Spousal sponsorship

[Funbox]

Hi everyone,

In my wife's sponsorship application (I'm the sponsor), I'm planning on adding a letter of explanation about my legal name which has been shortened in Canada. The names below are just examples.

- Legal Name in my home country and marriage certificate: John Smith Doe
- Legal Name in Canada: John Doe

As per the example above, the "first" last name has been removed from my legal name in Canada but remains as part of my legal name in my home country and on my marriage certificate. I'm planning on attaching to the application the "certificate of name change" and a "letter of explanation" explaining that my last name has been shortened in Canada but has not changed in my home country and that's why the marriage certificate shows the "full" name.

Do you see any issues with this approach?

 

[Kaibigan]

Hi everyone,
...
Do you see any issues with this approach?

Not really. I seem recall the forms asking about nicknames, other names used, etc. When you refer to your "legal name" in Canada, are you referring to your name as it appears on Canada-issued documents, which as passport, PR card or whatever? If so, I would use that name on the forms and explain that, back in your country of origin, you are known as John Smith Doe on official documents.

 

[YVR123]

Hi everyone,

In my wife's sponsorship application (I'm the sponsor), I'm planning on adding a letter of explanation about my legal name which has been shortened in Canada. The names below are just examples.

- Legal Name in my home country and marriage certificate: John Smith Doe
- Legal Name in Canada: John Doe

As per the example above, the "first" last name has been removed from my legal name in Canada but remains as part of my legal name in my home country and on my marriage certificate. I'm planning on attaching to the application the "certificate of name change" and a "letter of explanation" explaining that my last name has been shortened in Canada but has not changed in my home country and that's why the marriage certificate shows the "full" name.

Do you see any issues with this approach?

Just want to add..
"John" is your first name. And "Doe" is your last name in Canada.
I don't know how names are splited in your home country. Normally if someone has a name "John Smith Doe" in Canada, We would assume that "John" is the first name, "Smith" is the middle name and "Doe" is the last name.

 

[armoured]

Just want to add..
"John" is your first name. And "Doe" is your last name in Canada.
I don't know how names are splited in your home country. Normally if someone has a name "John Smith Doe" in Canada, We would assume that "John" is the first name, "Smith" is the middle name and "Doe" is the last name.

Don't agree.

To my knowledge, there is legally no such thing as a 'middle name' in Canada, only first (given) and last (family) names. If 'Smith Doe' is shown in the last name field, that is the last name; if 'John Smith' is shown in first name, it simply means there is more than one 'first name' (usually called given names - plural.) So it just depends what has actually been entered on the documents.

That said: there may be differences between provinces, archaic forms, etc. And no-one is denying that we say 'middle name' colloquially all the time, and most people will actually use only of their given names. I also can't say what other jurisdictions do, many do have fields for middle names (esp where middle name is a patronymic or similar).

Canada will put all names that are not 'family names' into the given names field by default (you can often ask to omit or specify which given names, depending on situation though). I believe in many circumstances Canadian insitutions will agree to omit one of the family names IF that's what you use consistently, but YMMV.

BTW recently had reason to review old birth certificates and baptismal certificates for a friend - the friend has like six given names (family traditions and the like). Turns out only two of the given names are on the birth certificate, the baptismal certificates have all the other ones - so it turns out my friend's other names are not official in any meaningful sense except perhaps vis a vis the church.

Of necessity I've massively generalized here when saying 'Canada' when often it's the provinces, and Quebec is often different, no idea there. I'm sure there are lots of cases where this generalization is not exact)

 

[Funbox]

Not really. I seem recall the forms asking about nicknames, other names used, etc. When you refer to your "legal name" in Canada, are you referring to your name as it appears on Canada-issued documents, which as passport, PR card or whatever? If so, I would use that name on the forms and explain that, back in your country of origin, you are known as John Smith Doe on official documents.

Yes. That's how my name appears on my passport.

Just want to add..
"John" is your first name. And "Doe" is your last name in Canada.
I don't know how names are splited in your home country. Normally if someone has a name "John Smith Doe" in Canada, We would assume that "John" is the first name, "Smith" is the middle name and "Doe" is the last name.

Of necessity I've massively generalized here when saying 'Canada' when often it's the provinces, and Quebec is often different, no idea there. I'm sure there are lots of cases where this generalization is not exact)

Before I changed my name, both words were in the last name (e.g. "Smith Doe"). I agree that in Canada we tend to confuse multiple-word last names with the given name (first and middle name). In fact, my bank treated the "Smith" as a middle name before I had it changed.

Because of these common misunderstandings about legal names, and unless you guys have a better suggestion, my plan is to add the "certificate of change of name" and a "letter of explanation" explaining that in my home country, I have a two-word last name, and only the second word is present in my Canadian legal name. Since the First Name and "last" Last Name are the same in both countries, I hope it won't be an issue.

 

[Kaibigan]

Because of these common misunderstandings about legal names, and unless you guys have a better suggestion, my plan is to add the "certificate of change of name" and a "letter of explanation" explaining that in my home country, I have a two-word last name, and only the second word is present in my Canadian legal name. Since the First Name and "last" Last Name are the same in both countries, I hope it won't be an issue.

Nope. No better suggestion from this kid. I think your plan covers the bases and should in no way be objectionable or "an issue" for the elves at the IRCC.

 

[Ahmedgull]

Is there anybody from London Visa Office?

 

[armoured]

Because of these common misunderstandings about legal names, and unless you guys have a better suggestion, my plan is to add the "certificate of change of name" and a "letter of explanation" explaining that in my home country, I have a two-word last name, and only the second word is present in my Canadian legal name. Since the First Name and "last" Last Name are the same in both countries, I hope it won't be an issue.

I also agree that should be fine.

Some might argue that you should change your name in country of origin as well, some might even say you are required to (that is, under the laws of the other country), I don't have an opinion on either of those points. 'It depends'.

I will say there is the potential for confusion and issues in some cases, like identifying you at borders, but I don't think this applies to Canada.

 

[armoured]

Hello! Can someone enlighten me? The last update on my gckey was when I completed the medical last August 15, wherein it stated in the “latest update” section….medical results were approved.

I checked today and saw this under the latest update section: “Final decision- October 17, 2023, your application is in progress..we will send you a message once the final decision has been made.

Final decision usually means it is approved, and the passport request could come soon, but no, I can't tell you how soon.

 

[shahriarali]

Hi! I submitted my inland application back in October 2nd 2023, so I am yet to get AoR. While filing the application I made an error(I thought my visitor visa biometric is valid but it's not valid for PR applications) and did not pay the biometrics fee. Will they return the application or just ask for biometric fee? Does this cause significant delays in processing applications?

Should I pay biometrics fee or make an additional $85 payment now after submitting by logging in my account in IRCC payment page? https://eservices.cic.gc.ca/epay/welcome.do
After that should I send the receipt using webform?

Or should I just wait for IRCC's instruction to pay for biometrics?

 

[Funbox]

Hi! I submitted my inland application back in October 2nd 2023, so I am yet to get AoR. While filing the application I made an error(I thought my visitor visa biometric is valid but it's not valid for PR applications) and did not pay the biometrics fee. Will they return the application or just ask for biometric fee? Does this cause significant delays in processing applications?

Should I pay biometrics fee or make an additional $85 payment now after submitting by logging in my account in IRCC payment page? https://eservices.cic.gc.ca/epay/welcome.do
After that should I send the receipt using webform?

Or should I just wait for IRCC's instruction to pay for biometrics?

According to the IRCC's website:

• You must pay the biometric fee when you submit your application. Otherwise you may experience delays.
• Get this done as soon as you get the letter from us that tells you to give biometrics.
• You have 30 days to do this from the date on the letter.

Source: https://ircc.canada.ca/english/information/applications/spouse.asp

Based on that first statement, it sounds like the application wouldn't be returned, but you may experience delays. If I were you, I'd pay the biometric fee and send the receipt via web form. I assume when you send a web form, it gets linked to your application (on their side), so they would see this extra document (the biometric receipt) by the time they start reviewing it. But I'm not entirely sure what their workflow is (in fact, I wonder if this is how web forms work). It would be nice to see a record of each sent web form on the application's page (on our side) so people know that they got it.

 

[shahriarali]

Thank you so much for replying. If you were in my position would you make the payment as additional payment or only biometric payment?

Also, consider that I don’t have any application number, I feel so disappointed I missed this key point. Last time I researched, I didn’t need to give biometrics once again. The rule changed, actually reverted back to the original.

According to the IRCC's website:

• You must pay the biometric fee when you submit your application. Otherwise you may experience delays.
• Get this done as soon as you get the letter from us that tells you to give biometrics.
• You have 30 days to do this from the date on the letter.

Source: https://ircc.canada.ca/english/information/applications/spouse.asp

Based on that first statement, it sounds like the application wouldn't be returned, but you may experience delays. If I were you, I'd pay the biometric fee and send the receipt via web form. I assume when you send a web form, it gets linked to your application (on their side), so they would see this extra document (the biometric receipt) by the time they start reviewing it. But I'm not entirely sure what their workflow is (in fact, I wonder if this is how web forms work). It would be nice to see a record of each sent web form on the application's page (on our side) so people know that they got it.

 

[Funbox]

Thank you so much for replying. If you were in my position would you make the payment as additional payment or only biometric payment?

Also, consider that I don’t have any application number, I feel so disappointed I missed this key point. Last time I researched, I didn’t need to give biometrics once again. The rule changed, actually reverted back to the original.

I don't know how additional payments work, but I'd pay the biometric fee which is what was missed. I haven't filed the sponsorship application yet, so I'm not sure what kind of information they give you immediately after you submit it. I thought there would be some sort of number. But I have the impression that someone has said on this thread that IRCC uses the "last name" + "birthday" to find your records.

 

[Gurjee]

Thank you so much for replying. If you were in my position would you make the payment as additional payment or only biometric payment?

Also, consider that I don’t have any application number, I feel so disappointed I missed this key point. Last time I researched, I didn’t need to give biometrics once again. The rule changed, actually reverted back to the original.

Please do not worry about that i also had the biometrics from previous trv and i skipped the fee when i filled the spousal application i got AOR last week also the biometrics payment request they will not return your file only for biometrics fees. Just be positive

 

[shahriarali]

I paid biometric fee instead of additional fee cause if IRCC asks me for biometric fee receipt, I can send them the $85 receipt via webform.

I have uploaded the receipt using additional document web form - got an automated reply with subject *enquiry code* - Update or ask about your application: Add a document to your application-Permanent Residence-Inside Canada – Spouse, Partner.

I hope they will upload my biometric receipt before an officer is assigned to check my file, so that he gets everything prepared.