fatabbott

Hello,

I am trying to work out the immigration process and having read through the WIKI still have a few questions, I was hoping some people may be of assistance.

I am English, my wife and child Canadian. We currently live in England and want to move to Canada within 2-3 years, before my daughter goes to school.

We plan to apply under the Spousal sponsorship route. We have a property in England that is paid for worth around £130k, and have savings of around £80k, so I assuming this would count in our favour.

Would it be worth applying for this now, even if we didn't plan to move until say 2010. If I was granted permanent residence, how long does this apply for, can it just be activated and we can continue to live in England? Due to having in-laws in Canada we visit 2-3 times a year. Does this make a difference?

The application asks for information regarding "showing planning we intend to move to Canada". Would stating we plan to move in the near future be good enough for them to grant me PR?

I would be most appreciative if anyone could help.

dazzlerdaz

Hi
My wife and child are also Canadian and we sent our application off at the begining of March this year.
Its been really quick and i have to pick my Visa up next week.
The thing is when you do your medical and police checks they are only valid for 12 months (my med was done in December so i have to be in Canada by then)
I would say if you are looking at 2-3 years then its to soon to apply !
You can in theory apply, then move over and come back here to visit (and sort stuff out) but you are only allowed a certain amount of time away from Canada in the first 3 years (not sure how long though?)

Good luck Daz

Judy in Calgary

A permanent resident (PR) who is married to a Canadian citizen can be out of Canada for any amount of time he/she likes, as long as he/she is in the company of his/her Canadian spouse. Once you have "landed" in Canada and activated your (PR) status, any time that you spend outside of Canada with your Canadian spouse is counted as if it was time spent in Canada, for the purposes of meeting your residency obligation.

Time that a PR spends outside of Canada with his/her Canadian spouse does not count towards the residency requirement for citizenship, however.

Obviously, PRs who are not married to Canadians do not have this luxury.
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Judy in Calgary

Calgaryblade, who has not posted in quite some time, is a British citizen married to a Canadian citizen. His wife sponsored him, he "landed" in Canada, activated his PR status, and returned to the UK. After that he and his wife and children continued living in the UK for some years. Eventually they moved to Calgary.

See the Wiki article called Residency Obligations-Canada.

Another thing, when you're being sponsored by your spouse, is that you don't have to prove your net worth.
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timu12

that is not even an issue. PR applicant under family unification ground is one of the top priorities and you could expect you case to finalize within 6--12 months. if you apply by the end of 2009 , you should be able to move to canada in the fall of 2010 and you daughter can start school right on time.

snowman365

Hi Judy in Calgary!

Does tha bove also apply for non-married pertners do you know???

JAJ

Yes it does:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/informa...des/5445EA.asp

JAJ

Presumably your daughter is also a British citizen? Was she born in the United Kingdom?

It probably would be a good idea for your wife to get naturalised as a British citizen, if she is eligible, also of course if she's not already a British citizen.

fatabbott

My daughter has dual citizenship. My wife qualifies for British Citizenship but hasn't applied as it seems like a waste of time and money as far as we can see. Unless of course anyone could tell me different!

Thanks for everyone's help, it seems from Judy's response it would be an idea to apply now, I could then "land" in December when we visit and continue to live in the UK, giving us the opportunity to move at short notice if required.

fatabbott

In another thread

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=542406

a prospective applicant was asked to prove their "evidence of intent to live in Canada"

I am figuring that saying we are putting this in place so we can move any time within the next 2-3 years based on being able to sell property here wouldn't wash?

cornmatthew

I think there's a wiki page on that.

For somebody who's planning to leave the UK, a main advantage of British citizenship is the right to return in the future.

If your wife has indefinite leave to remain, she'll lose it after a few years living in Canada. Later on, perhaps much later, you may fancy moving back to the UK. Then, she'd have to jump through the visa hoops all over again.

Judy in Calgary

It would be very much in your wife's interests to acquire British citizenship while she can.

See the Wiki article called Get British citizenship before emigrating.
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dazzlerdaz

Sorry to ask Judy but could you clarify this as it seems that your saying in the first part that time outside Canada with a spouse counts towards your
residency obligations and then in the second part time outside Canada with a spouse does not count towards these obligations ?

Sorry if i`ve read it wrong (maybe i should have only had one glass of wine lol)

Thanks again Daz

Judy in Calgary

Hi Daz,

Permanent residents of Canada have two residency obligations:

(1) They must spend a cumulated total of two years out of any five year period in Canada if they want to maintain their permanent resident status.

If they spend less than a cumulated total of two years out of any five year period in Canada, they will lose their PR status. (Use it or lose it, so to speak.)

However, a PR who is married to a Canadian does not have to worry about this requirement, as long as the time that he/she spends outside of Canada is in the company of his/her Canadian spouse. Every day that he/she spends outside of Canada in these circumstances is counted as a day spent inside Canada, for the purposes of calculating whether or not that PR has met the requirements of the residency obligation.

(2) In order to apply for Canadian citizenship, a PR must have spent at least three years (1,095 days) out the previous four years in Canada.

Of course citizenship is optional and not obligatory.

Still, if the PR wants to become a Canadian citizen, he/she has to meet the residency test that is one of the requirements for citizenship.

In the case of qualifying for citizenship, the time spent outside of Canada in the company of a Canadian spouse does not count.

The residency test for citizenship is a calculation of the number of days that have been spent in Canada, no ands, ifs or buts.

Hope that helps.
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newfiegurl

Hi Daz,
you say you applied in March and you will get your visa soon? Are you in Canada?