The person being Sponsored not being able to work

[Jamesdavid3]

Hi all,

I am just wondering how people cope and manage when the person being sponsored is unable to work during the entire 1 stage process for In-Land Applications as well as being stuck in the country and not being able to leave, at the moment it stands at 15 Months for stage 1 until you get your Work Permit.

Yes its great that you can finally be with your partner inside of Canada however the restrictions of not being able to leave Canada and also not working until Stage 1 is complete sometimes is like a double edge sword..

I am just curious as it's a huge strain on relationships and what people do while they have to wait?

I had a friend ask me this question who will be applying soon and I didn't know how to answer, but I am sure there are people on here going through the same process.

 

[tink23]

I would tell that friend to apply OUTLAND instead of inland. Unless your friend is from one of the few visa offices that takes over 30 months, then they are most likely better off applying OUTLAND. They can stay in Canada throughout the application, they may just have to apply to extend their visitor status.

 

[scylla]

I frankly don't know how people do it. The not working thing would have been totally doable for us. However not being able to leave Canada would have been a complete deal-breaker. One of the many reasons we went outland.

 

[keesio]

My wife came up here a bit before she got COPR. She passed the time by studying (she is a health professional and must take exams to get licensed here) and perusing hobbies (yoga, art, etc) and such. She met people who became friends while doing the above. Even after she became a PR, she is still doing the same since she must get through all the exams. It has been over a year since she became PR and she is still studying and doing her hobbies. One benefit of PR though is that she is able to do volunteer work without issue so she volunteers at some hospitals once or twice a week. The key thing is to simply find things to do. In the beginning she was concerned about not being able to work but after a year and a half of not working, she is now gotten used to it and is not looking forward to going back to work!

 

[taffy7]

I have a friend applying inland and they are from the U.K.Big mistake,but they had no idea her husband could have stayed while applying outland. It has been a toll on their relationship.The husband feels so useless not being able to provide for the family , but it is nearly the end for them so fingers crossed.

 

[fugaziosbourne]

I am just curious as it's a huge strain on relationships and what people do while they have to wait?

I have completely gutted and restored our kitchen and master bedroom in our house, built a new front porch and completely changed the landscaping in our back yard. I signed up for a German language course in the new year. There are lots of things to do with all this unwanted free time.

 

[keesio]

The husband feels so useless not being able to provide for the family.

yeah I think this is the biggest issue. My wife felt the same way. She felt bad spending money on anything. I had to encourage, almost plead her, to shop for stuff for herself instead of just necessities. I would imagine it is much worse for a guy because of the stereotypical gender roles we have in society.

 

[keesio]

I have completely gutted and restored our kitchen and master bedroom in our house, built a new front porch and completely changed the landscaping in our back yard. I signed up for a German language course in the new year. There are lots of things to do with all this unwanted free time.

Nice! There are plenty of ways to be productive while waiting. My wife is learning French since being bilingual here seems to be a big plus in her profession. She has also gotten in good shape with all the working out (yoga, gym, etc). Getting healthy helps not just you but the whole family. She is picking up new hobbies all the time (she just bought a sewing machine to play around with and make stuff for her niece).

 

[SchnookoLoly]

As others have said, this is why most people apply outland. Even if the sponsored person is waiting in Canada, outland applications are much faster than inland ones, depending on the country.

As for what people do... it depends on the relationship and what jobs each partner has. If my husband and I would have applied inland, we could have survived on my salary alone, and it would have helped that we had the option fo living with my parents, but even paying rent on a one-bedroom place on just my salary would have been doable... tight, but doable.

In fact, I was unemployed for 3 months last year - my husband was already in Canada, and I was waiting in the UK for my citizenship to come through before moving back to Canada. In order to travel back and forth and to visit my husband I left my job, so was unemployed for 3 months. I made myself useful in other ways during that time. While in the UK, I made sure all our stuff was packed and organised for bringing it to Canada. While in Canada I did a lot of projects that we otherwise don't have time to do, like organising photos and getting albums printed, painting around the house (my parents' house in this case, but still), cooked a lot of awesome food since I had hours to prepare, and so on. I also took advantage of doing shopping during the day when the stores are less busy. (Costco at 2pm is surprisingly easy to cope with!) I also went to the pool in the afternoons to do lengths, and had a few lunch dates with friends who work in the area who I otherwise don't get to see that often. My Mom works nearby so I had lunch with her often as well, which she liked.

So it just depends on the relationship. In your case, being a Brit, about 99% of applicants apply outland because it's so much faster. Either the Brit, or both partners, stay in the UK so that the Brit can keep working (presumably the Canadian can also work), or the BRit and Canadian wait separately so they can both work in their own countries. Or they will wait in one country and live on one salary so that they can stay together. But as I said, it depends on the jobs, and the relationship, and how the couple lives.

If your "friend" is from a country whose processing time is faster than whatever total processing for inland is at the moment (25 months or something?) then I'd strongly suggest they apply outland. The sponsored person can wait in Canada while the app is in process, but they wil have PR through much, much faster (probably).

 

[28january]

I'm from a country with 30++ months for outland processing time, and I think I still would have applied outland if I knew back then that the processing time provided is for worst case scenario. Based on people in this forum, those that applied outland from my country few months after I applied inland are already landing. So I would highly advise your friend to seriously consider applying outland.

Some people enjoy the luxury of doing nothing though, I know some of my friends are "envious" of my situation which makes me want to smack them in the head. If you can afford to live comfortably in a one income household and enjoy lots of downtime, then it's probably not that bad. We're not in a bad place financially but my partner works from home which means I can't stay home. Which sucks. I've done everything from taking classes, volunteering, spending hours at the gym and yoga, and it's still hard.

 

[Ponga]

I have completely gutted and restored our kitchen and master bedroom in our house, built a new front porch and completely changed the landscaping in our back yard. I signed up for a German language course in the new year. There are lots of things to do with all this unwanted free time.

Whatever you do, do NOT disclose the remodeling/landscaping work to CIC/CBSA!

While I can certainly understand your logic, you have, in essence, done work that a Canadian contractor could have done.

 

[SchnookoLoly]

Not arguing, just genuinely curious - would they really get uppity about that? Tons of people do their own DIY work. We are remodelling our own kitchen, not bringing in a contractor to do it... it might be different if the guy was doing it for someone else, but if he's doing it in his own house...?

Where do you draw the line on that? Can he not go pull the weeds in the garden because they could have hired a gardener? Should he not shovel the snow from his driveway because they could have hired a snow removal service?

 

[keesio]

Not arguing, just genuinely curious - would they really get uppity about that? Tons of people do their own DIY work. We are remodelling our own kitchen, not bringing in a contractor to do it... it might be different if the guy was doing it for someone else, but if he's doing it in his own house...?

Where do you draw the line on that? Can he not go pull the weeds in the garden because they could have hired a gardener? Should he not shovel the snow from his driveway because they could have hired a snow removal service?

Technically I suppose it could be considered a violation if they really want to be anal. But I really really doubt CIC would give anyone a hard time over it unless they were other issues (like the person was out of status also).

 

[Ponga]

Not arguing, just genuinely curious - would they really get uppity about that? Tons of people do their own DIY work. We are remodelling our own kitchen, not bringing in a contractor to do it... it might be different if the guy was doing it for someone else, but if he's doing it in his own house...?

Where do you draw the line on that? Can he not go pull the weeds in the garden because they could have hired a gardener? Should he not shovel the snow from his driveway because they could have hired a snow removal service?

People have gotten in trouble for babysitting for a friend, or family member (other than their own children)!

IMHO, `they' could very well have an issue with someone doing major renovations, but...who knows how [they] look at things like this. My advice is to not mention ANY of it, unless questioned!

 

[zardoz]

I think that there is a huge difference in the homeowner doing the work on their own property and a "visitor" doing the same work while visiting the same property. I guess it depends on the relationship between the worker and the task.