Moving back to Canada with my British wife but we live in China together.

[Sew13]

Hello all,

May I first say I have been reading thought the forum and I'm truly appreciative of everyone that takes the time to answer peoples questions. It has really shone some light on certain things I was unsure about.

I am hoping to get some help about the process for my wife who is British and I to move back to Alberta.

Background.
I have lived abroad for 6 years and my now wife and I have been together for 5 of those. 2 years before we got married in december we went to the Canadian Consulate and became common law partners for Chinese visa reasons. My wife has a good job and has been the bread winner for the last couple years. We don't want to have kids in China with all the pollution and have decided on Alberta as our best place to live.

Since we have been living in China and outbound applications seem to be handled faster our thoughts are to apply though the Canadian Consulate in Beijing. Is it best for us to send all our documents to the processing office in Ontario, instead of directly to the office in Beijing? I have read that all sponsorship applications will go to Mississauga anyways and then shipped back to the outbound office of choice. This might speed up our application by 2 weeks if it can be done that way.

Since my wife is British and has the ability to receive a 6 month stay in Canada, our thought was to then come back to Canada this summer and wait for the PR application to be competed. We know that she wont be able to work during that time but in Alberta can still have Health Insurance do to the fact that she will be my dependent. Once PR is granted does she have to leave Canada and come in on the new PR card?

When we move back to Canada I am planning on going back to school for 6 months could this be a problem for us, since I wont be able to work at that time? And if I am sponsoring her can I still get Canadian grants for schooling?

I am sure my wife has a few more questions but she is asleep now so lets start here. Again thanks for all your help in advance.

 

[scosan]

Hi Sew,

My Japanese wife and I moved to Canada from the US in July 2012. I don't think you'll have any issues getting approved to sponsor (all outland apps go first to Mississauga) as I didn't even have a job at the time we sent in our application. As far as extending the visitor visa though, you'll have to show that you have enough funds (savings?) to support her (or she has enough to support herself) for the duration of the extension request. Fortunately we had a nest egg which helped support us until I found a job.
I don't think school grants will be held against you as it's not considered social assistance.
I'm not sure about where your outland application will be processed someone else will have to answer that. I thought it was based on her country of citizenship but I could be wrong.

Scosan

 

[Rob_TO]

Since we have been living in China and outbound applications seem to be handled faster our thoughts are to apply though the Canadian Consulate in Beijing. Is it best for us to send all our documents to the processing office in Ontario, instead of directly to the office in Beijing? I have read that all sponsorship applications will go to Mississauga anyways

It's mandatory that the entire application first go to CPC-Mississauga. CPC-M then after sponsor approval, forwards the app to outland visa office.

and then shipped back to the outbound office of choice.

While you can request an outland visa office based on where you are currently residing, the final decision is entirely up to CPC-M. So even if you choose a China office, prepare that they may send based on citizenship, so in that case it would go to London office. I don't think the times are all that different anyways.

Once PR is granted does she have to leave Canada and come in on the new PR card?

Upon PR approval they will send the COPR documents to your home address in Canada, then you just go to closest USA land border to do the PR landing.

When we move back to Canada I am planning on going back to school for 6 months could this be a problem for us, since I wont be able to work at that time? And if I am sponsoring her can I still get Canadian grants for schooling?

There is no financial requirements for spousal sponsorship. How will you support yourselves in Canada if not working? Savings? Family support? You can simply explain this, and indicate your expected earnings after school is complete, to convince CIC you won't go on social assistance.

 

[screech339]

It is usually transferred to the citizenship of the applicant however the applicant can have the file transferred to the existing foreign country if the applicant had lived in the foreign country legally for at least 1 year.

Screech339

 

[wowsers]

Bear in mind that your wife may towards the end of the processing be called for interview (though that does not happen to everyone) and so may have to travel to the country where the visa office is situate. London would be nearer and cheaper to fly to that Beijing I suspect: check the air fare to both places from Calgary. London's current processing time is 10 months, Beijing 9 months; so only 1 month difference. I suggest your wife nominates London as the country where she would like the processing done. Incidentally your wife's application would be transferred to the nominated visa office electronically, not physically as you thought; so no time is taken up by the transfer.

 

[canadianwoman]

Since she is planning to leave China and stay with you in Canada as a visitor while waiting for the PR visa to be processed, I would have her go through London, not Beijing. Even if you choose Beijing, once they see she has left China they might decide to send it to London anyway, which will waste time.