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How to apply, processing time, if you're outside of Canada...

Temporary Mailing Address 

islafellow
islafellow
Posts: 1


Posted On: 1/14/2021
islafellow
islafellow
Posts: 1
I will be applying for Permanent Resident status as the spouse of a Canadian citizen. We currently live in the U.S. We will be moving to Canada, but I wish to land before then, to make it easier to find a house, etc. Can I list my brother-in-law's address in Ontario for application and PR Card purposes?
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Moderator
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 4142


Posted On: 1/29/2021
Moderator
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 4142
Hello,

Thank you for sharing your question with us. The following response assumes that you will be visiting Canada before your application is processed, rather than permanently moving to Canada. If this is not what your situation is, please feel free to ask us a follow-up question or consult with an immigration lawyer.

You asked whether you can list your brother-in-law’s Ontario address on your PR application. You can certainly use your brother-in-law’s Ontario address as your mailing address on your application forms, that’s not an issue even if you live outside Canada. You must, however, include your U.S. home address on the application under the home address section; otherwise you could be found to have “misrepresented” (see s. 40 of IRPA) and you would be excluded from Canada for a minimum of 5 years (i.e. not allowed to enter Canada for any reason, not even to visit your brother-in-law). Providing Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada with honest and accurate information is mandatory, especially as the USA and Canada share a lot of information.

In assessing whether or not to use the Ontario address as your mailing address on the application, the following factors are worth considering.

Receiving correspondence
It is important to ensure that you are able to regularly access correspondence from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) during the course of your application. All correspondence from the IRCC will be sent to the mailing address you provided on your application, unless you also provide an email address. Failing to respond to such correspondence may lead to delays.

To ensure that you are able to access correspondence from IRCC, you may wish to regularly check the mailbox at the mailing address you provided, if you choose not to provide an email address; you may wish to check your email (including the spam folder), if you provided an email address; or you may wish to check your online account if you have created one and linked it to your paper application.

PR card
You do not need to apply for a PR card if you are a new permanent resident. A request for the card will be automatically generated after the granting of permanent resident status.

Unless you make a change of address during the course of your application, the mailing address you provided on your application will be the address where your PR card is sent, once your PR application has been approved.

Change of address
You can change your address after you have submitted your application. In fact, the IRCC advises that you MUST inform them if you change your address.

In your case, this means that you may wish to use your current address in the application, then request a change of address should you decide to move. The IRCC advises that you inform them of the move no more than three weeks before the move.


We hope that the information we provided is helpful to you. We would also like to emphasize that individual circumstances vary, and that we strongly recommend you to seek legal help from a lawyer or a licensed consultant familiar with Canadian immigration to find more information about your application and your potential options.

Please let us know if you have further questions.

Sincerely,


Your Settlement.Org team

Disclaimer:
This document does not contain legal advice.


This document was prepared with the assistance of PBSC University of Toronto law student volunteers. PBSC volunteers are not lawyers and they are not authorized to provide legal advice. This document contains general discussion of certain legal and related issues only. If you require legal advice, please consult with a lawyer.
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