MelM

all messages by user

10/13/2015 Topic: When can I Sponsor my Parents?- PR since June 2015 MelM	The earliest you'll be able to apply is probably 2020 (this assumes that you won't make enough money in 2015 from Canadian sources to meet LICO). Yes - you can only sponsor your parents after you have completed three consecutive years of work where your income from Canadian sources (in each year) meets LICO (the low income cut off for sponsoring your parents). You must include your notice of assessment (NOA - tax document) for each of these three years as part of the initial application to sponsor your parents. Since NOAs are not available until a few months after the end of the year and the cap for parent sponsorship is reached at the start of January - this means you will have additional time to wait before you can apply. Let's say (for example) that 2016 is the first year you meet LICO (because you only worked for part of the year in Canada in 2015). This means you will have to wait until you have the NOAs for 2016, 2017 and 2018 before you can sumbit the sponsorship application. The NOA for 2018 won't be available until several months into 2019. This means the earliest you will be able to apply to sponsor your parents is January 2020.
10/23/2015 Topic: Sponsoring my Mother MelM	I assume you are a permanent resident or citizen of Canada and wish to sponsor your mother for permanent residency? If that's the case, you need to be making enough money through a job to meet the low income cut off amount for the previous three years to qualify to sponsor her. If you are on ODSP and a student, then unfortunately you won't meet these income requirements. The only person who can be a cosigner is your spouse or common law partner (if you have one).
10/24/2015 Topic: Sponsoring my Mother MelM	Same rules apply for a super visa. You need to meet the minimum income requirements to apply. Only your spouse / common law partner can co-sign.
11/4/2015 Topic: Rent Geared to Income Co-Op Housing MelM	It will be 30% of your gross income.
11/4/2015 Topic: Will Apartment Insurance cover loss? - Bed Bugs MelM	Are you referring to the tenant insurance that an individual tenant takes out for their belonging? Or the insurance the apartment owner has? The apartment owner insurance will certainly not cover these losses. The tenant insurance might depending on the fine print in the policy.
11/8/2015 Topic: PR card Renewal - Questions MelM	Yes - of course you have to complete this section if you want your PR card to be renewed. You must list all of your absences in the last five years. The fact you have applied for citizenship is irrelevant.
11/11/2015 Topic: Traveling with a PR but no OHIP for Pregnancy MelM	Yes - you will have a three months waiting period before your family qualifies for OHIP. There are private insurance policies that cover some of the costs of pregnancy. However they have to be purchased before a person is pregnant - so unfortunately it is too late to purchase any coverage for your wife. This means you will have to pay for all costs related to the delivery in Canada out of your own pocket. One way to reduce costs is to have the baby at home with the assistance of a midwife (rather than at a hospital). If you decide to have the baby in your home country, you will have to sponsor your baby for PR. This can only be done from within Canada. You can apply for a TRV (or even a TRP) to bring your new baby to Canada and apply together from there. If the TRV/TRP is refused, either you or your wife will have to return to Canada alone to sponsor the baby - while the other parent remains with the baby in your home country to wait for the PR application to be processed.
11/13/2015 Topic: Is this considered Marriage Fraud? MelM	You can certainly divorce him. However he is free to keep his PR status so there's really no point in reporting marriage fraud. What you've described isn't marriage fraud - it's a marriage that unfortunately hasn't worked out. Divorce him and move on with your life. Good luck.
11/19/2015 Topic: Undo Marriage MelM	It sounds like you're asking about having your marriage annulled. You can find out more about who qualifies for annulments here: http://www.canadiandivorcelaws.com/annulment/ Based on the information you have provided, you don't qualify to get your marriage annulled and would have to get a divorce.
11/20/2015 Topic: Permanent Resident - Child born overseas MelM	To try to keep your status, you should apply for a Travel Document and request humanitarian & compassionate consideration (since you haven't met the residency obligation you need to apply under H&C). You should include as much evidence as possible to prove that you ewre ill an unable to return to Canada to meet the residency obligation (you should include evidence like hospitalization records and doctors notes). If the travel document is refused, you can try to appeal. If the appeal is lost as well, your PR status will be revoked. If the travel document is approved, you can return to Canada and apply to sponsor your family. Note that you must be in Canada to sponsor your family and must continue living in Canada while their application is in progress. Your family members can try applying for a TRV to travel with you back to Canada and wait as visitors in Canada for their PR applications to be processed. It's quite possible they will not be granted a TRV to accompany you back to Canada. In that case you will have to travel to Canada on your own and be separated from them while their PR application is procesed.
11/23/2015 Topic: OHIP Reinstatement MelM	I'm sorry to hear about your brother's illness. Although you haven't said, I'm going to assume your brother is a Canadian citizen. If so, then all he has to do is return to Canada and live in Canada for three months in order get his OHIP coverage reinstated. During these three months, he will have to pay for any health care he receives either out of his own pocket or through a private insurance policy.
11/25/2015 Topic: Spousal Sponsorship Taking Too Long MelM	Your agent is correct. Since you are a permanent resident, you must be living in Canada while your wife's PR application is being processed. So the answer to your question is no - you cannot stay back with your wife until CIC approves her visa. You can take occasional short trips (e.g. three weeks or less) outside of Canada to visit your wife. However if you move outside of Canada or start staying outside of Canada for months at a time, you can expect the spousal sponsorship application to be refused. As a PR, you must be living in Canada in order to sponsor your spouse. This is how the rules work. Unfortunately it can be difficult for spouses of Canadians to obtain TRVs since CIC knows they aren't just tourists but have plans to remain in Canada long term. Your wife could look into obtaining a work permit (if she is able to secure a full time job in Canada and her employer is able to obtain an approved LMIA). She could also look into study permits (however she'll have to make sure the studies she plans to take in Canada make sense in light of her previous education and experience - otherwise she will be refused for not being a genuine student). It's also possible you and your wife may have to be separated for long periods of time while you wait for her PR application to be processed. Good luck.
11/26/2015 Topic: Home rental - (Retrofit or Not?) MelM	1. I don't know what kind of insurance you should ask for - but since the unit is not retrofit, you can't get insurance to cover it as a rental. 2. If your realtor says it's not retrofit then it's not a legal unit. If the unit was legal this would have been a big selling feature and your realtor would know it. 3. Costs vary widely depending on how much you have to change / update to meet the minimum requirements. You can find those listed in detail here: http://www.expertinspector.com/BasementApartment.html 4. I don't believe you can legally rent the basement as well as two rooms in the upstairs area. But I'm not 100% certain of that.
11/26/2015 Topic: Translator for Citizenship MelM	See the information here: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/tools/cit/admin/decision/interpreters.asp Your father can bring a translator but must still demonstrate a working knowledge of either English or French to pass the oral test.
11/27/2015 Topic: Renewing my PR card with few days in Canada MelM	It depends on how you were hired for the job in India. If you were first hired for a permanent job in Canada and then at a later date were transferred by that company to a permandent role outside of Canada - then you will be able to count your days working outside of Canada towards your PR residency requirement. If, on the other hand, you were directly hired for the job outside of Canada or already had the job outside of Canada when you became a PR, this time can't be counted towards your PR residency requirement and you won't have enough residency days to renew your PR status in 2016. Also, any business trips you may have taken outside of Canada before you were permanently moved to a job outside of Canada cannot be counted towards the residency requirement.