Sponsoring My Family from the US

[Albert123]

I am currently living in the states with my wife and stepson. I have been living down here for seven months but I don not have a green card or anything. I was let in on a visitors visa. I'm wondering if I can support my family to move to Canada without any real income.

 

[computergeek]

I am currently living in the states with my wife and stepson. I have been living down here for seven months but I don not have a green card or anything. I was let in on a visitors visa. I'm wondering if I can support my family to move to Canada without any real income.

Well, you're in an overstay situation now, so no matter what you need to get that resolved because it could take a relatively minor issue (like a traffic stop) and make it blow up into a major issue, like deportation, time in an immigration jail and a 3 or 10 year ban from re-entering the US. It used to be that you could sneak back over the border and nobody would notice. But with the data sharing between the US and Canada, your overstay will be discoverable.

You don't explicitly state it, but I'm assuming that you are a Canadian. As such, you don't need any specific income in order to sponsor you wife and stepson - you just have to convince CIC that you won't need social assistance.

So you have two options:

(1) You can initiate an application for your wife and stepson now, via the outland route. You will have to convince CIC that you plan to return to Canada (if you haven't already) and that you won't require social assistance. This can include your own resources and skills as well as your wife's skills.

(2) You can return to Canada with your wife and stepson and initiate an inland application. You still have to convince CIC that you won't require social assistance. After 6 months your wife would be given an open work permit. Your stepson would need to apply for a study permit, but that would normally be granted.

An Outland application may be used for your wife no matter where she lives in the world. An Inland application may only be used if your wife is living inside Canada.

She will need to be able to prove she has sole custody, or obtain permission from her stepson's father, to bring the child to Canada permanently.

Good luck!

 

[Albert123]

So you have two options:

(1) You can initiate an application for your wife and stepson now, via the outland route. You will have to convince CIC that you plan to return to Canada (if you haven't already) and that you won't require social assistance. This can include your own resources and skills as well as your wife's skills.

(2) You can return to Canada with your wife and stepson and initiate an inland application. You still have to convince CIC that you won't require social assistance. After 6 months your wife would be given an open work permit. Your stepson would need to apply for a study permit, but that would normally be granted.

So I could bring them over the border as visitors at any time for 6 months and start the application right away from inside Canada?

 

[computergeek]

So I could bring them over the border as visitors at any time for 6 months and start the application right away from inside Canada?

Absolutely. And you can file inland or outland with them as visitors. If you file inland, it is strongly advised they remain in Canada for the duration (but at least through stage one, which is six months). If you file outland, they can come and stay with you while the application is in process - generally they will be issued visitor records, but they can come or go from Canada.

Both processes take roughly the same amount of time: ~ 14 months. With the inland approach, your wife would be eligible for an open work permit at stage one approval. With the outland approach, she will not be able to work permanently until PR is granted. Note that if she can find a qualifying position, she can work temporarily while they process the application. If she qualifies in a NAFTA category, the temporary work permit process is fast.

 

[scylla]

I am currently living in the states with my wife and stepson. I have been living down here for seven months but I don not have a green card or anything. I was let in on a visitors visa. I'm wondering if I can support my family to move to Canada without any real income.

How long have you overstayed your visitor visa? Only by a month right now?

If so - do yourself a favour and make sure you leave before your overstay hits six months. If you do that - no ban will apply. The US applies bans as follows:

Overstay of six months to one year = three year ban
Overstay of one year or more = ten year ban