PMM or BC Guy...Please help

[Nicolelee]

My husband is a Mexican citizen. We were married in Puerto Vallarta 7 years ago. We have lived in Mexico during that time and only visited Canada during those years. We are currently visiting Canada waiting for the birth of our second son who will be born here (just like our first). We are ready to move to Canada now and would like to know if you could recommend a good lawyer here in Vancouver who would help us as we have to return to Puerto Vallarta in October when his visitors visa runs out. I have read that if we apply from here we have no chance at appeal if he is denied so we want to return to Vallarta so we have some recourse in case of denial. My concern about applying from there is that because I can't work I won't have an income. How can I sponsor him. We refuse to be separated for up to 18 months (or however long the application process is). We have two Canadian children and it just won't work for our family to be separated. Any info or tips you have would be great, my main goal here is to get the name of a local lawyer to help us. Thank you so much for your time.

Nicole

 

[mitamata]

To sponsor your spouse, you don't need an income. Housewives can sponsor without a problem. All CIC will want to know is that you are not on any form of social assistance/welfare.
You can send in an outland application while you are both still in Canada. Your husband can have his application processed in his country no matter where in the world he is. But I guess if you know you'll be leaving soon, it might be best to wait. Just to keep the mail from getting sent to where you no longer live.

Just a note: you're a citizen, right? Citizens can sponsor while living abroad, PRs can't - they have to live in Canada while applying to sponsor.

For most applications, there's really no need for a lawyer unless there are some special issues with your case (custody battles, criminal convictions etc). The forms are pretty straight forward, with a bit of effort you should be able to fill them out yourself. Since you've been married for 7 years, you shouldn't have trouble proving your relationship is genuine, hopefully you'll have an easy case.
But of course, if you'd feel more comfortable with a lawyer, go for it. And good luck!

 

[Nicolelee]

I am a Canadian citizen but I'm also currently on welfare because of complications in my pregnancy. I won't be on any kind of assistance when we apply though. Will my past welfare use be an issue?

 

[Nicolelee]

Another question I just thought of...I was wondering if we were to apply for a work visa for him from outside of Canada at the same time we apply for his landed immigrant status can we come into the country when his work visa is approved, (I was told the work visa only takes a few months to approve) even though we will still be waiting for his landed immigrant paperwork? Or would it be better to only apply for a work visa and than apply for the landed immigrant when we come back to Canada? The more reading and research I do the more questions I end up having.
Also can my parents co-sign or co-sponsor to make this easier?

Thank you all for any help you can give us.

 

[saralune]

are you sure you are on on welfare ? Sure you are getting money from the gov, but I would thik that in the case of a pregnecy, you are not collecting welfare, but some thing else...It just doesn't make sense to me....

 

[Leon]

EI is not considered welfare but you would want to contact CIC anyway to make sure. If you received welfare at any time in the past, make sure that it's been long enough since you did that you are eligible to sponsor. Contact info here: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/contacts/index.asp

There are two ways to apply for sponsorship. Inland and outland. You do not have to apply inland just because you happen to be in Canada. You would need to apply to extend his visit visa whichever method you take because if he overstays his visit visa, he becomes out of status and that will not help your application.

If you apply inland, you can expect that if all goes well, he can have his open work permit (if you apply for one at the same time) at 5-6 months, see http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/canada/process-in.asp#perm_res for spouse first stage approval. He could expect to have his PR in 1-2 years. During this time, he would not be advised to travel. If the application didn't go well, instead of having a work permit at 5-6 months, the file would be forwarded to the local office where you live where you would get called for an interview which can take up to 3 years depending on how busy the local office is.

If you apply outland, you being approved as a sponsor takes a bit over a month, see http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/canada/process-in.asp#sponsorship and then the file would be sent to Mexico and take another average 6 months in Mexico City, see http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/international/05-fc-spouses.asp#west and then he would have his PR. There is no work permit available for outland application. If it doesn't go well, he would be called for an interview in Mexico. If denied, you can appeal which I have heard takes about a year.