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Parents in Canada on visitor visa and Need Help

SRBFL

Newbie
Mar 27, 2015
8
0
My purpose in posting is to reach out and gain insight on behalf of my parents who are in their late 60's, are U.S. citizens, and have lived in Alberta since December, 2011. When they relocated to Alberta, my father was recommended by his employer to obtain a visitor visa after accepting a clergy job offer. According to my father, his employer last applied for an annual extension of his visitor visa in November, 2014. He says that for some reason, his visa extension was approved through November, 2016 (versus annual one year extensions that were previously granted).

The primary reason my parents moved to Canada was in hopes of gaining Canadian citizenship to be close to my brother who married a Canadian citizen and has established a family and permanent residency in Alberta. My parents' understanding was that my father having the visitor visa status as a clergy person would offer them a good chance of obtaining permanent residency. Although they applied for permanent residency in 2014, the application was not processed/finalized until 2015. The residency application was denied and it is their understanding it is because a new law became effective January 1, 2015 that precluded individuals with a visitor visa from being eligible for permanent residency.

My questions are the following:

1) If my parents cannot be sponsored because it is not financially feasible for my brother to do so, do they have an alternate pathway to citizenship in their situation that has a reasonable shot of being approved? If so, what are the best steps to accomplish this?

2) Assuming my father plans to retire in November, 2018, is it possible to apply for a two year extension of the visitor visa next year or was the previously granted two year (instead of one year) extension a fluke?

3) If my father cannot extend his visitor visa through his employer, is there an alternate way to maximize how long they can stay, even if it is only temporary?

4) Is there a provision for grandparents of Canadian citizens to have their visa extension granted based on their “grandparent” status? If so, would it apply in their scenario?

5) When my father retires, assuming he cannot get permanent residency, how soon after his retirement date would he and my mother be required to leave Canada?

I greatly appreciate any feedback offered . Thank you!
 

scylla

VIP Member
Jun 8, 2010
92,541
20,360
Toronto
Category........
Visa Office......
Buffalo
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
App. Filed.......
28-05-2010
AOR Received.
19-08-2010
File Transfer...
28-06-2010
Passport Req..
01-10-2010
VISA ISSUED...
05-10-2010
LANDED..........
05-10-2010
First of all, there is no law preventing people who are in Canada on visitor visas from applying for PR (never has been and nothing has changed since January). If their application was refused, it was either because they did not qualify to apply - or because their application was received too late and the maximum number of applications had already been accepted for processing. Also note that they must become permanent residents first - then live in Canada for a number of additional years before they can apply for citizenship. There is no direct path to citizenship.

1) Given their ages, your brother sponsoring them is the only realistic path to permanent residency. All of the other viable paths are economic classes which assume someone is going to work in Canada for many more years before retiring. Your parents are too old to qualify through any economic class. In order to sponsor them, your brother must meet the minimum income requirements for at least the previous three years. Also, their application must be one of the first 5,000 received in January (there is an annual application cap). This year that cap was reached in a day and a half. Once the application is accepted, processing times will be more than three years.

2) It's impossible to say how long an extension he will received. The 2 years was granted because he was here as a clergy. The longest he should expect to get this time is a year (since he's no longer working). Six months is more likely. It's also entirely possible the extension will be refused.

3) Visitor visa or super visa (for the super visa your brother must meet minimum income requirements).

4) No - no provisions (apart from the super visa).

5) Impossible to say. It depends how long they can keep renewing their visitor visa.
 

scylla

VIP Member
Jun 8, 2010
92,541
20,360
Toronto
Category........
Visa Office......
Buffalo
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
App. Filed.......
28-05-2010
AOR Received.
19-08-2010
File Transfer...
28-06-2010
Passport Req..
01-10-2010
VISA ISSUED...
05-10-2010
LANDED..........
05-10-2010
One additional comments... It's actually your father's responsibility (not his employers) to keep renewing his visa. Your father should make sure he knows exactly how long he has been approved for (if he's unsure).
 

SuperVisa

Star Member
Jan 5, 2012
67
5
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
You can not work on a visitor visa because, you are breaking the law and you can get deported after that is to difficult to re-enter Canada.
 

scylla

VIP Member
Jun 8, 2010
92,541
20,360
Toronto
Category........
Visa Office......
Buffalo
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
App. Filed.......
28-05-2010
AOR Received.
19-08-2010
File Transfer...
28-06-2010
Passport Req..
01-10-2010
VISA ISSUED...
05-10-2010
LANDED..........
05-10-2010
SuperVisa said:
You can not work on a visitor visa because, you are breaking the law and you can get deported after that is to difficult to re-enter Canada.
I'm sure they are holding works permits and not visitor visas (clergy don't require LMIAs). I think the OP just isn't familiar with the various permits and language.
 

PMM

VIP Member
Jun 30, 2005
25,494
1,946
Hi

scylla said:
I'm sure they are holding works permits and not visitor visas (clergy don't require LMIAs). I think the OP just isn't familiar with the various permits and language.
1. No, clergy are not issued work permits. They are only issued visitor permits.
 

SRBFL

Newbie
Mar 27, 2015
8
0
scylla said:
One additional comments... It's actually your father's responsibility (not his employers) to keep renewing his visa. Your father should make sure he knows exactly how long he has been approved for (if he's unsure).
Could not agree more. Just trying to make sense of it for myself as best I can at this point. The information I have is that his visa is currently approved through November, 2016 and he plans to reapply for an extension to continue employment as a clergy member. He intends to work until at least November, 2018 before retiring. I now realize that there is no guarantee that he will be able to have his visitor visa approved beyond November, 2016 and unless he is sponsored by my family member in Canada, he cannot achieve permanent residency.
 

scylla

VIP Member
Jun 8, 2010
92,541
20,360
Toronto
Category........
Visa Office......
Buffalo
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
App. Filed.......
28-05-2010
AOR Received.
19-08-2010
File Transfer...
28-06-2010
Passport Req..
01-10-2010
VISA ISSUED...
05-10-2010
LANDED..........
05-10-2010
If he plans to work until 2018 then he should be able to renew his visa until then. However becoming a PR isn't going to happen unless your brother is able to sponsor them.
 

SRBFL

Newbie
Mar 27, 2015
8
0
scylla said:
If he plans to work until 2018 then he should be able to renew his visa until then. However becoming a PR isn't going to happen unless your brother is able to sponsor them.
Understood. Thank you.
 

aliabdul

Star Member
Aug 27, 2013
101
1
Dear Friends,

My parents (Pakistani residents) are in their late 60s, owns a property in pakistan, earns a monthly pension and have a reasonably sound international travel history since my father used to work in an airline.

My sister is a canadian citizen, her husband has been ill (partially disabled) since last 2 years and my parents wants to visit and see them. I am going to bear all of their travel expenses.

Problem is, my sister doesn't fulfills the minimum income threshold criteria and can just provide an invitation letter.

What do i need to do? Is there any possibility? what are the requirements to have a visit visa for them? Please guide.