Sponsoring my Korean wife for permanent residency

[CanNZ]

How long has it been now? After the 3rd week I checked my mail box everyday. On a Saturday (when I don't check it) I walked by the mail boxes and it was there!

4 weeks now, thinking about phoning them tonight. I know they had problems putting my Korean address into their system, I wonder if that's the problem and it has been lost in the mail.

 

[Rob_TO]

AOR: About 2 weeks?

File Transfer: About 3-4 weeks (including AOR time)?


* At what point am I approved and notified as a sponsor? (via letter/e-mail?)

thanks.

In our case, we got first AOR around 1 month after we sent the application to CPC-M, and then got the sponsor approval 2 days after that. The approval came via email, and included a pdf attachment of the actual approval letter. If you put your email address in the application, they should do everything via email.

We then got AOR from Seoul office 2 weeks later.

However since every office and VO does things differently, everyone's experience here is a little different. So don't worry if your email correspondance from CIC don't exactly match others!

 

[Korea2Canada]

4 weeks now, thinking about phoning them tonight. I know they had problems putting my Korean address into their system, I wonder if that's the problem and it has been lost in the mail.

Took me a long time to get my address through to the person on the phone. I also wondered about the accuracy of the address. It showed up though and address was correct ( i even used the phonetic alphabet on the phone for every letter - twice! ). I'd say yours will be here any day now.

 

[Rob_TO]

4 weeks now, thinking about phoning them tonight. I know they had problems putting my Korean address into their system, I wonder if that's the problem and it has been lost in the mail.

If you are really paranoid, you could always get an Option C sent to a family or friends address in Canada... and have them fedex it to you in Korea. At least then you could get a tracking number and ensure it's going to arrive with no problems!

 

[Korea2Canada]

E-CAS: Any point in using e-cas for tracking the application? I have read in other threads that it doesn't get updated often, etc.

 

[Rob_TO]

E-CAS: Any point in using e-cas for tracking the application? I have read in other threads that it doesn't get updated often, etc.

Sometimes it does... sometimes it doesn't. I ended up checking like once a day... just in case lol.

 

[CanNZ]

another day, another no Option - C, think tonight I will give them another call and have them send a one over to my parents house.

 

[bartjones]

Back in Canada now so I thought I'd let people know how things went with CBSA when we arrived. I told the CBSA agent that I was a Canadian returning to Canada after living in Korea and that I had goods that would be arriving after me. I also told him that my wife had a PR application pending. I asked him if he wanted the appplication file number but he wasn't interested. He just asked when we had filed the application and then asked to see her return ticket. After looking at her return ticket he proceeded to give us what seemed to be a well rehearsed speech about how she would only be getting a visitor's visa and the importance of understanding that if her PR application was not complete by the time that visa expired, she would either have to apply to extend the visa or go back to Korea. That was it as far as the PR issue went.

He asked me what portion of the goods I was returning with had been purchased in the past six months. That question kind of threw me as I wasn't expecting it. When I hummed and hawwed about that number he said "just tell me it was less than $800", so I told him that yes, it was less than that.

I was then directed to go to the secondary inspection area where they asked to see the list of items that would be arriving by ship later. The movers had prepared an itemized list for us which described each box they had packed and its contents. I gave that to the agent who then asked me to write an approximate value for the contents of each box. She said a best guess was fine and there was no need to be very meticulous about the numbers. Once I had done that they took the list into an office, completed that B4 form and asked me to sign it. They gave me a copy and told me to bring that to the port when my goods arrived. The whole process took about 45 minutes and was pretty painless. I think the moral of the story is to be sure your movers provide you with that itemized list. Without that you'll have a lot of trouble.

If you're bringing a dog with you, as we were, be sure to have a rabies vaccination certificate from your vet. If you do the process is also very simple.

 

[Korea2Canada]

Congrats. on a smooth landing! I guess the return ticket was under 6 months? If the 6 month visa is extended, is another 6 month air ticket required? Or, can the air ticket be extended as well?

Thanks!

PS: We sent our PR App. last Monday and confirmed delivery Tuesday. Expecting an AOR in a week or two.

 

[Rob_TO]

If you're bringing a dog with you, as we were, be sure to have a rabies vaccination certificate from your vet. If you do the process is also very simple.

Hey did you bring a small dog into the cabin with you, or a big dog that needed to be stored in the cargo hold?

We have a small 10 lb dog, and were thinking of attempting to bring her to Korea for an extended trip next year. My understanding is if she can fit in a certain sized carrier, they can travel in the cabin under your seat. Still seems like a horrible experience for a dog to be in transit for like 15 hours. So just wondering what your experience was, if it was AC or Korean Air, and what the costs were? Thanks!

 

[Rob_TO]

Congrats. on a smooth landing! I guess the return ticket was under 6 months? If the 6 month visa is extended, is another 6 month air ticket required? Or, can the air ticket be extended as well?
Thanks!
PS: We sent our PR App. last Monday and confirmed delivery Tuesday. Expecting an AOR in a week or two.

Once you successfully pass immigration and get the 6-month visitor visa, the return ticket is then pretty much useless (unless you plan on actually using it). You don't need it to apply for a visitor extension after the 6 months. So you have various options:
- if its a fully refundable ticket, just cancel it outright and get money back. You can then book a return ticket only if you need to sometime in the future. This IMO is the best option and gives most flexibility.
- if you have an "open" ticket, this means you can change the return date so can just save the ticket till you need to go home again. Some open tickets can only stay "open" so long before you must use it.
- if you have a non-refundable closed ticket (the cheapest most popular kind)... then you pretty much have to use it on your return date, or possibly pay a fee and increased fares to change the date

So just be careful exactly what kind of return ticket you get, when you book your flights to Canada. You should have a good notion of that your future plans are.

 

[CanNZ]

Called and ordered another option C, one is being delivered to my parents and another is being sent to my house. Hopefully one of them finds me.

 

[costaudjoe]

One of the VERY few benefits of applying from Qc is we don't have to do the Option-C stuff.

On a totally different topic, the one-month countdown has started until I cross the Pacific to spend my summer vaykay in Seoul.

 

[bartjones]

Hey did you bring a small dog into the cabin with you, or a big dog that needed to be stored in the cargo hold?

We have a small 10 lb dog, and were thinking of attempting to bring her to Korea for an extended trip next year. My understanding is if she can fit in a certain sized carrier, they can travel in the cabin under your seat. Still seems like a horrible experience for a dog to be in transit for like 15 hours. So just wondering what your experience was, if it was AC or Korean Air, and what the costs were? Thanks!

Yes, we brought a 7 kilo pooch in cabin with us on Air Canada. She pretty much slept the whole way. You can see the maximum dimensions for the carrier bag on AC's website. We wanted to be sure they would allow us on the plane so we went out to the airport before we booked the flight with the dog and the carrier and got the AC supervisor to approve it.

Bringing one into Canada is fairly easy. You might want to check the process for taking one into Korea. I think it may be a little more complicated.

 

[Daantaat]

bartjones, thanks so much for letting us know how things went at immigration on your arrival. I hope you and your wife are enjoying getting settled and that she really comes to love Canada. My husband and I are heading to Calgary in August, so your advice is very helpful and greatly appreciated!