Canadian wife to sponsor husband with US green card

[Themontyfam]

I am a Canadian Citizen and my husband is a Filipino Citizen, but we both have Green Cards and currently reside in the US with our 15-month-old son (US-born Citizen). We are planning on moving to my hometown of Vancouver, BC and hope to apply for his permanent residency inland, but we will only do so if he can get his temporary work visa right away, under that new pilot program for example.

His current employer is actually a Vancouver-based company, but has offices all over the continent, including here in Vegas where we live. They are not able to sponsor him for a work visa given his position, but they have approved his transfer to the Vancouver office pending the work visa approval. Therefore, the immigration process will be our responsibility.

I am and would like to continue to be a stay-at-home mom with our son, and since I wouldn't be able to make the kind of income my husband can, we need him to be able to work again as soon as possible. Assuming spousal sponsorship is our only option, we need to know that he will obtain a work visa within a few months of us moving there. We appreciate any advice you may have regarding our situation.

 

[Ponga]

Can your husband continue working, without transferring to Vancouver right away?

If so, you should really consider submitting an Outland application ASAP. Even though he is not a U.S. citizen, he can [likely] have his PR application processed in Ottawa, just like the majority of U.S. citizens, as long he has been lawfully admitted to the U.S. and has been there for more than 1 year.

The Inland waiting times are BRUTAL, and because it's not recommended that an Inland applicant leave Canada during the process, he would undoubtedly lose his Green Card, because he could not fulfill the residency requirements to be in the U.S. for 6 months every year.

With you being a Canadian citizen, you have the luxury of sponsoring him now, since it is not a requirement for you to be in Canada. You would, however, need to convince CIC that you will return to Canada as soon as he has his PR.

Also, you would only need to obtain your son's Canadian citizenship papers and would [obviously] not need to include him in his PR application, since he is already a dual citizen.


Good luck!

 

[Awesomeg]

I am a Canadian Citizen and my husband is a Filipino Citizen, but we both have Green Cards and currently reside in the US with our 15-month-old son (US-born Citizen). We are planning on moving to my hometown of Vancouver, BC and hope to apply for his permanent residency inland, but we will only do so if he can get his temporary work visa right away, under that new pilot program for example.

His current employer is actually a Vancouver-based company, but has offices all over the continent, including here in Vegas where we live. They are not able to sponsor him for a work visa given his position, but they have approved his transfer to the Vancouver office pending the work visa approval. Therefore, the immigration process will be our responsibility.

I am and would like to continue to be a stay-at-home mom with our son, and since I wouldn't be able to make the kind of income my husband can, we need him to be able to work again as soon as possible. Assuming spousal sponsorship is our only option, we need to know that he will obtain a work visa within a few months of us moving there. We appreciate any advice you may have regarding our situation.

Best thing to do is to apply outland and move back together to Vancouver when all papers are ready,
Your husband will have a smooth transition to his new job in Vancouver and you will be able to keep taking
care of your son at home as is your wish.... doing otherwise will cause many inconveniences...
Waiting times for outland USA are not too bad...
I encourage you to apply outland as soon as possible.

Good luck

 

[Themontyfam]

Thank you for your response! In regard to my son, i am not a naturalized citizen. I was born out of country and got my Canadian citizenship in 1980, so i guess we would have to apply for PR for him as well, then just wait to get his citizenship the 'normal' way.

My husband does have the option of continuing on with his company here in the US for as long as he wants to, so thats not a problem. He can move to their Vancouver office whenever he wants to, and they will put him on a leave without pay until the work visa goes through, but they would like to know when we are planning to actually move there. They need a timeframe, thats why we need to know asap if inland application is a good option. If it is an option, meaning he will get a temp work visa within a few months, we will go there right away. Though itll be easy for us to stay here while an outland application is being processed, its not what we want to do. Btw, do you have any idea of how long the wait times are for outland apps? The process and wait time is the same for US citizens as it is for permanent residents/green card holders?

 

[Rob_TO]

Thank you for your response! In regard to my son, i am not a naturalized citizen. I was born out of country and got my Canadian citizenship in 1980, so i guess we would have to apply for PR for him as well, then just wait to get his citizenship the 'normal' way.

My husband does have the option of continuing on with his company here in the US for as long as he wants to, so thats not a problem. He can move to their Vancouver office whenever he wants to, and they will put him on a leave without pay until the work visa goes through, but they would like to know when we are planning to actually move there. They need a timeframe, thats why we need to know asap if inland application is a good option. If it is an option, meaning he will get a temp work visa within a few months, we will go there right away. Though itll be easy for us to stay here while an outland application is being processed, its not what we want to do. Btw, do you have any idea of how long the wait times are for outland apps? The process and wait time is the same for US citizens as it is for permanent residents/green card holders?

If you all move to Canada to submit an INLAND application, it will be a minimum of 4 months before he will get an OWP, and quite possibly longer as times given by CIC are never guaranteed and we have not actually seen anyone get an OWP yet under new pilot program that applied after the program was implemented. I would say 4 - 8 months to be safe. During that time as visitor only, he will be unable to do any work while in Canada.

If you apply OUTLAND there is also no guarantee how long the application will take. It could be processed in Ottawa if they use his US residency, or it could be processed in Manila if they use his Philippines citizenship. This decision is up to CIC. It could take 6, 12, 16+, etc months... it's impossible to say. Certainly it's impossible to give his work a firm commitment as to when the PR will be approved and he'll be ready to move. Best you can give them is a rough guess of something like 12 months, and then update them as the processing status progresses.

 

[Themontyfam]

Yes, his company wont need a timeframe if he chooses to stay in the US. They rather him stay here for as long as possible anyway, but are aware that he will leave if he applies for PR in canada outland and it goes through.

From the looks of it, that is the safest route without risking us living there with no income One question about me and my son though: if the application takes longer than a few years and we want to register my son in kindergarten there if he comes of age before the approval, can i move there with him before my husband's application goes through? Or his application is connected with my husbands? Probably a silly question....

 

[bigredmoose]

Yes, his company wont need a timeframe if he chooses to stay in the US. They rather him stay here for as long as possible anyway, but are aware that he will leave if he applies for PR in canada outland and it goes through.

From the looks of it, that is the safest route without risking us living there with no income One question about me and my son though: if the application takes longer than a few years and we want to register my son in kindergarten there if he comes of age before the approval, can i move there with him before my husband's application goes through? Or his application is connected with my husbands? Probably a silly question....

Technically, no. A non-citizen or PR (like your son in the situation you describe) can not move to Canada. Visiting is not a problem, but he would be expected to leave at the end of the visiting period. If it looks to the border guards that it's a move, you can expect to be turned away.

As for the schooling, most school boards have a policy on this situation. My school board has an "ask no questions" approach so that children with no status still get an education.