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Moving to Canada with spouse who has visit visa

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nin_ja

Star Member
May 20, 2016
54
2
Hello,

I am a Canadian PR who lives in US because of my employment, with my wife. Because of a change in my employment situation we will finally be moving to Canada (I landed a few years ago, made sure that meet residency requirement) in the next few months.

While I have a PR (and a job offer) when I come to Canada, my wife only has a visit visa (we got married after I got my PR). We have visited Canada once in the past year together for a short trip. I am worried if my wife will have any trouble while entering Canada this time, since we will show clear intent to stay permanently (as I moving with new job, and household items will be on the way with movers); considering that she only has a visit visa. We intend to apply for a inland spousal sponsorship, once we move to Canada.

Has anyone been through a similar situation or knows about how this works? Would really appreciate if you have any advice or could share your experience, as I am quite worried about this. Your help and advice is much appreciated!
 
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canuck78

VIP Member
Jun 18, 2017
52,969
12,768
Your question was already answered. Do you have a specific question?
Nobody can guarantee whether your wife will have issues at the border. She is still a visitor so should not appear that she is moving with all her belongings.
 
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nin_ja

Star Member
May 20, 2016
54
2
canuck78 said:
Your question was already answered. Do you have a specific question?
Nobody can guarantee whether your wife will have issues at the border. She is still a visitor so should not appear that she is moving with all her belongings.
Click to expand...
Thanks for your response @canuck78. I was just hoping to learn from the experience (and possibly find some solace if all went well from them :) ) of anyone who might have gone through a similar situation.

@canuck78 Would you happen to know if its alright to let the border agent know that my wife intends to apply for inland spousal sponsorship?
 
Last edited:
canuck_in_uk

canuck_in_uk

VIP Member
May 4, 2012
31,558
7,196
Visa Office......
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App. Filed.......
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nin_ja said:
Thanks for your response @canuck78. I was just hoping to learn from the experience (and possibly find some solace if all went well from them :) ) of anyone who might have gone through a similar situation.

@canuck78 Would you happen to know if its alright to let the border agent know that my wife intends to apply for inland spousal sponsorship?
Click to expand...
She is coming to visit her spouse. She should have a return ticket and not state anything about moving to or living in Canada. Don't volunteer information to CBSA but don't lie if asked.
 
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clh87

Newbie
Oct 29, 2019
3
2
@nin_ja I thought I would share my experience since my wife and I tried the exact same thing.

I am a Canadian citizen and my wife is a US citizen. I flew down to visit her and she was all ready to move, she gave her job notice (but didn't quit yet, she could return to her position, she was close with her boss so it wasn't a problem), and we had her car packed with her things, tv, boxes, etc. Only the one car load, we didn't have furniture or anything. We drove up and at the border stated that we'd be applying for inland spousal sponsorship. In secondary they basically told us what we were doing wasn't allowed, due to her low ties to the US. She was living with her aunt rent free so she didn't have a lease she was obligated to uphold, we had all her stuff with us, were looking to import her car, and while we told them she still had a job in the states, that wasn't enough for them. We even made it clear that we were trying to do things properly and be honest with our intentions and knew she was entering as a visitor and would have to leave after 6 months if the application wasn't approved by then. They were not satisfied that she was a genuine visitor, and she was allowed to withdraw her application to enter Canada, and was turned back to the US. They told us we were lucky she wasn't receiving a 5 year ban. We ended up applying outland with me in Canada and her back in the states.

Before even coming up with our plan we called the border a couple times to check if what we planned was allowed, and both times were told yes, just to be honest. This was before we found this forum, if we had, we definitely would have gone about it differently. I would suggest if you want to have your wife with you in Canada ASAP, drive up just yourself with the movers and your belongings, and have your wife fly in to meet you, with a return ticket. With just a suitcase and the return ticket booked, she can much easier claim to be visiting, and hopefully they will have less questions. Alternatively, you could have her stay living and working in the US while your move, sponsor her immediately after you're back in Canada, and hopefully your application will be approved fairly quickly. Ours took only 6 months from the time we sent the package until she landed.

I hope this helps, it was heartbreaking to drive for 2 days from Colorado, try to enter Canada to finally be together, and have my wife turned away. I needed to return to work and had to enter without her. Probably the worst experience of my life and I would hate to have someone else go through the same thing. My wife also now has a huge fear of crossing the border or going through customs at airports. After her entry refusal she was flagged and until recently was automatically sent to secondary no matter what. On our last cross border trip the officer let us know that she had taken her off the list so hopefully we aren't pulled aside every time. Just things to think about before you take the chance on your plan!
 
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nin_ja

Star Member
May 20, 2016
54
2
clh87 said:
@nin_ja I thought I would share my experience since my wife and I tried the exact same thing.

I am a Canadian citizen and my wife is a US citizen. I flew down to visit her and she was all ready to move, she gave her job notice (but didn't quit yet, she could return to her position, she was close with her boss so it wasn't a problem), and we had her car packed with her things, tv, boxes, etc. Only the one car load, we didn't have furniture or anything. We drove up and at the border stated that we'd be applying for inland spousal sponsorship. In secondary they basically told us what we were doing wasn't allowed, due to her low ties to the US. She was living with her aunt rent free so she didn't have a lease she was obligated to uphold, we had all her stuff with us, were looking to import her car, and while we told them she still had a job in the states, that wasn't enough for them. We even made it clear that we were trying to do things properly and be honest with our intentions and knew she was entering as a visitor and would have to leave after 6 months if the application wasn't approved by then. They were not satisfied that she was a genuine visitor, and she was allowed to withdraw her application to enter Canada, and was turned back to the US. They told us we were lucky she wasn't receiving a 5 year ban. We ended up applying outland with me in Canada and her back in the states.

Before even coming up with our plan we called the border a couple times to check if what we planned was allowed, and both times were told yes, just to be honest. This was before we found this forum, if we had, we definitely would have gone about it differently. I would suggest if you want to have your wife with you in Canada ASAP, drive up just yourself with the movers and your belongings, and have your wife fly in to meet you, with a return ticket. With just a suitcase and the return ticket booked, she can much easier claim to be visiting, and hopefully they will have less questions. Alternatively, you could have her stay living and working in the US while your move, sponsor her immediately after you're back in Canada, and hopefully your application will be approved fairly quickly. Ours took only 6 months from the time we sent the package until she landed.

I hope this helps, it was heartbreaking to drive for 2 days from Colorado, try to enter Canada to finally be together, and have my wife turned away. I needed to return to work and had to enter without her. Probably the worst experience of my life and I would hate to have someone else go through the same thing. My wife also now has a huge fear of crossing the border or going through customs at airports. After her entry refusal she was flagged and until recently was automatically sent to secondary no matter what. On our last cross border trip the officer let us know that she had taken her off the list so hopefully we aren't pulled aside every time. Just things to think about before you take the chance on your plan!
Click to expand...

Thank you so much @clh87 for sharing your experience! Really appreciate you taking your time explain this in detail!

In my case, since its an almost cross country move, we plan to send the household items with the mover via road and take the flight into Toronto from the US together carrying a few suitcases. I am not sure if entering via an airport together changes anything, but considering what I have learnt here; we will definitely keep a return ticket booked for my wife out of Canada. I hope that would be enough to convince our intent to not over stay or anything. I hope everything goes well.

Thanks again for sharing your experience, much appreciated!
 
N

nin_ja

Star Member
May 20, 2016
54
2
canuck78 said:
What documents will you be sending with the movers detailing whose belongings are in the truck?
Click to expand...
@canuck78, it would be household items like furniture, TV, clothes etc and and they are my belongings. I also plan to ship my car, if possible. Do you foresee any issues with this? Thanks.
 
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