Garry Knipe

Hi.

Well, my wife and I have finally decided to make the move back to
Canada sooner rather than later and have got ourselves the forms for
sponsorship under the family / spousal class.

My wife is the Canadian citizen so I'm assuming she's going to have no
problems as she will be travelling on a Canadian passport.

Obviously that means she will be sponsoring me. I'm British and we've
been married for 5 + 1/2 years, living exclusively in the UK but
holidaying in Canada and calling relatives on a regular basis. Pretty
sure we still have the ticket stubs for the travel but if not we
obviously still have our passport stamps! I also have all the phone
bills which show international calls to Canada.

Does anyone know what the current wait-time is in London for this type
of application? We're looking to be out of the UK by the end of the
year (late summer) if at all possible. Currently looking at settling
in southern interior BC.

I have type-1 (insulin dependant) diabetes which is under excellent
control so I'm assuming that will not put a dampener on any
application we make.

Is it worth retaining an immigration consultant or will that be a
waste of money as we can provide the proof the Canadian authorities
seem to require without too much hassle. The forms seem relatively
straightforward as well...

Any and all advice would be appreciated.

Many thanks.
Garry

The Wizzard

Garry Knipe wrote:
    > Hi.
    >
    > Well, my wife and I have finally decided to make the move back to
    > Canada sooner rather than later and have got ourselves the forms for
    > sponsorship under the family / spousal class.
    >
    > My wife is the Canadian citizen so I'm assuming she's going to have no
    > problems as she will be travelling on a Canadian passport.
    >
    > Obviously that means she will be sponsoring me. I'm British and we've
    > been married for 5 + 1/2 years, living exclusively in the UK but
    > holidaying in Canada and calling relatives on a regular basis. Pretty
    > sure we still have the ticket stubs for the travel but if not we
    > obviously still have our passport stamps! I also have all the phone
    > bills which show international calls to Canada.

Should be a fairly straight forward proceedure for you. You do
everything upfront for a spousal case so you will fill in all the forms
(both hers and yours) and get all the supporting evidence (police check
etc) and do the medical and pay the fees and send everything to CPC
Mississauga in Ontario. They will process your wife's part and approve
her as a sponsor and then they will forward the rest to CHC London who
will issue you an Acknowledgmenet Of Receipt (AOR) and then you
basically wait for them to ask for your passport to affix the visa. Due
to doing everything upfront like medicals etc it's fairly quick as all
they have to do is process the application and wait for background
checks and then you are done. Once you have the visa you then both move
back and you land at the airport when you arrive and become a Permanent
Resident and that's about it.

    >
    > Does anyone know what the current wait-time is in London for this type
    > of application? We're looking to be out of the UK by the end of the
    > year (late summer) if at all possible. Currently looking at settling
    > in southern interior BC.

The times seem to vary between pretty fast like 4-5 months and sometimes
they take longer towards 8 months etc. Barring no problems or delays
(which you can never completely exclude) it should be done by the end of
the year if you apply soon.
    >
    > I have type-1 (insulin dependant) diabetes which is under excellent
    > control so I'm assuming that will not put a dampener on any
    > application we make.

Shouldn't make any difference in the case of a spouse. The medicals have
two basic failing categories one is placing excessive demand on the
health system andthe other is posing a threat to public health. In the
case of a spousal application the Excessive Demand clause is waived so
you should only fail the medical if you pose a significant risk to the
public health. I am guessing that covers things like contageous
disesases and what have you. Certainly not diabetes. I think it has to
be pretty serious to fail a spouse.
    >
    > Is it worth retaining an immigration consultant or will that be a
    > waste of money as we can provide the proof the Canadian authorities
    > seem to require without too much hassle. The forms seem relatively
    > straightforward as well...
    >
I would say not. If you are rich and hate filling in forms and just want
it done then I suppose you could hire one, but for a family class
spousal application like yours it's really one of the simplest
applications. Just make sure you have everything on the checklists and
you should be fine. There isn't much more to it than filling in the
forms, doing a medical, getting your prosecution/convition history from
the police and providing the supporting material listed on the
checklist. Then you just send it off and wait. All a consultant could do
for you is check for errors on the forms and make sure you didn't forget
anything. A consultant is of more use to skilled workers who need their
points accurately evaluating and business class etc people with moe
comp,icated proceedures.

Drew

Matthew Powell

Garry Knipe wrote:

    > Well, my wife and I have finally decided to make the move back to
    > Canada sooner rather than later and have got ourselves the forms for
    > sponsorship under the family / spousal class.

We're in a similar situation (living together in the UK 3.5 years,
married for 1.5), so I hope this helps.

    > My wife is the Canadian citizen so I'm assuming she's going to have no
    > problems as she will be travelling on a Canadian passport.

That's right. If she's not already a British citizen, it might be worth
your while applying for that before you leave. In my wife's case it
only took a week and a half (!) and will greatly simplify her reentry to
the UK should we ever decide to move back.

    > Obviously that means she will be sponsoring me. I'm British and we've
    > been married for 5 + 1/2 years, living exclusively in the UK but
    > holidaying in Canada and calling relatives on a regular basis. Pretty
    > sure we still have the ticket stubs for the travel but if not we
    > obviously still have our passport stamps! I also have all the phone
    > bills which show international calls to Canada.

In addition to the usual proof of relationship documents, the forms will
ask her to show that she intends to resume residence in Canada. Little
guidance is given on this point. My wife included a letter declaring
her intent to resettle in Canada. She's maintained her Ontario driver's
licence and bank accounts in Canada, and we have a joint savings account
with a Canadian bank. We provided details of these.

They'll also ask her intended date of return to Canada. So far as I can
see, this is something of a fiction: most couples will want to move
together, so you'll both be travelling once the visa is issued.
Fortunately, I don't think you're held to the date stated. In our case,
my wife already had a ticket booked some months hence, so we provided
that date and a copy of the ticket as proof.

    > Does anyone know what the current wait-time is in London for this type
    > of application? We're looking to be out of the UK by the end of the
    > year (late summer) if at all possible. Currently looking at settling
    > in southern interior BC.

Here's our timeline. Past performance may not be a guide to the future,
and every case is unique, but it may give you an idea. It's not wildly
different from other timelines reported to the NG.

January 2003 Applied for UK police clearance (actually a 'subject acces
request').
March 2003 Received letter from police confirming no conviction history.
End April 2003 Took medical exam.
End July 2003 Accidentally threw out medical exam form provided by
doctor. You really don't want to do this. It can't be replaced except
by taking the medical again.
End July 2003 Went dumpster diving. Found medical exam form.
14 August 2003 Power outage affects North American cities including
Mississauga.
15 August 2003 Sent application package via UPS to CPC Mississauga.
'Non-essential' government services closed. Spent about a week tearing
hair out wondering whether they'd ever take delivery.
Late September 2003 Wife applied for British citizenship. Should take
about 8 months. Decide to race CIC vs. the British IND.
Slightly later September 2003 Wife receives certificate of citizenship
in the mail. Race over. Not to worry, Mr. Blunkett is working on that one.
About 18 September 2003 Sponsorship approval from CIC.
Early October 2003 AOR from CHC London, dated 29 September.
22 December 2003 Passport request received, dated 19 December. Letter
gives 60 days for submission of passport for visa stamping.
11 January 2004 E-client still shows 'In Process'.

We went to Canada for the new year and just got back. I needed my
passport for that. I'll probably send it off tomorrow.

Your goal of moving in the late summer is probably achievable (provided
that processing times are similar), but you'll need to apply for the
police letter *now*. The law allows 40 days for a response, but in my
case they took a little longer. Fill the CIC forms out and take the
medical while you're waiting for the letter, and send everything off the
day it arrives.

    > I have type-1 (insulin dependant) diabetes which is under excellent
    > control so I'm assuming that will not put a dampener on any
    > application we make.

As a sponsored spouse you will be exempt from the 'excessive demand'
requirements, so that shouldn't be a problem.

    > Is it worth retaining an immigration consultant or will that be a
    > waste of money as we can provide the proof the Canadian authorities
    > seem to require without too much hassle. The forms seem relatively
    > straightforward as well...

If you're comfortable filling everything out and your case is
uncomplicated (no criminal convictions, for example), there's probably
no need to hire anyone. If you find the process daunting and have the
money, pay for a consultant. They won't be able to speed things up, but
they may be able to help you avoid some sources of delay.


Matthew.

Jaj

http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk has all the necessary information on
applying for naturalisation as a British citizen. The process might
take longer than a week and half (!) but as long as she applies before
leaving the UK she should be ok.

Ask about UK issues on misc.immigration.misc

Jeremy

    >
    > That's right. If she's not already a British citizen, it might be worth
    > your while applying for that before you leave. In my wife's case it
    > only took a week and a half (!) and will greatly simplify her reentry to
    > the UK should we ever decide to move back.
    >

Garry Knipe

On Mon, 12 Jan 2004 02:57:36 +0000, Matthew Powell <>
wrote:

    >> My wife is the Canadian citizen so I'm assuming she's going to have no
    >> problems as she will be travelling on a Canadian passport.
    >That's right. If she's not already a British citizen, it might be worth
    >your while applying for that before you leave. In my wife's case it
    >only took a week and a half (!) and will greatly simplify her reentry to
    >the UK should we ever decide to move back.

That's a good idea and one we hadn't really considered. We've
discussed it and reckon that it's worth doing so thanks for that one.
She finally got her new Canadian passport this morning (old one ran
out and London took 3 months to send a new one) so we'll grab the
forms from the IND website and send that off ASAP.

    >In addition to the usual proof of relationship documents, the forms will
    >ask her to show that she intends to resume residence in Canada. Little
    >guidance is given on this point. My wife included a letter declaring
    >her intent to resettle in Canada. She's maintained her Ontario driver's

Indeed they do. Again, thanks for that pointer.

    >licence and bank accounts in Canada, and we have a joint savings account
    >with a Canadian bank. We provided details of these.

We've got a savings account over there too (just in her name).

    >They'll also ask her intended date of return to Canada. So far as I can
    >see, this is something of a fiction: most couples will want to move
    >together, so you'll both be travelling once the visa is issued.

Yep. Kinda thought this would be a 'best guess' question.

    >Fortunately, I don't think you're held to the date stated. In our case,
    >my wife already had a ticket booked some months hence, so we provided
    >that date and a copy of the ticket as proof.

We'll be waiting to buy our tix until we know what's happening. Don't
think we're going to even list the house with an agent until we're
sure we're going.

    >Here's our timeline. Past performance may not be a guide to the future,
    >and every case is unique, but it may give you an idea. It's not wildly
    >different from other timelines reported to the NG.

<snip>

Very useful (and funny) - thanks for that.

    >Your goal of moving in the late summer is probably achievable (provided
    >that processing times are similar), but you'll need to apply for the
    >police letter *now*. The law allows 40 days for a response, but in my
    >case they took a little longer. Fill the CIC forms out and take the
    >medical while you're waiting for the letter, and send everything off the
    >day it arrives.

Prosecution / Conviction history applied for. Medical I'll phone for
sometime in Feb / March I think. Late summer is still the goal but
I've ensured that my wife is resigned to the fact that if the timeline
doesn't happen then it'll be next year!

Reason for moving is my inability to find a decent job in the UK, I'm
an experienced Provisioning Manager who used to have a multiple
million UKP budget and I can't even get an interview anywhere after
being made redundant. :-/ Both of us feel the UK has let us down in
this regard and I get the impression that small businesses are
actively encouraged in Canada and I've always wanted to have my own
business...

    >As a sponsored spouse you will be exempt from the 'excessive demand'
    >requirements, so that shouldn't be a problem.

That's good news.

    >If you're comfortable filling everything out and your case is
    >uncomplicated (no criminal convictions, for example), there's probably
    >no need to hire anyone. If you find the process daunting and have the
    >money, pay for a consultant. They won't be able to speed things up, but
    >they may be able to help you avoid some sources of delay.

Only conviction was about 8 years ago... 3 point + 60 quid fine CD10
(driving without due care and attention) which was a bloody fit-up but
that's another story... I'm assuming that this won't have an impact on
anything if it does get declared by the police on the history letter?

Garry

Ge Underwood

Hi

My husband just received notice that his application is accepted - his
immigration from the US and it took 3 months from when we submitted our
initial package which I understand is fairly quick. Like yours will be
it was an Applications for Sponsorship and

Immigration to Canada from Abroad and we put it together ourselves.



cheers and good luck

Gabrielle