's name, you might've accidentally typed your name instead of your wife's.......and many other things could've gone wrong....."


I went through those forms about 20 times and had 5 other people go through them. The chances of that kind of mistake getting through are infinitesimally low.

I also sincerely doubt that an application with such a mistake would have made it this far in the first place since they have already said that they are looking to finalize and do not (at this time) require an interview. How would an application accidentally listing a US citizen as the sponsor make it this far into the endgame?


Any way you slice it, this is very bizarre.

Thank you for the information. I am emailing the Ottawa processing centre for clarification as to what they want and have included the information you suggested at the end of your post regarding clarifications that my wife is and always has lived in Canada and making sure to clarify that I am the applicant and she is the sponsor.

 

[PerrinAyabara]

As an aside, I am also confused as to why they are requesting an additional copy of my passport. Is that unusual as well? I am entirely sure that I sent a copy of it along with the application since it was on the list. Why would they need another one?

Is it possible that some of my paperwork was lost in the transition from the Buffalo offices to the centre in Ottawa?

I'm starting to get worried the more I think about this...

 

[IslandAnnie]

The request for copy of you passport is the GREAT news!! When they are getting ready to issue your COPR they ask the applicants for their passport in order to issue the Visa for applicants to land... as you are from the US and it is a "visa exempt" country they do not need/request your actual passport, so they only request a copy. They do this for everyone (even though they have copies from the application) and this usually means you are very near complete! So, no worries about the request for copy of the passport... just scan it and send as requested.

 

[fandv]

"Admittedly, if we don't concentrate, the application forms can feel like they are traps.....when you finalised them, did you check to make sure that the fields were filled out correctly? It's possible that when it asks for the sponsor's name, you might've accidentally typed your name instead of your wife's.......and many other things could've gone wrong....."


I went through those forms about 20 times and had 5 other people go through them. The chances of that kind of mistake getting through are infinitesimally low.

I also sincerely doubt that an application with such a mistake would have made it this far in the first place since they have already said that they are looking to finalize and do not (at this time) require an interview. How would an application accidentally listing a US citizen as the sponsor make it this far into the endgame?


Any way you slice it, this is very bizarre.

Thank you for the information. I am emailing the Ottawa processing centre for clarification as to what they want and have included the information you suggested at the end of your post regarding clarifications that my wife is and always has lived in Canada and making sure to clarify that I am the applicant and she is the sponsor.

Yes I also thought that the chance of you writing the wrong information was small (I wrote it only as a possible scenario....I didn't suggest that it actually happened ;D )

Plus...! They also made the passport request, so at least they were aware that they were writing to the sponsored person...

Another thing that just came up to my mind is: perhaps this has nothing to do with the sponsor-was-abroad-hence-having-to-provide-proofs-of-intention-to-resettle-in-Canada scenario afterall. Perhaps they simply want to know your future plans in Canada, may be just for fun, or may be.....I really don't know!!

If I were the VO, I wouldn't have wanted proofs of intent to settle in Canada from the sponsored person...

 

[fandv]

As an aside, I am also confused as to why they are requesting an additional copy of my passport. Is that unusual as well? I am entirely sure that I sent a copy of it along with the application since it was on the list. Why would they need another one?

Very normal. They always do that to sponsored persons who are citizens of visa-exempt countries.

 

[Rob_TO]

The letter that they sent you would've been valid and would've made sense if your wife was living outside Canada while sponsoring you. Then it would've been their rights to want your wife to show proofs that she will settle permanently once you got your Canadian PR.

Even then it doesn't make much sense. If a Canadian sponsor is living abroad, they go through the detailed check of ensuring they will move and re-settle in Canada, during stage 1 processing of the sponsor. If you read the Stage 1 operations manual for assessing sponsors living abroad, they demand quite a bit of proof to establish this. By the time the application is mailed to the stage 2 visa office... it's already been established the sponsor will settle in Canada.

So the ONLY reason stage 2 would be interested in this, is if they come across some specific info in the application that suggests the sponsor/applicant actually does not intend to reside in Canada. However in this case it would be cause to re-visit the sponsor application, and not for rejection of the applicant. As the operation manuals and instructions that the VO follows are currently written... there is NO reason for rejection of an applicant based on their intention to move to Canada. It's assumed if the sponsor is living in Canada, the applicant will also.

IMO, i think they ask these questions to perhaps do some more testing of the genuineness of the relationship itself. Its common practice (especially in interviews) to ask for seemingly unrelated info but then judge how the answer matches and compares with evidence/proofs given in other areas.

 

[fandv]

IMO, i think they ask these questions to perhaps do some more testing of the genuineness of the relationship itself. Its common practice (especially in interviews) to ask for seemingly unrelated info but then judge how the answer matches and compares with evidence/proofs given in other areas.

Totally agree...probably this has nothing to do with the sponsor-was-living-abroad scenario afterall...

 

[canadianwoman]

c. You are the sponsored person, who's obviously going to settle in Canada permanently, or else you wouldn't have submitted the PR application

CIC gets a fair number of applications from people they believe don't actually want to settle in Canada permanently - they just want the convenience of a Canadian PR or passport. Why they would think the OP falls into this category is beyond me - they are usually suspicious of such things when the sponsor has few ties to Canada and the applicant is a rich person from a poor country. Not from the USA, at any rate.

However, I think the OP should just write up his plan for his life in Canada with his wife, and send it in.

 

[Rob_TO]

CIC gets a fair number of applications from people they believe don't actually want to settle in Canada permanently - they just want the convenience of a Canadian PR or passport.

Do you mean the sponsor or the applicant?

I am curious has an applicant EVER been rejected due to this, and the reason given for rejection was "does not intend to reside in Canada" or something similar? I've read through the operation manuals the VOs follow, and can't find any reason whatsoever a VO would reject an applicant based on this, as it doesn't seem to be a criteria for rejection.

The sponsor definitely can be rejected for this reason... but the applicant i really can't see it, or i just haven't found the right manual!