Visiting Soon - Confirmation for a Question

[Decoy24601]

My spouse (the Canadian sponsor) and I our having our wedding ceremony in a week and will be sending in our application the next day. Next Thursday I want to visit him while my PR processes. This is what I've gathered that I need to say while crossing the border:

1: I tell the border guard I am visiting for six months, but do I say that I'm visiting whole my PR processes or only if asked?
2: I don't have a lot of money saved up, but my husband has some and a job and he will be traveling with me. Will it be enough to have him say he will support me financially if I am asked about any money for the trip?
3: Will I still need to have proof of a job and apartment? Because if I am allowed to visit, I will lose my job and apartment. Most of my belongings and furniture will still be here stored at my mother's.
4: will they even ask for anything other than a return ticket?

I'm paranoid that I will be denied. In July I was given a voluntary withdrawal because I went to visit him in May for three months and during my visit found out I couldn't attend a university here in the US like I had planned. I needed to go back to the states for a few days and when I tried to finish my visit, so to speak, they didn't like that I wasn't married yet and didn't have ties to the US anymore and had run out of my own money. I'm assuming that's different now that we will be married and will have a PR app in process.

 

[scylla]

It's not necessarily different now that you are married and have applied for PR. You still have to satisfy officials that you are only visiting Canada and aren't coming here to live before you are allowed to do so.

If you were given a voluntary departure earlier this year, then it's quite possible you will be questioned again since they have the voluntary departure on record. I would prepare accordingly. Then again, it's possible you may not be questioned at all. Ultimately it's impossible for any of us to say. But a previous voluntary departure certainly increases the chances of future issues.

First of all, I would not go with a six month visit (that's really pushing your luck given the recent voluntary departure). This is too long IMO and demonstrates you have absolutely no ties to the US. I would go with a visit of three weeks (and pack accordingly). It's quite possible they will simply stamp your passport and allow you in for the full six months. If you are only allowed in for the three weeks, you can always apply for an extension from within Canada.

If you are coming for six months, you'll need to be able to demonstrate that you have funds saved up to fund your trip. It may not be enough to say that your fiance will fund your trip - they may want to see you have funds of your own (especially if he's not traveling with you). Do you have at least a few thousand saved up that you can show as a bank balance? And can you show a credit card you plan to use while in Canada?

If possible, I would also bring other evidence of ties to the US (e.g. employment, lease/rental, etc.). Normally this isn't that important for US visitors. But again, the voluntary departure puts you at greater risk.

Good luck.

 

[Decoy24601]

Thank you! I was advised previously to be up front and say I'm staying for 6 months while my PR application processed and that I wouldn't need to worry about being asked for strong ties. I will say I am staying for three weeks (his birthday is also during that time,so it makes sense). I will have a copy of my paystubs, but I do not have a rental lease since I am unofficially subleting from my roommate. I do have a text conversation of what rent and utilities I owe for a month, should I screenshot that and print it out?

The border guard I encountered the last time said my voluntary withdrawal wouldn't leave a record, so I hope she wasn't lying to me.

I have about $1000 saved up, would that be sufficient for only a 3 week stay? It's not like we are staying in a hotel the whole time... I wouldn't understand it if they wanted more.

 

[scylla]

I was under the impression that all voluntary departures are recorded in the system since you have to sign something. But I may very well be mistaken. $1,000 should be enough for three weeks.

There's no guarantee you will be fine saying you want to stay for six months while your PR application is being processed. Might be fine to say that to one agent but not to the next one.

 

[Decoy24601]

I did have to sign a few papers. What they did was let me stay for 3 days by seizing my passport (which was humiliating for some reason) and telling me to come collect it three days later, when they told me to leave and gave me a voluntary withdrawal. She said nothing that day would leave a record and the documents were just to satisfy her supervisor and that they would be shredded. She said to come back when I had a job and an apartment and that visiting was only understandably for a few days. Her biggest issue was that since my spouse and I were not married at the time and he could kick me out at any time if he wanted and with no money or ties of my own because of the circumstance I was in, she couldn't be convinced I could return to the US if that happened,and she didn't like that he didn't travel with me. Also, I'm young so I tend to be singled out and given a harder time.

Thank you for the advice.

 

[Decoy24601]

I was under the impression that all voluntary departures are recorded in the system since you have to sign something. But I may very well be mistaken. $1,000 should be enough for three weeks.

There's no guarantee you will be fine saying you want to stay for six months while your PR application is being processed. Might be fine to say that to one agent but not to the next one.

Thank you for your advice! I just crossed via amtrak into Vancouver tonight and everything went smoothly. The border guard did ask where/if I worked and also asked both my husband and I if one of us was going to be sponsoring the other for immigration in either country and I said he will be sponsoring me for permanent residency and we're getting together the paperwork and he started nodding his head before I had even finished my sentence. We kind of were sent to a secondary, it was an adjoining room, but we weren't even asked any questions other than what the first guard asked us, and it was even less. We did have our bags sent through an xray to check them, but the guard doing the inspection was extremely friendly. The only issue we had was they were having issues getting my passport information to show on one of the data bases. I very highly doubt my voluntary withdrawal was recorded since I was not even questioned about the last time I visited. This person didn't even closely look at our passports and custom declaration cards at first and said "so the two of you are returning home?" and I said "actually he is, I'm visiting," but I don't think he did that on purpose to catch us up.

I'm now able to visit while we take our time gathering documents for our application and for the application process. I couldn't have asked for a smoother crossing.