La_de_da_de_dum

Hi all,
I have just signed up to the forum but have been reading posts for the last week and have found them really helpful so I thought I would post a thread with just a few questions.

I will give a little bit of my background, I am British and my husband is a Canadian citizen who has been living in the UK for nine years.
We just got back from Canada last week and have decided that now is the time to make the big move over there. (We have been planning to move for over four years!!)

As my husband is still a Canadian citizen he will be sponsoring me and our 17 month old son through the family class sponsorship.

Now here is where it gets a bit confusing, my husband is looking to go back to Canada ahead of myself and our son and start a job position with his father.
We have obtained the forms of a Canadian sponsoring from outside of Canada (we are hoping the bulk of the forms will have been sent and should have reached the London Visa office by the time he has leaves for Canada in October)

So my first question is will this affect our sponsorship in anyway, as I know he needs to be in Canada by the time we move there (which will be April next year)

Now I am a stay at home mum and my husband supports us, I was working at a law firm before I had our son but lost my job when the downturn came along. I also receive child benefit and child tax credit (both of which I am entitled to) my second question is will being a house wife have any effect on our sponsorship?
As soon as I get my PR card I will be looking to get right back into the corporate world in Canada ( jobs permitting!)

My third question is how many professional pictures in total do I need to submit, as some of the PR forms ask for a picture then on other forms they ask for eight pictures.

My last question is how do I go about getting our medicals done and how much do they cost? It will just be for me and my son.

I would be so grateful for all replies as I am quite confused, I have looked at a lot of posts and they have been so helpful I really hope that this post also people in the same situation.

Once I get things going I will post our progress!!

Thanks in advance for all replies!!

EleVatorJAy

Is there a reason why you would stay back in England & not go with your husband. I only ask because, when my wife & I did what you did & we were told it was a quicker and easier process if we we both in Canada, so I moved there as a visitor whilst we applied. My wife is is dual Canadian & British, I am British & our application for PR was submitted late august last year. the whole thing, including the magical moment when i received my PR card was completed by march this year. We had no delays, no hiccups, no misplaced forms & a 100% all boxes ticked application.

I dont think anything could have gone any better than it did, but then again, we did cheat and use an immigration lawyer.

Im not saying that it cant go any quicker than what ours went & i did cost us a fair amount, but I can say that there were a few times when we said to each other, phew, Im glad we didnt do it any other way.

Just be wary that if you start the application in the UK, you will most probably have to finish it in the UK, well that is what we were told anyway

I didnt have a job when we started our application, We made to decision that i had to quit to move so i could be with my wife, i even had to extend my visitor visa in case it ran out, mid application. So dont worry that you are a housewife cos in the eyes of immigration, i was a bum...and it got in

I still have a full copy of everything that was sent in my application, including my lawyers check list of documents, so if i can be of any help, please let me know.

All the best

Saya10

It does not matter if you are in UK and husband is in Canada while processing the application.....that "really" is the purpose of an outland application. Athough you must prove your husbands intent to move back to Canada (ie job offer, house, etc) if he is currently still in the UK once application is sent off.

Being a house wife won't cause an issue.

Professional pictures I assume you are referring to the immigration photos?
8 for the application and 5 for the medical making a total of 13 per person.

Here is a link for DMPs. Medicals are good for 1 year so you want to get them done as close to your application mailing date as possible.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/dmp-md/medical.aspx

Lethe

Hi there La,

My husband and I are going through the same process that you will be applying for.
It shouldn't have any bearing on your application that your husband will be living in Canada when you process your application, this is not out of the norm, in fact many of the people who post here are doing the application that way.

You don't have to remain in the UK (as the first responder suggested) whilst waiting if you begin the process in the UK, you can move out here, it has no bearing on your application. In fact, a couple of the guys who recently had their entire application completed in 6 weeks from sending to passport request were living apart from their spouses. I am living in Canada with my OH and am still waiting, it's just the luck of the draw! However, if you are not working why not just move over and stay with your husband as a visitor when you've sent off your forms?

It took us about 6 weeks to get ourselves together and send off our forms and we filled in everything ourselves without help from a consultant.

As Saya says you need 13 photos.

Your medicals depend on where you're living. I don't know how much they cost in the UK, mine were done in Canada and cost me a total of $320 ( I think! )
Good luck and don't hesitate to ask any questions!

lethe

La_de_da_de_dum

Thank you all so much for your responses they really mean a lot.
In response to the first posters question the reason my husband is going over first is mainly to build his credit. we are looking to purchase property after a year of being in Canada but have to build our credit first, also I need to tie up a few loose ends over here. So as painful as it will be it will be for the best when we go over in April

Your responses have really have helped and have made the task of going through the forms less dauting!!

Thanks again, and I keep you all updated on our progress.

MR79

outland is faster than inland....

Check out the link below it will tell you everything that is required for outland/inland and what to do in terms of medical and criminal checks for outland.....

Outand -

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/informa...cations/fc.asp

Inland -

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/informa...cations/fc.asp

Medical -

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/informa...exams-perm.asp

Police Check -

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/informa...ed-kingdom.asp

MR79

Kynn

He won't need a year of credit to get a mortgage for a house. My partner just bought a house (high ratio mortgage even) with 6 mos of credit rating. The only reason he had to wait 6 mos was because he needed to be "off probation" at work, and at his company, the probation period is 6 mos long. Find a (Good) Mortgage Broker and have a chat with them...ideally someone with experience with PR and/or people who have been living out of Canada. You'd be surprised what you can do. If you happen to be moving to the Halifax NS area, I can give you the name of someone good.

Outland applications, as others have mentioned, seem to be going REALLY fast. You can wait as long as possible to do your medical (we waited until all the forms were filled out and ready to mail) because you have a year from the date of the medical to move. You just need the receipt from it to put in with your application. The police checks take a bit longer to arrive though, and also need to be with the app.

Good luck with the sponsorship!

el_richo

Or you can just rent for that little bit longer, making sure you actually enjoy living in your area of choice, and giving you much more time as a family

La_de_da_de_dum

Hi again,
Thanks again for all of your positive replies it really helps!!
Just got another question, do we send our med check along with everything else to Canada or do they request the med report once the the forms have been sent to the London office?

Also my husband got a bit confused with the whole co signer thing, on some pages it says it does not require me to co sign as he is sponsoring me but in some places it asks for me to co sign ( hope im making sense)

Thanks again in adavance

Kynn

The med receipt HAS to go with the application.

Ah yes, the 'cosigner' conundrum.

It's one of the most poorly worded sections. You are NOT the co-signor...ever. Here's how it was explained to me:

That is used in the following situation: Assume you want to sponsor your parents (who aren't Canadian). But, you don't meet the financial obligation to do so. He can "co-sign" the application if his income combined with yours meets the requirements. IF you were common-law instead of married, you would also have to sign the Declaration of Common-law.

BUT, for a spousal sponsorship, it's not a co-sign situation!

You only have to sign where it asks for the person being sponsored to sign.

Hope that helps!

Saya10

You should get a form from the DMP "Original Copy 2" it's green and will have a your picture affixed to it (make sure it is signed by the doctor). That will go in with your applcation to CPC-M.

Most likely you won't have a co-signer, so anything referring to a co-signer write Not Applicable or N/A. This more for if sponsoring other than spouse and the sponsor does not meet the financial requirements and needs a co-signer (like for a loan).

La_de_da_de_dum

Yes, the co signer part really threw us off quite a bit!! Thanks for breaking it down!

We r based in central London and I was looking online for where we could have our pictures taken, the only place that seems to do pictures to CIC standard is Kodak Express in Camden Town. They do all the specs for £24.99, is this a good price or does anyone of anywhere else in central London.

Sorry for asking so many questions its just when we think we are almost there we come across another hurdle

But from reading other posts on here it will all be worth it in the end

Thanks again!!

el_richo

We had ours done in Snappy Snaps for the price of £12 i think. They're dotted all over London.

La_de_da_de_dum

Hi all,
Thanks for the tip, just got our pics done today at Snappy Snaps I gave the guy the specs and he said no problem click click all done

Now Iv got my fingers crossed as I really dont want them to be sent back as I have read a few posts of people being asked for new photos, I really hope the same thing does not happen to us.

For anyone else who wants to know, Snappy Snaps charge £9.99 for six photos ( well £19.99 really as we need eight photos so you will have to get two sets)

Will keep you all updated on our progress

La_de_da_de_dum

Hi all,
Just had a question on the medical exam, I just called the knightbridge office to book an appointment for myself and my 17 month old son and the receptionist said that my son does not need to have a medical done??

She said that if it is under family class and one parent is canadian that he would not need it

Is this true or has she given me the wrong information?

Would welcome any advice.

Thanks