Sponsoring my Korean wife for permanent residency

[jmomcc]

Hello all,

We went back to the police station today. The police officer showed me what the English background check looks like, and it's actually much nicer than the regular Korean one that you get.... however, it only says "no records found" and doesn't say anything about "lapsed records". The officer ensured me that they have changed the system in Korea and that this one will be fine for immigration purposes. We are picking them up on Thursday or Friday and sending them off that day. I will update this again, if I hear anything more from Manilla.

*I have been trying to attach a picture of the application forms, but I can't seem to get it to work. Has anyone attached a picture before? I want to attach the application form and the actual police check once I receive it.

I'm not sure If I'm missing this, or did you upload the picture of the form for the new check? I'm going tomorrow and I won't have a korean with me so a picture or the name of the form in hangul would be awesome!

 

[kazzy]

Hey Kazzy, I'm doing the same thing as you are. We don't have anything big, so we're just sending stuff through mail as we box it up. Nothing has reached Canada yet, so I don't have any updated info for you, but I have shipped boxes and even a full suitcase before and they came through alright. It's also reasonably priced as well. Sent 2 very large 18kg boxes last week for $100 total.

On another note, I have a question about address changes. They received our package in Mississauga on July 10 and we are waiting for my sponsorship approval. However, we need to move out of our apartment on August 15 and won't have a permanent address again until we hit Canada on sept 10 where we will be staying with my parents. How do I change our address at this point in time since we're not in Canada yet, and we don't have any account numbers or anything because I haven't been approved yet. Do they send any paperwork out during or after the approval process for sponsorship or is that only through email? (I did fill out the email part on the app)

Thanks

Ct

Why are you sending your stuff so early?

Won't you have to pay duty on it?

 

[ctcruiser]

We sent it on the "slow boat" so none of it will get there until after I'm already there as well. They said 50-70 days and I'll be there in 40. It is my understanding that as long as I put my name as sender and reciever on the boxes, and have item lists and values with me at customs, then I'll fill out the B4 form and won't be charged when it does arrive. Of course, if I am mistaken, please let me know! Lol

Ct

 

[kazzy]

We sent it on the "slow boat" so none of it will get there until after I'm already there as well. They said 50-70 days and I'll be there in 40. It is my understanding that as long as I put my name as sender and reciever on the boxes, and have item lists and values with me at customs, then I'll fill out the B4 form and won't be charged when it does arrive. Of course, if I am mistaken, please let me know! Lol

Ct

No, that's right. My experience with slow mail from Korea is that it's fast!!

 

[bartjones]

On another note, I have a question about address changes. They received our package in Mississauga on July 10 and we are waiting for my sponsorship approval. However, we need to move out of our apartment on August 15 and won't have a permanent address again until we hit Canada on sept 10 where we will be staying with my parents. How do I change our address at this point in time since we're not in Canada yet, and we don't have any account numbers or anything because I haven't been approved yet. Do they send any paperwork out during or after the approval process for sponsorship or is that only through email? (I did fill out the email part on the app)

Thanks

Ct

In our case they sent sponsorship approval by regular mail and email, even though I checked the box to correspond by email.

 

[Red Tape Sucks]

We got our good news today! Our status has been changed to "Decision Made"!!! This is so much faster than we ever would have thought.... One problem, we have sent them a change of address 3 times, and that has yet to be updated....

 

[lengjai]

I found this forum very helpful. me and my wife started our app in may and application started in july. My wife insist that it will take 14 months but I am confident it will be less than that. We had arguments about hiring immigration company to do the app for us and she won the battle. I hope that everything does speed up with immigration representative's experiences. Is anyone in the same boat as me where I live in Canada and wife is in korea. We have been doing long distance for almost 3 years and it hurts to wait one more year especially when we are married.

 

[Rob_TO]

We had arguments about hiring immigration company to do the app for us and she won the battle. I hope that everything does speed up with immigration representative's experiences.

A consultant is really not needed except in cases with criminality or other serious issues. For a straightforward couple, it's a big waste of money. They can't do anything to get your app processed faster then the next person.

Hopefully you guys got a GOOD consultant, and not just the cheapest one you could find. There are countless stories on this site of lawyers/consultants giving bad info and causing delays for people. One thing to watch out for, is if you put the consultant as main point of contact with CIC then all correspondence will go to them so make sure they are diligent in getting info to you asap after receiving it.

 

[ilovecbc]

@jmomcc

As far as I know, there are two kinds of record checks that we can get in Korea now. The one my husband got this week is called "범죄 수사경력 회보서" or "Criminal (Investigation) Records Check Reply". The paper has English translation and it clearly says: "Scope of reference: Criminal records (including lapsed criminal sentences), Investigation records". As far as I know, you can get this printed immediately.

The other one takes longer to get and you need to bring a photo to get it. It takes several days and is apparently also in English


I'm pretty sure the Canadian government just needs the first one, but we're going to send both just in case...

If anyone has any more light to shed... ^^

 

[jmomcc]

I just got back from the police station there now. I got the second one or at least applied. I'll get in a week. As far as I could tell, that was the only one I could get as I wasn't given an option.

 

[bartjones]

The one my husband got this week is called "범죄 수사경력 회보서" or "Criminal (Investigation) Records Check Reply". The paper has English translation and it clearly says: "Scope of reference: Criminal records (including lapsed criminal sentences), Investigation records". As far as I know, you can get this printed immediately.

That sounds like the right one since it's a search of all three databases and clearly says so. I think it's still best to just follow CIC's instructions and use the request form on their website. Surely CIC can't complain if you follow their guidelines.

 

[jmomcc]

That sounds like the right one since it's a search of all three databases and clearly says so. I think it's still best to just follow CIC's instructions and use the request form on their website. Surely CIC can't complain if you follow their guidelines.

I took the printed out form to the police station, the big one in my gu. That form doesn't exist any more. I filled out a different form and when she saw that the purpose was for Canadian Immi, she sent me to another bigger station to get the one in English.

 

[bartjones]

I took the printed out form to the police station, the big one in my gu. That form doesn't exist any more. I filled out a different form and when she saw that the purpose was for Canadian Immi, she sent me to another bigger station to get the one in English.

Thanks, that's interesting. It's what I suspected. The Korean Police have changed their process and CIC doesn't know about it yet. Either way, I think with the searches you've obtained, you'll be fine.

 

[Daantaat]

Moving to Toronto from Busan.

Have checked out a bunch of shipping companies. It seems the cheapest one will be over 1.2 million won.

We aren't sending any furniture, just clothes, books and mementos. So we are thinking Korea post is the way to go.
Can anyone share their experiences with shipping with them. I'm worried about losing boxes / damaged goods....

Thanks!

We shipped 10 #5 boxes from Seoul to Edmonton and it cost about 54,000 won each. It took less than 4 weeks to arrive (in fact, the boxes arrived before we did, which we didn't expect!) Make sure each box is less than 20 lbs (if I recall correctly) as you will have to open and repack boxes until they are under the max. weight. My husband and b-i-l spent about half an hour splitting boxes and repacking and retaping to get everything just right. We had no problems at all; in fact, I highly recommend the Korean post office, and here in Edmonton, there is a Korean taek bae for shipping things back to Korea. It's much cheaper than shipping Canada Post.

 

[CanNZ]

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.