Spouse Sponsorship Help

[helgarom]

Hello all, I'm having tremendous difficulty with the information and procedures of sponsoring my spouse and any help offered is appreciated more than you'll ever know. My situation is that i have recently married a woman who is born and lives in Saint Petersburg Russia, the relationship is genuine, and we had our marriage performed in Cyprus on August 24, 2016. We are really trying to be together as fast as possible and we don't know where to begin in the application process... As i understand, we should make an outland application but one of my main concerns is the procedure, would the sponsorship application be sent first then the applications to actually bring her over here? or are all the forms and documents sent to Mississauga at one time. I currently go to university and have a really hard time sitting down for the days and days it seems to take to gather information on this and i was really hoping to get some case specific information and help that could help me get this application going. I am born and living in Alberta, and my wife was born, currently lives, and works in Russia.

Again, help is much appreciated and to anyone who takes time out of their day to help, thank you again.

 

[profiler]

Let's see if I can help you here. First a little background on us: I married my wife, who is from Moscow, in June 2015 in Ontario. She went home after a month's stay (that was her 3rd trip to Canada) to straighten out her affairs, then came to Ontario to be with me. She entered on a visitor visa, and before her visitor status expired, we filed for inland spousal sponsorship and the accompanying open work permit. She has stayed with me since her return last year.

Yes it is faster for you to apply outland, but if you want to be together faster, I would suggest her getting a visitor visa for Canada (if she doesn't have one). Then she can visit you, and you can file inland. This would be the best bet for her to stay, allow you two to build time together (as you recently married), and if you applied for the OWP, she can work (or at very least would have status within Canada) so she can stay for the duration of case processing.

There is a downside to inland: Takes longer to process (traditionally, though lately they have been trying to reduce the time dramatically) and she shouldn't leave Canada (as the CBSA could refuse her re-entry -- if they did the CIC could deem the case abandoned).

I know how you feel about wanting to just start your lives together, and wanting to move onward. To us (my wife and I), this was the best solution. We didn't want to be apart either.

Outland is an option as well, but you will need to repeatedly extend her Visitor visa. Additionally, she would not be able to work while in Canada.

Either way, you should probably apply for a Visitor visa so she can come to Canada...

 

[profiler]

I will also give you a list of the things she will want to get together and have translated...
- Birth Certificate from either the USSR or Russia (depending on her age). This should be a certified translation. Most Russian translators can make an appointment with the Embassy of Canada to Russia to have this certified.
- Internal Affairs passport. This can be just photocopied/translated.
- Her labour book; this can just be photocopied/translated.
- Her education diploma/degree. This can be just photocoped/translated.
- A police certificate (you are better to get this from the Consulate in Toronto -- acquire it by mail, and for $14 they will provide it in english) after she arrives.
- Your Cypriot Marriage Certificate will need to be translated, if it's not supplied in english.

My wife also applied for a new international passport with 10 year validity and biometrics. Then had her visitor visa transferred to it.

My wife also had attended an all-english school, and had an IELTS already completed. We also supplied a copy of this.

EDIT: Also, the Medical required is 3x more expensive in Russia -- you should consider getting this in Canada.