Sponsoring my Korean wife for permanent residency

[CanAsian]

We sent mostly all size #6 boxes. Canada allows it. We ended up sending 10 boxes all together. Some arrived before we got here and the rest arrived after. We didn't have any problems with the shipping and they all arrived in about 4 weeks except for our first 2 because there was a strike at the port in vancouver.

Some recommendations from our experience:

1) Tape boxes well. Every corner and try to seal it as much as possible. Some of our boxes look like they took a beating but everything seemed ok.

2) to avoid repacking and retaping at the post office, weigh boxes at home the best you can. Dont tape the box shut at home. Bring some extra small items that can fit in the box and do a final weigh at the post office. You can try to fit as much to the 20kg limit as you can. I think it was the same price for 18kg to 20kgs so try to make the most of your money.

I didn't fill out any forms of my belongings and had no problems at customs but that was us.

 

[bartjones]

Spoke to my MP's reps today, I have a meeting with them on Friday where I will authorize them to look into my wife's case.

Good luck. Keep on them. My experience with the MP's office was that unless you make a little noise, they just go through the motions.

 

[CanNZ]

Did you bring your wife to any meetings with them?

 

[Red Tape Sucks]

Hello All,

For those who have done it, what do you think is the best place to do a boarder run once you receive the approval paper's? I'm living in Pickering. Niagara, Thousand Islands Bridge, other?

Thanks!

 

[ctcruiser]

Re: box size, as the previous poster said, you are allowed 20kg not 20lbs. We sent fairly large boxes and the post office had no issues.

I was looking at how to change addresses and I see how to change it on the site for my wife, but how do I change it as a sponsor? Unless I misread it, I didn't see any place for me to change it. I'd hate for my confirmation to come to my Korean apartment after we've moved already.

Ct

 

[CanAsian]

I think if you put your email down as way of contact , your adress shouldnt matter because they will send your sponsor approval by email and then thats pretty much the last contact they will have with you. Your wifes address is important as thats where they will eventually send the copr

 

[bartjones]

Did you bring your wife to any meetings with them?

I never met them. I did it all by phone and email.

 

[bartjones]

I was looking at how to change addresses and I see how to change it on the site for my wife, but how do I change it as a sponsor? Unless I misread it, I didn't see any place for me to change it. I'd hate for my confirmation to come to my Korean apartment after we've moved already.

Do you have AOR or your UCI number?

 

[Rob_TO]

Hello All,

For those who have done it, what do you think is the best place to do a boarder run once you receive the approval paper's? I'm living in Pickering. Niagara, Thousand Islands Bridge, other?

Thanks!

We did it at Niagara Falls, Rainbow bridge. We crossed the border into USA to do a bit of shopping (Koreans may need to pop into the US border office to get a temp visa to enter USA, which cost I think $10 or something), then when returning back to Canada side there was no lineup and we didn't have any B4 forms to go through, so PR landing took all of 10 minutes.

Really though it doesn't matter where you go as all borders can do PR landings. So just go to the one closest to you. And try to go at an off-hours time when border traffic isn't so bad (like don't go on a long weekend). You may be faced with lineups waiting to get to the USA side, waiting to get back to Canada side, and then waiting in the Canada office to do the landing.

 

[CanNZ]

Still looking for some advice.

When I meet my MP's rep on Friday, should I bring the better half or not?

Thanks in advance.

 

[bartjones]

Still looking for some advice.

When I meet my MP's rep on Friday, should I bring the better half or not?

Thanks in advance.

Probably. It certainly can't hurt.

All they really need is her name, d.o.b.,Visa Office location and her UCI number. I'd bring her so that you can avoid listening to someone tell you they can't talk to you about her case due to Privacy Act concerns.

 

[ctcruiser]

Do you have AOR or your UCI number?

I haven't received any communications from them at all to this point. The only thing I've heard is from the mail tracking notifying that they received it.
I'm drawing a blank, what is the AOR?

 

[bartjones]

I haven't received any communications from them at all to this point. The only thing I've heard is from the mail tracking notifying that they received it.
I'm drawing a blank, what is the AOR?

AOR means acknowledgment of receipt. It's an email you will get from CIC telling you that they received your application. It will also provide you with a UCI number for the sponsor as well as a file number for your application. You can then use that information to change your address.

I think you're in the same situation I was in. I filed our application and left Korea about a month later. I got an email from CIC telling me that my sponsorship had been approved a week or so before I moved back to Canada and before I had a chance to change my address to my new Canadian one. The actual letter was sent to my Korean address. I never received it.

Once I got back to Canada I updated my address using ECAS. I also called the CIC help line and asked them to send a second copy of the letter approving sponsorship to my new Canadian address. It arrived a week or two later. I also asked them to give me my wife's UCI number which I then used to change her address with the embassy in Manila. I posted the link to do that a couple pages back.

I wouldn't be too concerned at this point. The sponsorship approval letter isn't that important, though it's nice to have a copy. The important thing is changing your wife's address so that when they eventually approve her application, the COPR letter is sent to the correct address.

 

[ctcruiser]

Okay, thanks for the info Bart. I may have to do something similar. I guess another concern that has raised now is that they have had our package since July 10th and I havent received the email confirmation yet. Should I be worried about that?

Ct

 

[bartjones]

Okay, thanks for the info Bart. I may have to do something similar. I guess another concern that has raised now is that they have had our package since July 10th and I havent received the email confirmation yet. Should I be worried about that?

Ct

Yeah, CIC seems to be pretty inconsistent when it comes to AOR. I got AOR about a week after the package was delivered and sponsorship approval three weeks later. Others who applied around the same time from Korea got AOR four weeks after the package was delivered and sponsorship approval a few days after that. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it.

I'm reading elsewhere on this board that sponsorship approval is now taking 54 days. Things have slowed considerably. I'd get concerned if you haven't heard anything by early September.