Need advice surrounding border travel, multiple entry visa.

[adetia9]

Hello!

I am a US Citizen, and so is my daughter.
I have recently been married (in Canada) to a Canadian citizen.

I currently have a visitor visa through August 10th (not valid for re-entry), 2010, and my daughter currently goes to high school here with a student visa valid through August 2010.

We plan to leave as a family (with my husband) for our family wedding -- we just did a brief civil ceremony earlier this year, on a cruise ship. I am worried about returning to Canada after that to our home in Alberta.

I have recently read on these forums about a multiple entry visa, and that sounds like something that would be good for me while we wait for our application for permanent residency to be approved/processed, etc (We just mailed it this week).

However, I am worried that if I send my passport to Seattle to apply for one that it will not be back in time before July.

Does anyone have experience with this, and know how long it takes, or if i'd be likely to be approved for a multiple entry visa?
I'm looking for some guidance -- we have applied as a Family Class - Outside of Canada, even though we have been "visiting" here since last May.

Also, my mother (who lives in the States) is quite ill and I would like to go visit her periodically, but have been too afraid to be able to cross the border, so was thinking that the multiple entry visa would give me some peace of mind.

Anyone have some advice for me?

 

[RobsLuv]

US citizens are not eligible for multiple-entry (or single entry) visas. US citizens are visa-exempt. That means that you don't apply in advance of travel to Canada for a visa that will allow you to enter - you have to apply for entry at the Canadian port of entry when you arrive.

If your sponsoring husband is with you when you come to the POE to re-enter, he can speak for you. Read through the information about Visitor Records (which is what you already have) at this link of the US2Canada website. Unfortunately there is no way for visa-exempt nationals to get "guaranteed" re-entry to Canada - you have to be assessed on the merit of your "story" each time you approach. This might not seem fair - but when you find out that almost all non-visa-exempt nationals are refused any kind of visit visa when they have a spouse or partner in Canada, we're actually pretty lucky.