some basic PR questions

[naphelge]

i was wondering if it affects the overall PR process how soon you apply after getting married?

my GF has not previously been married but does have an 11 year old daughter. what complications, if any, might that add to her PR application?

i plan on heading back to thailand to live with my GF. after we get married i plan to continue living with her for the duration of her PR process (which i know can be upto & longer than a year in some circumstances). what are the pros & cons of living outside canada with my GF in her country while she applies for her PR?

can all of the paperwork for her PR application be submitted via the canadian consulate in bangkok? is there any paperwork that has to be submitted directly back to canada?

 

[hani]

Re: PR questions

hi i have to land next month i m wondering how i can make lists of goods and can some one who just landed from u s tell me everything how to apply for pr card and medical card ,info about univercities, where to stay how long we must have to stay what questions were asked at the border ,i will apriciate if some one share his/her expireince i m a u s green card holder and want to come ack to u s for some time that my child can complete the class and then want to go to canada

 

[thaiguy]

naphelge

When you fill out the family sponsorship application, you will need to provide a lot of detail about your relationship, how it developed, dates you lived together, etc. Immigration will be looking for evidence that you are a committed couple. There isn't an automatic pass/fail on how long you need to be married. If you were able to show a substantial relationship up to the time you were married, for instance, then the relatively short time you had been married would be inconsequential. So document your relationship as well as possible.

My opinion (as a non-expert) is that the daughter will be a problem because you're not her real father. Unless you legally adopt her, you have no relationship to her that would allow you to sponsor her. That means you'd either need to wait until your wife's permanent residence application was approved and have your wife sponsor her. Or you'd need to adopt the daughter prior to sponsoring both. Does that make sense? You might give Campbell Cohen a call and ask them. Their website says they'll give a free consultation, and this seems like something they could answer for you.

When you sponsor your wife, the application will be sent to Mississauga, ON. That's where all family sponsorhip applications are sent for family members living outside of Canada. The Bangkok embassy would probably only be involved for the interview.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

 

[naphelge]

thanx for the PM & reply thaiguy. i stopped checking this forum... seems kinda slow without much in the way of replies to posts.

some very good info in your reply.

we do have a relationship that goes back 3 years now (since we first met) & we lived together for 18 months. unfortunately we don't have much in the way of documentation to prove much of anything, or else we would probably be going the common law route.

we do have pictures & some emails that go back to when we first met. i have kept all emails, sms text msgs & voip (skype & yahoo messenger) call logs since coming back to canada last december as we have talked almost daily.

we also have it on record she was refused her first TRV last october while i was still in thailand with her planning my return to canada. she was refused a second time for a TRV in april. both times she was advised by the case worker (two different workers for each interview) interviewing her for the TRV to just apply for a PR, which totally floored me at the time.

as for her daughter there is no plan for me to sponsor her right away. however the case worker at her last TRV interview the daughter would still require a medical/physical examine & criminal record check even if she wasn't applying for PR to canada at this time. so i wasn't sure what extra complications we may be facing when the girlfriend applies for her PR to canada after we marry concerning her daughter.

regards & thanx, truely, for the reply
nap

 

[thaiguy]

naphelge

Yes .. it's kinda slow here. Some of the questions people ask are either too voluminous or too specific for normal bloggers to be able to answer. So they go unanswered.

I sponsored my partner from Thailand as common-law and we just passed initial assessment w/ interview waived. To document it, I included emails, proof of wire transfers, a joint Thai bank account w/ receipts from debit cards, air tickets and visa stamps from joint travel, joint names on lease agreements, and when that wasn't available - a letter from the apartment manager saying we had lived together. I also included copies of envelopes showing we were both getting mail at the same address. All of this painted a picture of our relationship. So I think you can do it - just be creative. Have people send both you and your girlfriend mail in Thailand to the same address. Open a joint account. Insist on putting 2 names on lease agreements, if possible, etc.

That's amusing they said an 11 y/o girl needs to get a criminal background check. It's not true, of course. You need it for dependents 18 and older. But you'd find that out later. You will need a medical for the daughter, though, since she's at least 10.

For a Canadian TRV, they won't approve it unless your girlfriend has significant ties to Thailand like a house, good job, family, and money in the bank. It's disappointing that a PR is often easier to get, but it allows the government to keep better control of who's admitted permanently.

TG

 

[naphelge]

thaiguy,

it's great to hear some positive feedback. once i get the ball rolling when back in LOS i will update the progress of the GF's PR process.

unfortunately it never occurred to me at the time that i would ever need proof such as co-signing a lease, joint bank accounts or the such.

it wasn't until the GF got refused her TRV for the first time that i started thinking about anything like that. i can say i went into that first TRV process totally unprepared & i was totally blown away that the GF was refused & the advice coming from the case worker was for the GF to go for her PR.

oh well live & learn. when i return to LOS i plan on opening the joint bank account for sure. how easy is it for farangs to get their names on apt leases, especially if it is already in the GF's name? i know when we signed up for UBC last time they just wanted the GF's name on the paperwork. but perhaps this time i will push a little harder to get my name included on such things.

well just hearing from someone else in somewhat similar circumstances is encouraging to say the least.

cheers & GL,
nap

 

[thaiguy]

naphelge

Yes, it can be done!

Some apartment complexes won't allow more than one name on the lease. But I think more often they just don't understand why you'd want to do it. Explain it to them, and many will try to accomodate. For the ones that won't - put your wife's name on the lease and then make sure you are receiving mail at that address. In our case, we also asked the manager to sign a letter on company letterhead attesting to the fact that we had lived together at that address during xxx period of time. You could also just shop around. Watching a potential tenant walk away is a powerful motivator.

Bangkok Bank will allow you to get a joint account and debit cards. Keep the receipts and statements to show how you've both been using the cards to pay for living expenses - rent, insurance, groceries, petrol, etc. I know other banks will allow a joint account too, but I'm not sure which ones.

You'll have a lot more options open for you when you're married.

Best of luck and keep us updated.

tg

tg