sponsoring your spouse to canada

[violka]

i am a canadian citizen and have recently married to a brazilian citizen. i have just applied for the spouse sponsorship with immigration canada. I understand that it takes about 10 months to process these applications in sao paolo, which is a very long time and it's painful to wait this long. Is there anyone who applied for visitor visa for their spouse before the pernament residence was approved that can give me some advise. thank you.

 

[waitingintz]

I don't have personal experience with this but generally speaking to get the visitor visa you need to demonstrate that your spouse will be going back to brazil when the visa expires. You can demonstrate this with proof of a lease or house ownership, a letter stating they have limited leave from work and are expected back, evidence of tuition paid for school, etc, etc.

Even then there are no guarantees but that is what you'll need to try. I'm sure there are other considerations like if they've been to Canada before and left within the allowable time, etc.

good luck

 

[Baloo]

As waitingintz has suggested, getting into Canada can be very difficult in the situation where the outland spouse is not visa exempt.
Many who apply for a TRV are refused, the key issue is that immigration suspect that the visiting spouse will overstay.

There are people on this forum who have been apart for over two years, 10 months is not "very long".

You can apply, but there are no guarantees that it will be accepted.

 

[Panda]

Cuts to family-reunification visas upset Asians
Community 'angry' elders may be kept out of country for years
By Suzanne Fournier, The Province February 10, 2011

Vancouver's Asian community is furious at allegations Immigration Canada is planning to dramatically cut visas issued this year for family reunification.

The reduction in visas in 2011 cuts to the heart of Asian and South Asian families, who especially cherish the contribution of elders to family life.

Seniors are being sentenced to a 13-year wait that many of them won't survive, say immigration experts.

Thomas Tam, chief executive officer of SUCCESS immigrant services, called the reduced visa numbers "a big surprise and so disappointing -everyone is angry."

"Traditionally for Asian immigrants, the reunion with grandparents is very important. Parents rely on them for childcare and our community looks after grandparents. They are not a financial burden."

Immigration Canada is planning for "fewer immigrant visas overall, a reduction from 230,450 in 2010 to 217,800 visas in 2011, a drop of over five per cent," noted Vancouver immigration lawyer Richard Kurland, who got the never-released data under an Access to Information request.

"You're more likely now to get a coffin than a visa to Canada," Kurland said Wednesday.

"If you're hoping to bring a grandparent over for a christening, they'll be lucky to get here before the child graduates from high school."

Although Kurland notes there will be slight increases in visas issued in 2011 to business immigrants, such as entrepreneurs or wealthy investors, "the only group chosen for the back of the bus are parents and grandparents."

Particularly hard-hit will be elders from cities such as New Delhi, "which will see the number of its visas drop from 4,500 in 2010 to 2,500 in 2011," said Kurland.

Charan Gill of Progressive Intercultural Community Services was incensed at the apparent drastic reduction in the numbers of parents being allowed to emigrate from India.

"Already we have so many families waiting five, six years to bring parents over. Now people will die before they see their family in Canada," said Gill.

And while Asia/Pacific visa quotas are reduced overall, the city of Beijing appears to have been given an increase.

"That means there will be only 11,200 parents/grandparents come to Canada from China in all of 2011, but one in four of them will be from Beijing," noted Kurland. "Everyone else has to wait."

Johanne Nadeau, spokeswoman for Citizenship and Immigration Canada, cautioned that "the visa targets only serve as a planning tool to help allocate scarce resources, manage applications and minimize processing delays across a global network."

Nadeau said the "visa targets change from year to year" and are "adjusted as necessary."

It would be "wrong to infer from planning numbers how many people Canada will actually welcome in 2011," she said.

Nadeau noted that, in 2010, Canada "welcomed the highest level of permanent residents in 50 years."

Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/Cuts+family+reunification+visas+upset+Asians/4255890/story.html#ixzz1DZkExbNz

-----------------------------

If the above is true IT SUCKS big time, in the news release in November it said that quotas have been increased for family reunification and now they are saying it's decreased drastically, I hope SPOUSE Visas are not affected with this, For Parents and Grand Parents it will be a 13 year wait now WTF sorry for being agitated but it really is bad, Canada is really tightening down the way it's allowing the immigrants.

Hope for the best folks!

Cheers;
Panda

 

[HoneyBird2]

Two Words:
Expenditure and Recession

Older people are seen as a burden on the health care system and non contributors to tax.

My hubby says people in his office are complaining about taxes and how long it takes to get health care compared to a few years ago. And they blame the immigrants.

 

[Panda]

They should blame the Canadian health system not immigrants for this, Canada is running on immigrants they should not forget that

 

[Baloo]

HoneyBird is right, the problem is about "Expenditure and Recession".
While skilled workers and many spousal/common law immigrants are expected to contribute to the system, in many cases older parents of immigrants are much less likely to do so.
Thus, these older parents are seen as pure cost, i.e. offering no financial contribution. It should be noted that in many cases the older parents do not integrate well into general Canadian society.
We could discuss the merits of family for ages and get nowhere, but I can tell you this:
If a Canadian has to wait longer for healthcare because a recent immigrants non contributing parent used the money, they will be vocal about it. I hear it all the time.
I know it makes little sense, but that is what people are dealing with.

Politicians know that Canada needs immigrants (those that contribute taxes and contribute to society), but the politicians don't want to be seen spending cash where many Canadians feel it should not be spent.

FWIW the health care system is not "running on immigrants", it is paid for by tax payers and in many cases, staffed by immigrants, because most Canadians are immigrants (how many depends on how far you go back in history).

it is my experience that many "cradle Canadians" are already unhappy about the immigration situation, so I doubt that the process is going to get any easier.

 

[patiently_waiting]

HoneyBird is right, the problem is about "Expenditure and Recession".
While skilled workers and many spousal/common law immigrants are expected to contribute to the system, in many cases older parents of immigrants are much less likely to do so.
Thus, these older parents are seen as pure cost, i.e. offering no financial contribution. It should be noted that in many cases the older parents do not integrate well into general Canadian society.
We could discuss the merits of family for ages and get nowhere, but I can tell you this:
If a Canadian has to wait longer for healthcare because a recent immigrants non contributing parent used the money, they will be vocal about it. I hear it all the time.
I know it makes little sense, but that is what people are dealing with.

Politicians know that Canada needs immigrants (those that contribute taxes and contribute to society), but the politicians don't want to be seen spending cash where many Canadians feel it should not be spent.

FWIW the health care system is not "running on immigrants", it is paid for by tax payers and in many cases, staffed by immigrants, because most Canadians are immigrants (how many depends on how far you go back in history).

it is my experience that many "cradle Canadians" are already unhappy about the immigration situation, so I doubt that the process is going to get any easier.

Thank you Baloo, I couldn't have said it any better myself.

 

[waitingintz]

I'm not going to get into a debate about the merits of letting in parents/grandparents, etc because I'm sure everyone will have their opinion on it...

But what I will say is you have to analyze data like this very carefully. All that is being said is that there is a reduction intentded in visas issued to asia/pacific parent/grandparent class applicants.

1. Panda - the Nov announcement refered to increasing numbers globally, this is refering to a local decrease... doesn't necessarily contradict the previous announcement.

2. While it is a decrease, how do the actual numbers compare to other places? It's very possible that asia had a much higher quota than other places and now they are balancing it out by reducing visas in Asia and increasing elsewhere to accommodate an increase in applications from other regions. I'm pretty sure most people would consider that fair??

3. If Canada put more resources into other areas (I'm not talking about more people draining the system but even just the resources required to process more applications faster) in lieu of taking care of the citizens in the country I would think less people would be interested in coming to Canada anyway because health care would get worse, education would get worse, etc, etc ,etc. While family reunification is important, aren't these sponsors living in Canada for a better life in the first place? Ultimately resources are limited.

Realistically - whenever one groups benefits get decreased they affected people are going to be upset (whether it be tax increases, accepted application decreases, welfare benefits, etc, etc) - but decisions can't be made to please everyone.