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opmama

Star Member
Sep 3, 2012
98
3
Category........
Visa Office......
CPP-O
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
App. Filed.......
06-17-2013
AOR Received.
07-17-2013
File Transfer...
07-23-2013
I'm Canadian, married to an American and living in the US for the last 11 years. We have two children (both old enough to have automatic Canadian citizenship, although I don't have citizenship certificates for them).

A few questions:

1) Do we have to wait for the police check to submit the application? FBI says it takes 5-6 weeks to get results - can we file and then forward this document to the processing office? (I assume they don't need this until they get to step 2).

2) Do our children need medicals? They both are Canadian, but until we get the citizenship certificates, they won't have Canadian passports.

Thanks :). I did the immigrate to the US process over a decade ago, but my head still hurts!
 
opmama said:
I'm Canadian, married to an American and living in the US for the last 11 years. We have two children (both old enough to have automatic Canadian citizenship, although I don't have citizenship certificates for them).

A few questions:

1) Do we have to wait for the police check to submit the application? FBI says it takes 5-6 weeks to get results - can we file and then forward this document to the processing office? (I assume they don't need this until they get to step 2). it's better to wait until you have all the documents. They are checking (more and more it seems) that all documents are included and some applications got returned, not necessary because of the medicals, but in general, so to be on the safe side, I would wait.

2) Do our children need medicals? They both are Canadian, but until we get the citizenship certificates, they won't have Canadian passports. as long as they are Canadian, they don't need the medicals - it's only for dependents of your spouse that are not Canadian. I suppose you will get their passport before moving back to Canada

Thanks :). I did the immigrate to the US process over a decade ago, but my head still hurts!good luck with your application!
Sweden
 
i strongly believe the police check has to be submitted along with the application... check the document checklist from your application package and it will tell you if you need to include it or not... most likely you have to...
 
opmama said:
I'm Canadian, married to an American and living in the US for the last 11 years. We have two children (both old enough to have automatic Canadian citizenship, although I don't have citizenship certificates for them).

A few questions:

1) Do we have to wait for the police check to submit the application? FBI says it takes 5-6 weeks to get results - can we file and then forward this document to the processing office? (I assume they don't need this until they get to step 2).

2) Do our children need medicals? They both are Canadian, but until we get the citizenship certificates, they won't have Canadian passports.

Thanks :). I did the immigrate to the US process over a decade ago, but my head still hurts!

In short you can forward it at a later date but to tally up your application and FBI checks may become a bit of a headache unless you have a file number before doing so. Tallying up any paperwork without a file number can be very hit and miss.

2) That is a tough question, I assume they would have to do the medical but that is just that an assumption, hope others can clarify this point a bit more.

Good luck!!!
 
Thanks for the input, folks. My children are Canadian, but it takes 18+ months to get certificates of citizenship (required to get a passport). So we will likely not have these before immigrating, but I have heard that is generally not a problem so long as you take along a copy of the certificate application, birth certificates, etc. We will verify all this, but I'm trying to make sure we start the paperwork in the right order, and it sounds like the police check and medicals are the first priority.

Anyone have a more definitive answer on whether our kids need medicals? (My son is autistic, so getting one for him would be a major headache, on top of the $$).
 
opmama said:
Thanks for the input, folks. My children are Canadian, but it takes 18+ months to get certificates of citizenship (required to get a passport). So we will likely not have these before immigrating, but I have heard that is generally not a problem so long as you take along a copy of the certificate application, birth certificates, etc. We will verify all this, but I'm trying to make sure we start the paperwork in the right order, and it sounds like the police check and medicals are the first priority.

Anyone have a more definitive answer on whether our kids need medicals? (My son is autistic, so getting one for him would be a major headache, on top of the $$).

I think that you will get the certificates much faster than that. I know it's what is stated, but I have seen applicants getting their certificates much faster (2 to 3 months) so it might not be an issue.

Police check and medicals - you want to time them right. Police certificate must be received in CIC 3 months maximum after being issued, and they take a while. So if you're ready to send your application, you shoudl request them. Otherwise if your paperwork is not completed, might be better to wait a bit.

Medicals - they are valid for a year, but you will have to land within a year of medicals - so you want to do these just before sending in your applications.

If your children are Canadians, you are not including them as dependents to be sponsored, they are accompanying family members. As Canadians, they are not required to have medicals - only the sponsored person are required. See here http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/sponsor/spouse-apply-how.asp

Good luck,
Sweden
 
That's great to hear on the certificates. We'll get that paperwork in this week, then. Much appreciated!