PR Inland application tax return question - Please help!!!

[yukons]

Hi There,

My family has recently moved to Canada from the USA. I am Canadian but have been living in the US for 20 years. My husband is here in Canada on a visitor's visa. My kids and I are all duel citizens and we permanently moved back to Canada in August of 2020. We recently interviewed an Immigration consultants. We are applying for my husband's PR inland. We applied for outland before leaving the US but after 8 months our application was rejected due to one missing field. We were told to resubmit but now that we are in Canada we have decided to switch to inland.

The consultant told us that I absolutely have to file my Canadian 2019 taxes and get proof of it before I submit my application for my spousal support of husband's PR (INLAND). I found out that if I file my 2019 Canadian taxes I would have to file as a non resident showing zero income and that can only be sent paper form and non electronically which is a bummer. It's at least a 6 week turnaround to get that tax return approval back. It seems redundant if I moved back to Canada in August of 2020 and wasn't living in Canada in 2019. I have my and my husband's joint US return for 2019 and can send that with a letter of explanation but the consultant doesn't think that is enough and is adamant that we file 2019 and wait the 6 weeks. I don't understand why we can't just send a letter of explanation. Does anyone have experience with this issue? You moved back to Canada in the year you sponsored your husband and you do not have the previous years' tax return? This must be a common issue.

 

[canuck78]

Hi There,

My family has recently moved to Canada from the USA. I am Canadian but have been living in the US for 20 years. My husband is here in Canada on a visitor's visa. My kids and I are all duel citizens and we permanently moved back to Canada in August of 2020. We recently interviewed an Immigration consultants. We are applying for my husband's PR inland. We applied for outland before leaving the US but after 8 months our application was rejected due to one missing field. We were told to resubmit but now that we are in Canada we have decided to switch to inland.

The consultant told us that I absolutely have to file my Canadian 2019 taxes and get proof of it before I submit my application for my spousal support of husband's PR (INLAND). I found out that if I file my 2019 Canadian taxes I would have to file as a non resident showing zero income and that can only be sent paper form and non electronically which is a bummer. It's at least a 6 week turnaround to get that tax return approval back. It seems redundant if I moved back to Canada in August of 2020 and wasn't living in Canada in 2019. I have my and my husband's joint US return for 2019 and can send that with a letter of explanation but the consultant doesn't think that is enough and is adamant that we file 2019 and wait the 6 weeks. I don't understand why we can't just send a letter of explanation. Does anyone have experience with this issue? You moved back to Canada in the year you sponsored your husband and you do not have the previous years' tax return? This must be a common issue.

You don't need a consultant and especially the one who is telling you to file Canadian taxes for 2019. You will need to show how you can support your family in Canada or a plan of how your husband will be able to support your family once he can work. This can involve savings and if you are still looking for work you can update you file via webform once you secure a job.

 

[yukons]

She said that the NOA is not to show income, but is a requirement of the application. I was really confused by that... We applied for outland in May ourselves and recently found out we missed one box and the returned the entire application and told us to start over. We were incredibly upset and crushed that we had to redo the entire thing after waiting almost 8 months. Now that we're living in Canada we think it makes sense to start over and do inland but with help so we don't make a stupid mistake again.

 

[Canada2020eh]

She said that the NOA is not to show income, but is a requirement of the application. I was really confused by that... We applied for outland in May ourselves and recently found out we missed one box and the returned the entire application and told us to start over. We were incredibly upset and crushed that we had to redo the entire thing after waiting almost 8 months. Now that we're living in Canada we think it makes sense to start over and do inland but with help so we don't make a stupid mistake again.

I don't think you specified it but your husband has to be in Canada for you to do the inland process. Since you have to submit it again Inland is the way to go but with the caveat that he has to remain in Cda for the duration of the process. As for the consultant, people on the forum generally try to discourage it as being a waste of money. A lot of consultants don't have your best interest at heart. They want you $$ and many of them have questionable knowledge. Another point is that YOU are still responsible for everything that is in the application even though you hired somebody to review/submit your application.

If you can understand the forms and checklists you don't need a consultant. Go over your app many times looking at the short form and expanded/detailed info packages. Ask questions if you can't find the answers. The people on the forum here are knowledgable and should be able to help you. But in the end it is obviously your decision how you do it.

Best of luck.

 

[yukons]

Thank you. Yes, my husband is in Canada on a visitor visa. The only reason we don't want to do it ourselves is we screwed up by missing the little box last time and it cost us 8 months. We can't afford for that to happen again. Not sure what to do.