PR and Sponsorship Question

[VADXB]

G'day Everyone

This is my first post here. I find this forum very informative and you guys seem very knowledgeable. My situation is tad complicated and would be nice to have your inputs:

I moved to Canada on work permit and subsequently became a landed immigrant. I continued my employment in Canada on my PR status for the next 7 months and moved overseas for better options.

My 5 year timeframe for PR expires on November 2012 but my card only expires on March 2013. I understand that i need to have 2 years to retain my PR status, which means I need to return to Canada before June/July 2011 (so that i can fulfil 17 months stay before Nov 12).

The tricky part is that I got married subsequent to my PR and have a baby. I need to sponsor my wife and daughter to Canada. I have heard mixed opinion as some suggest to get them on a tourist visa to Canada and apply PR from Canada (with now right of appeal) while others say that i should move back to Canada and then apply for their PR. Please the experts suggest which is the best and what other pros and cons we should consider in this? If it matters, they will possibly be applying from either Dubai or India.

Second point - if for any reason there is a delay on my return to Canada by June/July 2011 and say i land there by December 2011 (I have seen posts where people suggest that then stay silent and do not reapply for the PR card till i complete 730 days), in such a scenario, would i still be able to sponsor my wife and daughter or will that turn out to be quite difficult or for simplicity sake, should we all reassess for PR on my skilled migrant category? How does CIC view re applicants?

Finally, would there be any income requirement to sponsor wife and daughter? The website stipulates income requirement for other family members but for dependents, it only talks about a sponsorship agreement. Essentially can i land in Canada and immediately apply for their sponsorship or should i have a full time job before applying for sponsorship? I will show some savings in the bank account to prove that i can support them. I have also paid decent amount of taxes on my previous employment in Canada.

Sorry for a long post and many thanks in advance.

Cheers!

 

[Leon]

There is no income requirement to sponsor your wife and daughter.

You can apply for a visit visa for them to come with you. If they get it, you can take them along and file for sponsorship while they are in Canada on a visit visa. If they don't get it, then you will have to go to Canada alone and start sponsorship so they can join you later.

It is not recommended to not meet your residency requirements. If your PR card is lost or stolen after you don't meet them any more, you would need a PR travel document to get back and you would not get it if you don't meet the requirements. You would then lose your PR. If you do not lose it but for some reason the border guards decide that you don't meet the requirements as you enter, they can start a process to take away your PR. In that case, you would have 30 days to appeal to them to keep your PR, either proving that you do meet the residency requirements or claiming that you had some extraordinary circumstances keeping you away from Canada.

If you did get in unnoticed while not meeting the requirements, the right thing to do would be to wait until you meet the requirements before trying to apply for a new PR card. I am not sure if it would be safe for you to sponsor your family if you were in that situation.

 

[VADXB]

Many thanks Leon. Any views on sponsoring wife and kid from inside Canada compared to say from home country?

I understand the right of appeal part but if my case is relatively straight forward (i.e. i enter before June 2011) then i hope it should not make much of a difference? I guess once they enter Canada, they probably should not leave Canada as it may cause difficulty to enter.

Cheers

 

[Leon]

Inland usually takes longer and it's not advised to leave Canada while it is in process because if she is denied entry to Canada again for any reason, the inland application is gone.

Outland has the downside that if there is an interview, it will happen in your home country so if she is in Canada on a visit visa, she would have to go back home for the interview.

You can still apply outland even if she is on visit visa in Canada.

For both inland and outland, if they are in Canada, you need to apply to extend their visit status before it expires to keep them legal.